Best PlacesDocena, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Docena, 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.
Docena ranks 45,465th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state infrastructure.
The best neighborhoods in Docena
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.
Docena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Docena ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 66% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 65% of towns
Where Docena ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.4 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Docena
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Docena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,813, 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 Docena's effective rate of 0.41%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Docena
Docena runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Docena.
Who works in Docena, and how
Work in Docena centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Docena
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Docena.
What the weather is like in Docena, month by month
Docena sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Docena
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Docena
Schools across Docena average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Uw Clemon Elementary SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Minor Middle SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Minor High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Docena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Docena 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 Docena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Docena
Is Docena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Docena ranks 45,465th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on the schools and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Docena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,000. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $61,813 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Docena safe?
Docena is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $415 per resident a year.
Compare Docena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Docena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Docena 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.
Docena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Docena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Docena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Docena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Docena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Docena 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.