Best PlacesOctagon, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Octagon, 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.
Octagon ranks 49,351st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Octagon
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.
Octagon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Octagon ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Octagon ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$26,000 median, better than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Octagon
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Octagon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $26,000, 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 Octagon's effective rate of 0.16%, 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 Octagon
Octagon runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Octagon.
Who works in Octagon, and how
Work in Octagon centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Octagon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Octagon.
What the weather is like in Octagon, month by month
Octagon sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Octagon
The nearest airport, Key Field, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 213 miles away.
The best schools in and around Octagon
Schools across Octagon average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Linden Elementary SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- George P Austin Junior High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Linden High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Octagon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Octagon 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 Octagon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Octagon
Is Octagon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Octagon ranks 49,351st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on health outcomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Octagon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,647. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $26,000 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Octagon safe?
Octagon is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $782 per resident a year.
Compare Octagon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Octagon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Octagon 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.
Octagon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Octagon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Octagon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Octagon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Octagon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Octagon 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.