Best PlacesMorgan County, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Morgan County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Morgan County ranks 1,166th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low property taxes and state infrastructure. The weaker spots are taxes, summer heat, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Morgan 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 Morgan County
The parts of Morgan 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.
Hartselle
Crime runs lower, schools score higher, and more households have young kids.
Somerville, Laceys Spring & Priceville
Tree cover is thicker and local pay stretches further.
Falkville & Eva
More residents vote and it is quieter.
Decatur
Incomes run lower and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Morgan County run from about the 2nd to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Morgan County's strengths and weaknesses
Morgan County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, state infrastructure, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Taxes, summer heat, and civic engagement hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Morgan County to another than it does between Morgan County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Morgan County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 75% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 75% of counties
Where Morgan County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 31% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 32% of counties
- School gradeC, better than only 34% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Morgan County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morgan County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,461, 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 Morgan County's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Morgan County
Morgan 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 Morgan County.
Who works in Morgan County, and how
Work in Morgan County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Morgan County
Morgan County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Morgan County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Morgan County growing, and who is moving in?
Morgan County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Huntsville, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Morgan County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Morgan County, month by month
Morgan County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, 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 | 53° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Morgan County
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morgan County
Schools across Morgan County average a C, better than 34% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Barkley Bridge Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Liberty Park ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Leon Sheffield Magnet Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Park Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Hartselle Intermediate SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Hartselle Junior High SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Vestavia Hills High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Hartselle High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Decatur High DevelopmentalB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morgan County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morgan 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 Morgan County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Morgan County suits
Families
Schools land around the 34th percentile and crime safety beats 75%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Morgan County
Is Morgan County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morgan County ranks 1,166th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and what local pay buys, and lowest on taxes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morgan County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,003. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $73,461 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Morgan County safe?
Yes, Morgan County is safer than 75% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Morgan County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 34. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Morgan County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hartselle, Somerville, Laceys Spring & Priceville, and Falkville & Eva. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Morgan County good for families?
Schools beat 34% of counties, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $639 a month.
Is Morgan County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 75% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Morgan County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morgan County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morgan 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.
Morgan County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morgan County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morgan County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morgan County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morgan County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morgan 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.