Best PlacesHomewood, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Homewood, 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.
Homewood ranks 423rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Homewood
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.
Homewood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Homewood ranks high
- Short commute17.7 minutes each way, better than 95% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 89% of cities
- Cheap childcare$702 a month, better than 89% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of cities
Where Homewood ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 12% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 22% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Homewood
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Homewood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $113,700, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Homewood's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Homewood
Homewood runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Homewood.
Who works in Homewood, and how
Work in Homewood centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Homewood
Homewood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Homewood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Homewood, month by month
Homewood sees roughly 85 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 Homewood
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 Homewood
Schools across Homewood average an A, better than 89% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Crestline Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- East ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
- Edgewood Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pizitz Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Mountain Brook Junior High SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Homewood Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Brook High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Homewood High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Spain Park High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Homewood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Homewood 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 Homewood against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Homewood suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Homewood
Is Homewood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Homewood ranks 423rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, an educated workforce, and good schools, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Homewood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $549,960. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $113,700 median income, cost of living beats 81% of cities.
Is Homewood safe?
Homewood is safer than 25% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Homewood?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 37. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
Is Homewood good for families?
Schools beat 89% of cities, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $702 a month.
Compare Homewood with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Homewood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Homewood 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.
Homewood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Homewood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Homewood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Homewood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Homewood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Homewood 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.