Highland LakesAL
A town in Alabama, home to 5,866 people.
What should you know before moving to Highland Lakes?
Highland Lakes’s grades pull in different directions. Incomes are its strong suit (A+): the median household earns $169K. The town ranks 18th of 187 in Alabama, with an A− overall. It comes out better than just over four fifths of U.S. towns. Add health to its strengths: it is healthier than 92% of U.S. towns. The catch is walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $599K, 8.4 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow.
Highland Lakes has grown 33% from 2010 to 2020
3,926 counted in 2010 and 5,239 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Highland Lakes grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Highland Lakes is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D for walkability (better than 12%), so the A− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Legion Field and 19 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Highland Lakes. Close and well known come first.
14 mi Stadium & arenaLegion Field
13 mi Stadium & arenaProtective Stadium
12 mi MuseumSloss Furnaces
13 mi Stadium & arenaLegacy Arena
13 mi Stadium & arenaBirmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex
13 mi MuseumBirmingham Museum of ArtPhoto credits
Legion Field: USGS, Public domain · Protective Stadium: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sloss Furnaces: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Legacy Arena: AuburnShuffle, CC0 · Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex: Chris Pruitt, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Birmingham Museum of Art: Birmingham Museum of Art, CC BY 3.0
Moving to Highland Lakes: who provides what
Highland Lakes is unincorporated, so Shelby 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Highland Lakes.
Highland Lakes has less food insecurity than most of Alabama and sends most of its workers to Birmingham and beyond, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Alabama.
Compared with most of Alabama and the rest of the country, fewer of Highland Lakes’ adults report frequent mental distress
Its widest gap with Alabama is food insecurity: 7.3% of its 4,052 adults worry about having enough food, against 19.2% statewide. Against the 1,709 U.S. towns with household incomes like Highland Lakes’s, it is less healthy than 57%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Highland Lakes: 17% of adults get no exercise outside work. Only 6 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Highland Lakes. CDC measures, 32 in all: Highland Lakes beats Alabama on 22 and trails on 1.
| Highland Lakes | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 36% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 18% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 30% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 16% | 14% |
| What stands out | Highland Lakes | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.3% | 19.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 5.9% | 13.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.7% | 8.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median household income in Highland Lakes is higher than in the typical Alabama or U.S. town
Highland Lakes has 396 jobs for its 1,807 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. 22.9% of workers work from home, against 8.8% across Alabama.
Jobs based in Highland Lakes grew to 396 in 2023, 264 more than in 2013. Highland Lakes: 4.1% of residents live below the poverty line, below both Alabama’s towns (16%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Among workers in the town, 23% do their job from home. For most workers, Highland Lakes is a place to come home to: only 1% work in town.
| Highland Lakes | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $169,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 23% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 4.1% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expect mild winters and hot summers in Highland Lakes
July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 33° and snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Highland Lakes faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Paid flood insurance claims in Highland Lakes since 1995: 8. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 51% of U.S. communities. 48% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 36%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes in Highland Lakes sell for about $630K
At 8.4 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 98% of Alabama towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $2,258, against $788 across Alabama, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Homes sold in Highland Lakes spent a median 46 days on the market. Among 187 Alabama towns, just 2 have a higher owner-occupancy rate than Highland Lakes.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Highland Lakes
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Highland Lakes
About 6 of every 100 Highland Lakes residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
99% of working residents leave Highland Lakes for work
Where Highland Lakes’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Highland Lakes
Census-designated place in Alabama, United States
Highland Lakes is a census-designated place in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, Highland Lakes had a population of 5,239.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 810 ft
- Area code
- 205
Highland Lakes’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Highland Lakes.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Lakes | #18 | A− | C | — | A− | A |
| Chelsea | #12 | A | B− | — | A− | A |
| Hoover | #19 | A− | C− | B | A+ | A |
| Shoal Creek | — | — | C | — | A− | A |
Shoal Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Highland Lakes, Chelsea and Shoal Creek report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Highland Lakes with a neighbor →
Questions about Highland Lakes
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Highland Lakes, AL a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Highland Lakes grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #18 of 187 in Alabama. It grades A for health and A− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Highland Lakes, AL expensive?
The typical home is worth about $599,000, 151% 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 C.