Best PlacesGardendale, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gardendale, 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.
Gardendale ranks 15,431st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state infrastructure.
The best neighborhoods in Gardendale
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.
Gardendale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gardendale ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
Where Gardendale ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gardendale
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gardendale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,405, 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 Gardendale's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gardendale
Gardendale'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 Gardendale.
Who works in Gardendale, and how
Work in Gardendale centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Gardendale
Gardendale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gardendale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gardendale, month by month
Gardendale sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Gardendale
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gardendale
Schools across Gardendale average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Margaret ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Bryan Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Gardendale Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Springville Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Corner Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Bragg Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Springville High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Mortimer Jordan High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Corner High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gardendale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gardendale 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 Gardendale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gardendale
Is Gardendale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gardendale ranks 15,431st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, fast internet, and few empty homes, and lowest on air quality and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gardendale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $263,113. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $82,405 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Gardendale safe?
Yes, Gardendale is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $270 per resident a year.
Compare Gardendale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gardendale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gardendale 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.
Gardendale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gardendale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gardendale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gardendale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gardendale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gardendale 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.