Best PlacesMobile County, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mobile County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mobile County ranks 2,578th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on disaster risk and taxes. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Mobile County
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 Mobile County
The parts of Mobile County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Grand Bay, Tillmans Corner & Irvington
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and local pay stretches further.
Semmes, Wilmer & Citronelle
Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.
Saraland & Eight Mile
More households have young kids, though streets are more car-dependent.
Satsuma, Chickasaw & Mount Vernon
Schools score higher, though it is noisier.
Mobile
Prices have run up more.
Prichard
Biking is better, though heat risk is higher.
Scores across Mobile County run from about the 1st to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Mobile County's strengths and weaknesses
Mobile County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes, fast internet, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: disaster risk, taxes, and summer heat all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Mobile County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 78% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 71% of counties
Where Mobile County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mobile County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mobile County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,593, 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 Mobile County's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Mobile County
Mobile County'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 Mobile County.
Who works in Mobile County, and how
Work in Mobile County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mobile County
The coast is about 15 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Mobile County, which the map shows.
Is Mobile County growing, and who is moving in?
Mobile County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Daphne, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mobile County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mobile County, month by month
Mobile County sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 70° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Mobile County
The nearest airport, Mobile Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 133 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mobile County
Schools across Mobile County average a C−, better than 16% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Eicholdmertz School Of Math And ScienceA+ · 80% proficient
- Saraland Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- W H Council Traditional SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Phillips Preparatory Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Saraland Middle Schooladams CampusA · 60% proficient
- Clarkshaw Magnet SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Saraland High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Wp Davidson High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Satsuma High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mobile County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mobile County 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 Mobile County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Mobile County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mobile County
Is Mobile County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mobile County ranks 2,578th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, fast internet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on disaster risk and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mobile County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,271. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,593 median income, cost of living beats 49% of counties.
Is Mobile County safe?
Mobile County is safer than 15% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $534 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mobile County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 39. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mobile County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Grand Bay, Tillmans Corner & Irvington, Semmes, Wilmer & Citronelle, and Saraland & Eight Mile. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Mobile County good for families?
Schools beat 16% of counties, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $619 a month.
Is Mobile County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 49% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Mobile County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mobile County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mobile County 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.
Mobile County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mobile County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mobile County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mobile County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mobile County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mobile County 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.