Best PlacesCentre, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centre, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Centre ranks 33,706th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Centre
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Centre's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centre ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap childcare$528 a month, better than 90% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 74% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 66% of towns
Where Centre ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 22% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Centre
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centre home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,462, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Centre's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Centre
Centre runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Centre.
Who works in Centre, and how
Work in Centre centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Centre
Centre has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Centre and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Centre, month by month
Centre sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Centre
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Centre
Schools across Centre average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Centre Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Crossville Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Centre Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Cherokee County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Crossville High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centre school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centre measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Centre against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Centre
Is Centre a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centre ranks 33,706th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on education levels and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Centre expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,542. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $60,462 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Centre safe?
Centre is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $315 per resident a year.
Compare Centre with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centre. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centre represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Centre detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centre: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centre: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centre: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centre: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centre detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.