Best PlacesMontgomery, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Montgomery metro, 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.
Photo by Chris Pruitt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Montgomery ranks 351st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on crime and the schools. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Montgomery 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 Montgomery
The towns and districts of the Montgomery 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.
Prattville, Millbrook & Deatsville
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and schools score higher.
Wetumpka, Tallassee & Eclectic
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Downtown Montgomery
More adults hold degrees and more households have young kids.
Ware
Local pay stretches further and health outcomes score higher.
Elmore & Holtville
Commutes are longer and biking is worse.
Montgomery shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Montgomery's strengths and weaknesses
Montgomery ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. A stable housing market and state infrastructure follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: crime, the schools, and taxes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Montgomery ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$657 a month, better than 85% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 72% of metro areas
Where Montgomery ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- School gradeD+, better than only 2% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Montgomery
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montgomery home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,954, 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 Montgomery's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Montgomery
Montgomery'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 Montgomery.
Who works in Montgomery, and how
Work in Montgomery centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Montgomery
Montgomery has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Montgomery and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Montgomery growing, and who is moving in?
Montgomery has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Montgomery go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Montgomery, month by month
Montgomery sees roughly 80 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 Montgomery
The nearest airport, Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field), is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montgomery
Schools across Montgomery average a D+, better than 2% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Avenue Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Bear Exploration CenterB+ · 52% proficient
- Redland Elementary SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Baldwin Art And Academics MagnetA · 64% proficient
- Floyd Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Pike Road Intermediate SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Loveless Academic Magnet Program High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Brewbaker Technology Magnet High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Booker T Washington Magnet High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montgomery school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montgomery 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 Montgomery against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Montgomery suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Montgomery
Is Montgomery a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montgomery ranks 351st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montgomery expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,772. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $70,954 median income, cost of living beats 40% of metro areas.
Is Montgomery safe?
Montgomery is safer than 1% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $600 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Montgomery?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 39. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Montgomery?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Prattville, Millbrook & Deatsville, Wetumpka, Tallassee & Eclectic, and Downtown Montgomery. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Montgomery good for families?
Schools beat 2% of metro areas, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $657 a month.
Is Montgomery good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 40% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 62% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Montgomery with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montgomery. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montgomery 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.
Montgomery detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montgomery: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montgomery: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montgomery: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montgomery: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montgomery 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.