Best PlacesDothan, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Dothan metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Ecjmartin1, via wiki
Dothan ranks 344th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and health outcomes. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Dothan 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 Dothan
The towns and districts of the Dothan 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.
Headland, Abbeville & Kinsey
Prices have run up less and it is quieter.
Geneva, Hartford & Slocomb
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Downtown Dothan
Scores close to Geneva, Hartford & Slocomb, except that fewer homes sit empty here.
Ashford
Tree cover is thinner.
Cottonwood
Fewer households have young kids and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Dothan run from about the 1st to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Dothan's strengths and weaknesses
Dothan ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Affordable childcare and quiet follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: biking, health outcomes, and low incomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Dothan ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$560 a month, better than 97% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 88% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where Dothan ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Household income$61,786 median, better than only 5% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Dothan
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dothan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,786, 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 Dothan's effective rate of 0.28%, 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 Dothan
Dothan'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 Dothan.
Who works in Dothan, and how
Work in Dothan centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Dothan
Dothan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dothan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Dothan growing, and who is moving in?
Dothan has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dale County, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Dothan go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Dothan, month by month
Dothan sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 81° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Dothan
The nearest airport, Dothan Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 177 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dothan
Schools across Dothan average a C−, better than 10% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Carver School Of Mathematics Science And TechnologyA+ · 72% proficient
- Highlands Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Rehobeth Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Headland Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Slocomb Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Rehobeth Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Wicksburg High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Cottonwood High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Rehobeth High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dothan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dothan 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 Dothan against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Dothan suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Dothan
Is Dothan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dothan ranks 344th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and quiet, and lowest on biking and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dothan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,447. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $61,786 median income, cost of living beats 17% of metro areas.
Is Dothan safe?
Dothan is safer than 38% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dothan?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dothan?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Headland, Abbeville & Kinsey, Geneva, Hartford & Slocomb, and Downtown Dothan. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Dothan good for families?
Schools beat 10% of metro areas, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $560 a month.
Is Dothan good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 17% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of metro areas. About 5% of workers already work from home.
Compare Dothan with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dothan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dothan 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.
Dothan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dothan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dothan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dothan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dothan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dothan 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.