Best PlacesSelma, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Selma, 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.
Selma ranks 49,211th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Selma
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.
Selma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Selma ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 75% of towns
Where Selma ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,012 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Selma
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Selma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,012, 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 Selma's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Selma
Selma 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 Selma.
Who works in Selma, and how
Work in Selma centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Selma
Selma has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns and more parkland per resident than 80% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Selma and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Selma, month by month
Selma sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Selma
The nearest airport, Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field), is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Selma
Schools across Selma average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meadowview Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
- Je Terry Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Valley Grande Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- William R Martin Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- School Of Discovery Genesis CenterD− · 14% proficient
- The Rbhudson Steam AcademyF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Selma High SchoolF · 9% proficient
- Dallas County High SchoolF · 8% proficient
- Keith Middlehigh SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Selma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Selma 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 Selma against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Selma suits
Common questions about living in Selma
Is Selma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Selma ranks 49,211th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, walkability, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Selma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $101,484. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $37,012 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Selma safe?
Selma is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,106 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Selma?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 38. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of towns.
Is Selma good for families?
Schools beat 2% of towns, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $658 a month.
Compare Selma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Selma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Selma 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.
Selma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Selma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Selma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Selma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Selma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Selma 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.