Best PlacesMerry, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Merry, 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.
Merry ranks 1,536th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Merry
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.
Merry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Merry ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
Where Merry ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 26% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 30% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Merry
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Merry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,405, 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 Merry's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Merry
Merry runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Merry.
Who works in Merry, and how
Work in Merry centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Merry
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Merry.
What the weather is like in Merry, month by month
Merry sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Merry
The nearest airport, Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field), is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Merry
Schools across Merry average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blount Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Halcyon Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carr Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Pike Road High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Park Crossing High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Merry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Merry 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 Merry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Merry
Is Merry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Merry ranks 1,536th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, fast internet, and an educated workforce, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Merry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $382,822. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $123,405 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Merry safe?
Yes, Merry is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Merry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Merry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Merry 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.
Merry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Merry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Merry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Merry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Merry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Merry 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.