Best PlacesMontgomery County, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Montgomery County, 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.
Montgomery County ranks 2,364th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the schools and crime. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Montgomery 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.
Montgomery County's strengths and weaknesses
Montgomery County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes, fast internet, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the schools, crime, and taxes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Montgomery County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of counties
- TransitBetter than 89% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
Where Montgomery County ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 14% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Montgomery County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montgomery County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,136, 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 County's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 County
Montgomery 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 Montgomery County.
Who works in Montgomery County, and how
Work in Montgomery County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Montgomery County
Montgomery County has less late-night activity than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Montgomery County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Montgomery County growing, and who is moving in?
Montgomery County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Montgomery, AL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Montgomery County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Montgomery County, month by month
Montgomery County 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 County
The nearest airport, Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field), is about 10 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 County
Schools across Montgomery County average a D−, better than 2% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Avenue Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Bear Exploration CenterB+ · 52% proficient
- Pike Road 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 County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montgomery 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 Montgomery County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Montgomery County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Montgomery County
Is Montgomery County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montgomery County ranks 2,364th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, fast internet, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montgomery County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $191,796. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $67,136 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.
Is Montgomery County safe?
Montgomery County is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $791 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Montgomery County?
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 38% of counties.
Is Montgomery County good for families?
Schools beat 2% of counties, crime safety beats 3%, and childcare runs $657 a month.
Is Montgomery County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Montgomery County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montgomery County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montgomery 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.
Montgomery County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montgomery County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montgomery County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montgomery County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montgomery County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montgomery 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.