Best PlacesRainsville, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rainsville, 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.
Rainsville ranks 20,298th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rainsville
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.
Rainsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rainsville ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$528 a month, better than 90% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
- Short commute22.0 minutes each way, better than 80% of towns
Where Rainsville ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 35% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 39% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rainsville
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rainsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,499, 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 Rainsville's effective rate of 0.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rainsville
Rainsville 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 Rainsville.
Who works in Rainsville, and how
Work in Rainsville centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Rainsville
Rainsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Rainsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rainsville, month by month
Rainsville sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Rainsville
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rainsville
Schools across Rainsville average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dutton Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Macedonia SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Ruhuma Junior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Scottsboro High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Fort Payne High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Crossville High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rainsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rainsville 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 Rainsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rainsville
Is Rainsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rainsville ranks 20,298th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rainsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,101. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $67,499 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Rainsville safe?
Yes, Rainsville is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Rainsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rainsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rainsville 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.
Rainsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rainsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rainsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rainsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rainsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rainsville 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.