Best PlacesColbert County, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Colbert County, 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.
Colbert County ranks 1,539th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Colbert County
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.
The best areas in Colbert County
The parts of Colbert County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Muscle Shoals
Fewer homes sit empty, schools score higher, and biking is better.
Leighton
More households have young kids and local pay stretches further.
Tuscumbia
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Sheffield
Crime runs higher and incomes run lower.
Scores across Colbert County run from about the 2nd to the 75th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Colbert County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colbert County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 78% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 76% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 75% of counties
Where Colbert County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 26% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 26% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 33% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Colbert County
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colbert County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,399, 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 Colbert County's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Colbert County
Colbert County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Colbert County.
Who works in Colbert County, and how
Work in Colbert County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, 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 Colbert County
Colbert County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Colbert County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Colbert County growing, and who is moving in?
Colbert County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Florence, AL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Colbert County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Colbert County, month by month
Colbert County sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Colbert County
The nearest airport, Northwest Alabama Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Colbert County
Schools across Colbert County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Rock Quarry Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Mcbride Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- R E Thompson Intermediate SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top middle schools
- Muscle Shoals Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Northridge Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Florence Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Muscle Shoals High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Northridge High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Colbert Heights High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colbert County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colbert County 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 Colbert County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Colbert County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Colbert County
Is Colbert County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colbert County ranks 1,539th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and a strong job market, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colbert County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,446. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $69,399 median income, cost of living beats 75% of counties.
Is Colbert County safe?
Colbert County is safer than 37% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Colbert County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 33. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Colbert County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Muscle Shoals, Leighton, and Tuscumbia. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Colbert County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colbert County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colbert County 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.
Colbert County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colbert County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colbert County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colbert County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colbert County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colbert County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.