Best PlacesHuntsville, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Huntsville metro, 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.
Huntsville ranks 78th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a strong job market and low property taxes. The weaker spots are walkability, taxes, and the weather.
The best neighborhoods in the Huntsville 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 Huntsville
The towns and districts of the Huntsville 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.
Owens Cross Roads & New Hope
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and prices have run up less.
New Market, Moores Mill & Meridianville
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Toney & Hazel Green
More households have young kids.
Athens & Harvest
Incomes run lower and commutes are longer.
Downtown Huntsville
Crime runs higher and fewer residents vote.
Huntsville shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Huntsville's strengths and weaknesses
Huntsville ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Low property taxes and what local pay buys follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Walkability, taxes, and the weather hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Huntsville ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$639 a month, better than 87% of metro areas
Where Huntsville ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 71 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 32% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 34% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Huntsville
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Huntsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,494, 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 Huntsville's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 Huntsville
Huntsville'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 Huntsville.
Who works in Huntsville, and how
Work in Huntsville centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Huntsville
Huntsville has more late-night spots per resident than 75% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Huntsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Huntsville growing, and who is moving in?
Huntsville has grown about 23% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Huntsville go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Huntsville, month by month
Huntsville sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Huntsville
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Huntsville
Schools across Huntsville average a C+, better than 42% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Heritage Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Horizon Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Monte Sano Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Discovery Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Moores Mill Intermediate SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- New Century Technology High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Huntsville High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Virgil Grissom High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Huntsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Huntsville 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 Huntsville against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Huntsville suits
Families
Schools land around the 42nd percentile and crime safety beats 63%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Huntsville
Is Huntsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Huntsville ranks 78th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a strong job market, low property taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on walkability and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Huntsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,619. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $94,494 median income, cost of living beats 96% of metro areas.
Is Huntsville safe?
Yes, Huntsville is safer than 63% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Huntsville?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 35. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Huntsville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Owens Cross Roads & New Hope, New Market, Moores Mill & Meridianville, and Toney & Hazel Green. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Huntsville good for families?
Schools beat 42% of metro areas, crime safety beats 63%, and childcare runs $639 a month.
Is Huntsville good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Huntsville with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Huntsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Huntsville 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.
Huntsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Huntsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Huntsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Huntsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Huntsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Huntsville 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.