Best PlacesEtowah, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Etowah, 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.
Etowah ranks 44,954th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Etowah
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.
Etowah's strengths and weaknesses
Where Etowah ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Etowah ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$44,400 median, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Etowah
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Etowah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,400, 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 Etowah's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Etowah
Etowah runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Etowah.
Who works in Etowah, and how
Work in Etowah centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Etowah
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Etowah.
What the weather is like in Etowah, month by month
Etowah sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 39° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Etowah
Memphis International sits about 49 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Etowah
Schools across Etowah average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tyronza ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Rivercrest Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Manila Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Manila High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- East Poinsett Co. High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Academies At Rivercrest High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Etowah school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Etowah 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 Etowah against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Etowah
Is Etowah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Etowah ranks 44,954th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and state finances, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Etowah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,300. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $44,400 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Etowah safe?
Yes, Etowah is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
Compare Etowah with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Etowah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Etowah 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.
Etowah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Etowah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Etowah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Etowah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Etowah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Etowah 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.