Best PlacesMaxine, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maxine, 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.
Maxine ranks 45,803rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Maxine
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.
Maxine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maxine ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- QuietBetter than 86% of towns
Where Maxine ranks low
- Household income$40,424 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute39.0 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maxine
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maxine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $40,424; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Maxine's effective rate of 0.16%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Maxine
Maxine runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Maxine.
Who works in Maxine, and how
Work in Maxine centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Maxine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Maxine.
What the weather is like in Maxine, month by month
Maxine sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 57, 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 | 57° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 80° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Maxine
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maxine
Schools across Maxine average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Parrish Elementarymiddle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- West Jefferson Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Oakman Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Corner High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Dora High SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Pleasant Grove High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maxine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maxine 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 Maxine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maxine
Is Maxine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maxine ranks 45,803rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on low incomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maxine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,818. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $40,424 median income, cost of living beats 5% of towns.
Is Maxine safe?
Yes, Maxine is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Maxine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maxine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maxine 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.
Maxine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maxine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maxine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maxine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maxine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maxine 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.