Best PlacesSimmsville, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Simmsville, 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.
Simmsville ranks 16,801st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Simmsville
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.
Simmsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Simmsville ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
Where Simmsville ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Simmsville
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Simmsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,669, 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 Simmsville's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Simmsville
Simmsville 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 Simmsville.
Who works in Simmsville, and how
Work in Simmsville centers on finance & insurance and other services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Simmsville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Simmsville.
What the weather is like in Simmsville, month by month
Simmsville sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 57, 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 | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Simmsville
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Simmsville
Schools across Simmsville average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mt Laurel Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Forest Oaks Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chelsea Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Chelsea High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Simmsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Simmsville 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 Simmsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Simmsville
Is Simmsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Simmsville ranks 16,801st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on air quality and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Simmsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,300. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $73,669 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Simmsville safe?
Simmsville is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Simmsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Simmsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Simmsville 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.
Simmsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Simmsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Simmsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Simmsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Simmsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Simmsville 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.