Best PlacesStroud, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stroud, 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.
Stroud ranks 45,298th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stroud
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.
Stroud's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stroud ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap childcare$635 a month, better than 75% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 58% of towns
Where Stroud ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stroud
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stroud home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,939, 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 Stroud's effective rate of 0.22%, 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 Stroud
Stroud 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 Stroud.
Who works in Stroud, and how
Work in Stroud centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Stroud
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stroud.
What the weather is like in Stroud, month by month
Stroud sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Stroud
The nearest airport, Columbus, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stroud
Schools across Stroud average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Knight Enloe Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Huguley Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Rock Mills Junior High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Handley Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- W F Burns Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- John P Powell Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Handley High SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Lafayette High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stroud school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stroud 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 Stroud against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stroud
Is Stroud a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stroud ranks 45,298th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and tree cover, and lowest on the schools and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stroud expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,902. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $54,939 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Stroud safe?
Stroud is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $443 per resident a year.
Compare Stroud with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stroud. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stroud 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.
Stroud detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stroud: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stroud: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stroud: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stroud: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stroud 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.