Best PlacesSumter County, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sumter County, 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.
Sumter County ranks 3,126th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Sumter County
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.
Sumter County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sumter County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of counties
- Cheap childcare$635 a month, better than 69% of counties
Where Sumter County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of counties
- Household income$34,467 median, better than only 1% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sumter County
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sumter County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $34,467, 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 Sumter County's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 Sumter County
Sumter County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Sumter County.
Who works in Sumter County, and how
Work in Sumter County centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Sumter County
Sumter County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sumter County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sumter County growing, and who is moving in?
Sumter County has lost about 12% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Jackson, MS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sumter County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sumter County, month by month
Sumter County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 58, 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 | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Sumter County
The nearest airport, Key Field, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sumter County
Schools across Sumter County average an F, better than 1% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- University Charter School ElementaryC+ · 35% proficient
- Eutaw Primary SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Kinterbish Junior High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kemper County Upper ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
- B F Liddell Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
- Robert Brown Middle SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Kemper County High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Greene County High SchoolF · 7% proficient
- Aliceville High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sumter County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sumter County 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 Sumter County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Sumter County
Is Sumter County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sumter County ranks 3,126th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, clean air, 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 Sumter County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $127,060. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $34,467 median income, cost of living beats 1% of counties.
Is Sumter County safe?
Sumter County is safer than 0% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,056 per resident a year.
Compare Sumter County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sumter County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sumter County 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.
Sumter County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sumter County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sumter County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sumter County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sumter County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sumter County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.