Best PlacesGadsden, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Gadsden 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 Bubba73, CC BY-SA 4.0, via geo
Gadsden ranks 363rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on low incomes and taxes. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Gadsden 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 Gadsden
The towns and districts of the Gadsden 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.
Southside & Rainbow City
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and schools score higher.
Glencoe
More adults hold degrees and local pay stretches further.
Boaz & Altoona
Crime runs lower, though commutes are longer.
Hokes Bluff
Tree cover is thinner and health care is harder to reach.
Attalla
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Downtown Gadsden
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Gadsden run from about the 2nd to the 67th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gadsden's strengths and weaknesses
Gadsden ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Affordable childcare and state infrastructure follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: low incomes, taxes, and health outcomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Gadsden ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$531 a month, better than 98% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Gadsden ranks low
- Household income$57,037 median, better than only 1% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Gadsden
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gadsden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,037, 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 Gadsden's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Gadsden
Gadsden runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gadsden.
Who works in Gadsden, and how
Work in Gadsden centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Gadsden
Gadsden has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gadsden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gadsden growing, and who is moving in?
Gadsden has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gadsden go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gadsden, month by month
Gadsden sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Gadsden
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gadsden
Schools across Gadsden average a C−, better than 12% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Eura Brown Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Southside Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- John S Jones Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ashville Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Rainbow Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Glencoe Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pleasant Valley High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Ohatchee High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Hokes Bluff High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gadsden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gadsden 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 Gadsden against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Gadsden suits
Common questions about living in Gadsden
Is Gadsden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gadsden ranks 363rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on low incomes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gadsden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,955. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $57,037 median income, cost of living beats 4% of metro areas.
Is Gadsden safe?
Gadsden is safer than 41% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gadsden?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 54 with lows near 33. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gadsden?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Southside & Rainbow City, Glencoe, and Boaz & Altoona. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Gadsden good for families?
Schools beat 12% of metro areas, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $531 a month.
Is Gadsden good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 4% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 53% of metro areas. About 5% of workers already work from home.
Compare Gadsden with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gadsden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gadsden 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.
Gadsden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gadsden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gadsden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gadsden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gadsden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gadsden 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.