Best PlacesCoaling, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Coaling, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Coaling ranks 24,748th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Coaling
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.
Coaling's strengths and weaknesses
Where Coaling ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Coaling ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
- Short commute31.6 minutes each way, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Coaling
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Coaling home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,156, 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 Coaling's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Coaling
Coaling runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Coaling.
Who works in Coaling, and how
Work in Coaling centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Coaling
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Coaling.
What the weather is like in Coaling, month by month
Coaling sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Coaling
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Coaling
Schools across Coaling average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Maxwell Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Vance Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Cottondale Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Duncanville Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Brookwood Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Eastwood Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookwood High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- West Blocton High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Paul W Bryant High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Coaling school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Coaling 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 Coaling against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Coaling
Is Coaling a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Coaling ranks 24,748th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Coaling expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,015. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,156 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Coaling safe?
Yes, Coaling is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
Compare Coaling with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Coaling. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Coaling 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.
Coaling detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Coaling: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Coaling: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Coaling: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Coaling: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Coaling 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.