Best PlacesSims Chapel, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sims Chapel, 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.
Sims Chapel ranks 36,185th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sims Chapel
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.
Sims Chapel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sims Chapel ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$113,488 median, better than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
Where Sims Chapel ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Short commute39.4 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sims Chapel
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sims Chapel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,488, 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 Sims Chapel's effective rate of 0.24%, 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 Sims Chapel
Sims Chapel 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 Sims Chapel.
Who works in Sims Chapel, and how
Work in Sims Chapel centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sims Chapel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sims Chapel.
What the weather is like in Sims Chapel, month by month
Sims Chapel sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 70° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Sims Chapel
The nearest airport, Mobile Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sims Chapel
Schools across Sims Chapel average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chatom Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lott Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Mcintosh High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Citronelle High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sims Chapel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sims Chapel 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 Sims Chapel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sims Chapel
Is Sims Chapel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sims Chapel ranks 36,185th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and what local pay buys, and lowest on a weak job market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sims Chapel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,037. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $113,488 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Sims Chapel safe?
Sims Chapel is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $516 per resident a year.
Compare Sims Chapel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sims Chapel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sims Chapel 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.
Sims Chapel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sims Chapel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sims Chapel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sims Chapel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sims Chapel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sims Chapel 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.