Best PlacesCottonville, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cottonville, 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.
Cottonville ranks 15,712th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cottonville
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.
Cottonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cottonville ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
Where Cottonville ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Short commute36.0 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cottonville
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cottonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,363, 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 Cottonville's effective rate of 0.35%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cottonville
Cottonville 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 Cottonville.
Who works in Cottonville, and how
Work in Cottonville centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Cottonville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cottonville.
What the weather is like in Cottonville, month by month
Cottonville sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 72° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Cottonville
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cottonville
Schools across Cottonville average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Hope Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Guntersville Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- New Hope High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Guntersville High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Brindlee Mountain High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cottonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cottonville 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 Cottonville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cottonville
Is Cottonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cottonville ranks 15,712th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, fast internet, and tree cover, and lowest on empty homes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cottonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,798. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $90,363 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Cottonville safe?
Cottonville is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
Compare Cottonville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cottonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cottonville 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.
Cottonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cottonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cottonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cottonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cottonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cottonville 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.