Best PlacesTaff, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Taff, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Taff ranks 37,088th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Taff
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.
Taff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taff ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$528 a month, better than 90% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
Where Taff ranks low
- Short commute51.8 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Taff
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,580, 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 Taff's effective rate of 0.29%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Taff
Taff runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Taff.
Who works in Taff, and how
Work in Taff centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Taff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Taff.
What the weather is like in Taff, month by month
Taff sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Taff
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taff
Schools across Taff average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Centre Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Ruhuma Junior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Centre Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Fort Payne Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Payne High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Cherokee County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taff 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 Taff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Taff
Is Taff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taff ranks 37,088th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,200. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $71,580 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Taff safe?
Yes, Taff is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Taff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taff 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.
Taff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taff 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.