Best PlacesVestavia Hills, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vestavia Hills, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Vestavia Hills ranks 178th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Vestavia Hills
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.
The best areas in Vestavia Hills
The parts of Vestavia Hills, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Shades View Estates
Hickory Ridge Estates
Crossgate
Greystone
Scores across Vestavia Hills run from about the 42nd to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Vestavia Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Vestavia Hills ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 94% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 92% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of cities
Where Vestavia Hills ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 22% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 24% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Vestavia Hills
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vestavia Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $137,894; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Vestavia Hills' effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Vestavia Hills
Vestavia Hills's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Vestavia Hills.
Who works in Vestavia Hills, and how
Work in Vestavia Hills centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Vestavia Hills
Vestavia Hills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Vestavia Hills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Vestavia Hills, month by month
Vestavia Hills sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, 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 | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Vestavia Hills
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vestavia Hills
Schools across Vestavia Hills average an A, better than 94% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain Brook Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- East ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
- Brookwood Forest Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pizitz Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Liberty Park Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Mountain Brook Junior High SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Brook High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Vestavia Hills High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Homewood High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vestavia Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vestavia Hills 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 Vestavia Hills against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Vestavia Hills suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Vestavia Hills
Is Vestavia Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vestavia Hills ranks 178th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, an educated workforce, and good schools, and lowest on air quality and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vestavia Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $556,393. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $137,894 median income, cost of living beats 97% of cities.
Is Vestavia Hills safe?
Vestavia Hills is safer than 53% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Vestavia Hills?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 37. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Vestavia Hills?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Shades View Estates, Hickory Ridge Estates, and Crossgate. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Vestavia Hills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vestavia Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vestavia Hills 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.
Vestavia Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vestavia Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vestavia Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vestavia Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vestavia Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vestavia Hills 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.