Best PlacesPike County, AL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Pike 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Pike County ranks 2,336th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.

#2,336
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Pike County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Pike County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Pike County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Fast internet
Top 3%Low property taxes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Pike County with other counties.

Where Pike County ranks high

  • Internet speedBetter than 99% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than 99% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 86% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$561 a month, better than 82% of counties

Where Pike County ranks low

  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of counties
  • Household income$54,212 median, better than only 15% of counties
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
  • School gradeC−, better than only 16% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Pike County

A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pike County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,212, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$40,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$936
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $166,461 home
Median rent
$861
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$849
Property tax$32
Homeowners insurance$55

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 Pike County's effective rate of 0.23%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Pike County

Pike County runs younger than the country.

Median age
36
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3430%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6416%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pike County.


Who works in Pike County, and how

Work in Pike County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.2%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.9%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing18%
Retail trade13%
Education12%
Health care & social10%
Transportation & warehousing8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 91%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in Pike County

Pike County has less parkland per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Pike County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
170
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 51.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 61% of counties
Coffee shops
13
about 3.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 33% of counties
Parkland
86 acres
about 2.6 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 31% of counties
Living on campus
1,915
students living in college or university housing

Is Pike County growing, and who is moving in?

Pike County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Montgomery, AL.

Population growth
-0%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
33,124
down from 33,199
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Montgomery, AL376 / yr
Birmingham, AL263 / yr
Tuscaloosa, AL229 / yr
Dale County, AL190 / yr
Coffee County, AL119 / yr

Where people leaving Pike County go

Birmingham, AL416 / yr
Coffee County, AL202 / yr
Augusta, GA198 / yr
Huntsville, AL186 / yr
Montgomery, AL184 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Pike County, month by month

Pike County sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January60°48°38°
April77°64°53°
July90°79°71°
October79°66°57°

Flying in and out of Pike County

The nearest airport, Dothan Regional, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 155 miles away.

Nearest airport
DHN
Dothan Regional, about 44 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
275th-busiest in the US, 1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
62 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Pike County

Schools across Pike County average a C−, better than 16% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pike County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Pike 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 Pike County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Pike County suits

Families

Schools land around the 16th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 67% of counties and it is quieter than 64%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Pike County

Is Pike County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pike County ranks 2,336th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on civic engagement and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Pike County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $166,461. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $54,212 median income, cost of living beats 21% of counties.

Is Pike County safe?

Pike County is safer than 16% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $462 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Pike County?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 38. That works out to about 109 pleasant days a year, more than 67% of counties.

Is Pike County good for families?

Schools beat 16% of counties, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $561 a month.


Compare Pike County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pike County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pike 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.

Pike County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Pike County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Pike County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Pike County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Pike County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Pike County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.