Best PlacesFlorence, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Florence 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 themidnite (original), Yassie (derivative work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Florence ranks 272nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and taxes. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Florence 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 Florence
The towns and districts of the Florence 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.
Muscle Shoals
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Killen, Rogersville & Lexington
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Tuscumbia
More households have young kids and tree cover is thicker.
Leighton
Heat risk is higher and streets are more car-dependent.
Downtown Florence
Fewer residents vote and crime runs higher.
Scores across Florence run from about the 2nd to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Florence's strengths and weaknesses
Florence lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Quiet and affordable childcare follow.
The one real hole is biking, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and transit also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Florence ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$639 a month, better than 87% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of metro areas
Where Florence ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Household income$66,684 median, better than only 14% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Florence
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Florence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,684, 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 Florence'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 Florence
Florence's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Florence.
Who works in Florence, and how
Work in Florence centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Florence
Florence has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 92% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Florence and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Florence growing, and who is moving in?
Florence has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Florence go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Florence, month by month
Florence sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Florence
The nearest airport, Northwest Alabama Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Florence
Schools across Florence average a C, better than 16% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Rock Quarry Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Kilby Laboratory SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Forest Hills SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Muscle Shoals Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Northridge Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Florence Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Muscle Shoals High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Northridge High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Tishomingo County High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Florence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Florence 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 Florence against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Florence suits
Common questions about living in Florence
Is Florence a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Florence ranks 272nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on biking and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Florence expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,926. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $66,684 median income, cost of living beats 45% of metro areas.
Is Florence safe?
Florence is safer than 47% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Florence?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 33. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Florence?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Muscle Shoals, Killen, Rogersville & Lexington, and Tuscumbia. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Florence good for families?
Schools beat 16% of metro areas, crime safety beats 47%, and childcare runs $639 a month.
Is Florence good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 45% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 47% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Florence with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Florence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Florence 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.
Florence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Florence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Florence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Florence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Florence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Florence 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.