Best PlacesVance, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vance, 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.
Vance ranks 13,793rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Vance
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.
Vance's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vance ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
Where Vance ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
- Short commute31.5 minutes each way, better than only 26% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vance
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vance home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,544, 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 Vance'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 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 Vance
Vance 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 Vance.
Who works in Vance, and how
Work in Vance centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Vance
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vance.
What the weather is like in Vance, month by month
Vance sees roughly 89 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° | 46° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Vance
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 165 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vance
Schools across Vance average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake View Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Brookwood Elementary SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Woodstock Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Blocton Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Brookwood Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Mcadory Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookwood High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- West Blocton High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Mcadory High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vance school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vance 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 Vance against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vance
Is Vance a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vance ranks 13,793rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a strong job market, and low crime, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vance expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,855. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $93,544 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Vance safe?
Yes, Vance is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $170 per resident a year.
Compare Vance with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vance. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vance 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.
Vance detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vance: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vance: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vance: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vance: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vance 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.