Best PlacesHampden, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hampden, 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.
Hampden ranks 45,385th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hampden
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.
Hampden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hampden ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
Where Hampden ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hampden
A household needs to earn about $19,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hampden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,047, 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 Hampden's effective rate of 0.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hampden
Hampden runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hampden.
Who works in Hampden, and how
Work in Hampden centers on admin & support services and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hampden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hampden.
What the weather is like in Hampden, month by month
Hampden sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Hampden
The nearest airport, Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field), is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hampden
Schools across Hampden average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- F S Ervin Elementary SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Camden School Of Arts TechnologyF · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilcox Central High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hampden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hampden 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 Hampden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hampden
Is Hampden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hampden ranks 45,385th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hampden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $78,500. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $64,047 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Hampden safe?
Hampden is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $822 per resident a year.
Compare Hampden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hampden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hampden 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.
Hampden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hampden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hampden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hampden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hampden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hampden 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.