Best PlacesTanner, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tanner, 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.
Tanner ranks 25,819th 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 Tanner
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.
Tanner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tanner ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of towns
- Cheap childcare$639 a month, better than 74% of towns
Where Tanner ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tanner
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tanner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,098, 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 Tanner's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tanner
Tanner runs older 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 Tanner.
Who works in Tanner, and how
Work in Tanner centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tanner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tanner.
What the weather is like in Tanner, month by month
Tanner sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Tanner
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tanner
Schools across Tanner average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brookhill Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Eastwood Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Bankscaddell Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Athens Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Decatur Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Athens High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Decatur High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Tanner High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tanner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tanner 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 Tanner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tanner
Is Tanner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tanner ranks 25,819th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, state infrastructure, and few empty homes, and lowest on the schools and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tanner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $256,487. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,098 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Tanner safe?
Yes, Tanner is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Tanner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tanner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tanner 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.
Tanner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tanner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tanner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tanner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tanner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tanner 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.