Best PlacesMount Hester, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Hester, 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.
Mount Hester ranks 40,040th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Hester
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.
Mount Hester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Hester ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- QuietBetter than 76% of towns
Where Mount Hester ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Household income$50,461 median, better than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Hester
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Hester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,461, 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 Mount Hester's effective rate of 0.32%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Mount Hester
Mount Hester's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Mount Hester.
Who works in Mount Hester, and how
Work in Mount Hester centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mount Hester
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Hester.
What the weather is like in Mount Hester, month by month
Mount Hester sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Mount Hester
The nearest airport, Northwest Alabama Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Hester
Schools across Mount Hester average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherokee Elementary SchoolD · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Cherokee High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Hester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Hester 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 Mount Hester against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Hester
Is Mount Hester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Hester ranks 40,040th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and tree cover, and lowest on the schools and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Hester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,345. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $50,461 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Mount Hester safe?
Mount Hester is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $438 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Hester with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Hester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Hester 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.
Mount Hester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Hester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Hester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Hester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Hester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Hester 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.