Best PlacesEarlytown, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Earlytown, 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.
Earlytown ranks 33,756th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Earlytown
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.
Earlytown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Earlytown ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
Where Earlytown ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Earlytown
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Earlytown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,892, 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 Earlytown's effective rate of 0.20%, 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 Earlytown
Earlytown runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Earlytown.
Who works in Earlytown, and how
Work in Earlytown centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Earlytown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Earlytown.
What the weather is like in Earlytown, month by month
Earlytown sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Earlytown
The nearest airport, Dothan Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 201 miles away.
The best schools in and around Earlytown
Schools across Earlytown average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ws Harlan Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Samson Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Samson Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Florala High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Samson High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Earlytown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Earlytown 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 Earlytown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Earlytown
Is Earlytown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Earlytown ranks 33,756th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, fast internet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on air quality and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Earlytown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,298. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $62,892 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Earlytown safe?
Yes, Earlytown is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Earlytown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Earlytown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Earlytown 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.
Earlytown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Earlytown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Earlytown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Earlytown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Earlytown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Earlytown 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.