Best PlacesLester, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lester ranks 12,302nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lester
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.
Lester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lester ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$113,860 median, better than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Lester ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Short commute32.4 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lester
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,860, 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 Lester's effective rate of 0.21%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lester
Lester'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 Lester.
Who works in Lester, and how
Work in Lester centers on manufacturing and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Lester
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lester.
What the weather is like in Lester, month by month
Lester sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Lester
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lester
Schools across Lester average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top high schools
- West Limestone High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Elkmont High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lester 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 Lester against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lester
Is Lester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lester ranks 12,302nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $256,686. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $113,860 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Lester safe?
Lester is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Lester with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lester 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.
Lester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lester 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.