Best PlacesDecatur, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Decatur metro, 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.
Photo by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
Decatur ranks 238th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low property taxes and a stable housing market. The weaker spots are health outcomes, biking, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in the Decatur metro
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 Decatur
The towns and districts of the Decatur metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Laceys Spring, Somerville & Priceville
Local pay stretches further, tree cover is thicker, and incomes run higher.
Hartselle & Falkville
Crime runs lower, though it is noisier.
Danville
More households have young kids and fewer homes sit empty.
Moulton & Trinity
Prices have run up less and heat risk is lower.
Town Creek & Hillsboro
Schools score lower and advertised internet is slower.
Downtown Decatur
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Decatur run from about the 2nd to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Decatur's strengths and weaknesses
Decatur lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. A stable housing market and quiet follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Health outcomes, biking, and walkability hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Decatur ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$638 a month, better than 88% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where Decatur ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Decatur
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Decatur home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,026, 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 Decatur's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Decatur
Decatur's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Decatur.
Who works in Decatur, and how
Work in Decatur centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Decatur
Decatur has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Decatur and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Decatur growing, and who is moving in?
Decatur has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Huntsville, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Decatur go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Decatur, month by month
Decatur sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Decatur
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Decatur
Schools across Decatur average a C, better than 18% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Leon Sheffield Magnet Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Fe Burleson Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Monrovia Elementary SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hartselle Junior High SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Monrovia Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Priceville Junior High SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Hartselle High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Decatur High DevelopmentalB− · 42% proficient
- Priceville High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Decatur school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Decatur 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 Decatur against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Decatur suits
Families
Schools land around the 18th percentile and crime safety beats 69%.
Common questions about living in Decatur
Is Decatur a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Decatur ranks 238th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on health outcomes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Decatur expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,035. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $72,026 median income, cost of living beats 62% of metro areas.
Is Decatur safe?
Yes, Decatur is safer than 69% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Decatur?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 34. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Decatur?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Laceys Spring, Somerville & Priceville, Hartselle & Falkville, and Danville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Decatur good for families?
Schools beat 18% of metro areas, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $638 a month.
Is Decatur good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 62% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 32% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Decatur with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Decatur. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Decatur 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.
Decatur detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Decatur: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Decatur: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Decatur: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Decatur: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Decatur 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.