Best PlacesHester Heights, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hester Heights, 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.
Hester Heights ranks 27,529th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hester Heights
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.
Hester Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hester Heights ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Hester Heights ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hester Heights
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hester Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,886, 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 Hester Heights' effective rate of 0.32%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hester Heights
Hester Heights runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hester Heights.
Who works in Hester Heights, and how
Work in Hester Heights centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Hester Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hester Heights.
What the weather is like in Hester Heights, month by month
Hester Heights sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hester Heights
The nearest airport, Northwest Alabama Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hester Heights
Schools across Hester Heights average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tharptown Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top middle schools
- Russellville Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Russellville High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Tharptown High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hester Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hester Heights 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 Hester Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hester Heights
Is Hester Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hester Heights ranks 27,529th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on health outcomes 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 Hester Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,394. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $72,886 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Hester Heights safe?
Hester Heights is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
Compare Hester Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hester Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hester Heights 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.
Hester Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hester Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hester Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hester Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hester Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hester Heights 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.