Best PlacesPell City, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pell City, 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.
Pell City ranks 30,396th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pell City
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.
Pell City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pell City ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- BikingBetter than 70% of towns
Where Pell City ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 19% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pell City
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pell City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,203, 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 Pell City's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 Pell City
Pell City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pell City.
Who works in Pell City, and how
Work in Pell City 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 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pell City
Pell City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Pell City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pell City, month by month
Pell City sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, 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 | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Pell City
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pell City
Schools across Pell City average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Moody Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Springville Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Coosa Valley Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Springville Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Duran Junior High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Moody Junior High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Springville High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Pell City High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Moody High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pell City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pell City 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 Pell City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pell City
Is Pell City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pell City ranks 30,396th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and transit, and lowest on air quality and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pell City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,080. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $71,203 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Pell City safe?
Pell City is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Pell City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pell City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pell City 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.
Pell City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pell City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pell City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pell City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pell City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pell City 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.