Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,789.
Bon Secour gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $310K for a typical one, or 3.9 years of the Daphne metro’s $79K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 68th among Alabama's 187 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top, and the median household income is $61K, and 18% of residents live below the poverty line. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Allen House and Hamner House. Only 1 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a higher January low than Bon Secour.
Where Bon Secour beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Bon Secour’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Bon Secour is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 90% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 2%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1882 and 3 maps from 1921 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Bon Secour is unincorporated, so Baldwin County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bon Secour.
Bon Secour is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Alabama (mostly hurricanes).
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 99% of Alabama towns; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
Only 2 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a higher FEMA risk score than Bon Secour.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Baldwin County school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swift Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 155 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
Bon Secour has 208 jobs for its 694 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 33.1 minutes, against 25.5 across Alabama.
Most working residents leave Bon Secour for work: only 1% work in town. At 33 minutes, Bon Secour’s average trip to work is where Alabama’s towns sit at 25 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. The top destinations are Foley (21%), Gulf Shores (13%) and Orange Beach (11%).
| Bon Secour | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.6% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $61,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For Bon Secour, that is below both Alabama’s towns (23%) and U.S. towns (22%). Adults 18 to 34 are 32% of residents (22% statewide); children under 18 are 15% of residents (22% statewide). 34% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Bon Secour.
| Bon Secour | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 15% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 23% | 29% |
Somewhere between 10% and 47% women
The Census survey reached too few of Bon Secour’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±18.8 points. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women.
| Bon Secour | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.9% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 3.8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 23.9% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.9% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.5% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.8% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.1% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.8% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.6% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.9% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.6% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,800, single groups can be off by several points
January nights average 43.3°, milder than in 96% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 89.7°.
Bon Secour has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Bon Secour is 90°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,294 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bon Secour’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income. Within Alabama it is healthier than 66% of the 187 graded towns: much of Alabama scores lower on these measures.
Bon Secour beats the Alabama average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 44% of Bon Secour adults have high blood pressure.
| Bon Secour | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 43% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 36% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 40% | 36% |
| What stands out | Bon Secour | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 7.3% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.9% | 13.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 8.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bon Secour. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi MuseumUSS Alabama
19 mi MuseumFort Morgan
26 mi LandmarkFort Pickens
25 mi Ancient siteUSS Massachusetts
25 mi MuseumNational Naval Aviation Museum
31 mi MuseumUSS DrumUSS Alabama: USN, Public domain · Fort Morgan: Altairisfar, Public domain · Fort Pickens: Notneb82, CC BY-SA 3.0 · USS Massachusetts: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain · National Naval Aviation Museum: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0 · USS Drum: Jean-Pierre Martin, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of Bon Secour; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Bon Secour residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
4 places in Bon Secour on the National Register of Historic Places.
Place in Alabama, United States
Bon Secour is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. It lies along the eastern coastline of Bon Secour Bay (a contiguous bay that sits along the eastern edge of Mobile Bay). Bon Secour is over 35 miles (56 km) due east of the Alabama–Mississippi state line, near Gulf Shores, and over 45 miles (72 km) west of Pensacola, Florida. The name "Bon Secour" derives from the French phrase meaning "good help" or "good assistance (succor)." Bon Secour is located at the mouth of the Bon Secour River on Bon Secour Bay. The town shares its name with the Secour National Wildlife Refuge, which lies to the south on the Fort Morgan Peninsula and Dau…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bon Secour grades C+ overall, better than 43% of U.S. towns and #68 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C+ for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $310,000, 30% above the Alabama typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
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