Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
New Hope gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $222K, 2.6 years of the Huntsville metro’s $86K median household income. It grades A− overall, 31st among Alabama's 187 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 84% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 82% of Alabama towns. Among 137 Alabama towns, just 3 have a lower violent crime rate than New Hope. Butlers' Store is on the National Register of Historic Places. Among 187 Alabama towns, just 8 have a lower share of residents 65 or older than New Hope.
Where New Hope beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| New Hope Elementary School | PK–6 | 534 |
| New Hope High School | 7–12 | 598 |
Butlers' StoreWhere New Hope’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 New Hope is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for cost of living (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for hazard risk (better than 11%), so the A− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 146 in 1880, 2,889 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 2011 and 4 maps from 1936 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in New Hope, and how to reach them.
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 New Hope.
New Hope pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Alabama norm, pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and has a longer frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of Alabama.
Its A− for schools comes with an A+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $222K.
Its public schools are run by the Madison County school district. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is New Hope High School, with 598 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hope Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 534 | A− |
| New Hope High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 598 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
Since 1990, 16 flood insurance claims have been paid out in New Hope.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Children under 18 are 38% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 10% of residents (18% statewide). At 34.2 years, New Hope’s median age is where Alabama’s towns sit at 39.2 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years. New Hope has grown 5.8% since 2020, to 3,054 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| New Hope | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.2 years | 39.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 29% | 23% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.5 points. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women.
| New Hope | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 17.3% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 20.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.4% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.1% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 6.4% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 5.9% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.1% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 14.2% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.7% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.4% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.4% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.7% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 3.6% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,100, single groups can be off by several points
Most working residents leave New Hope for work: only 5% work in town. Jobs based in New Hope grew to 472 in 2023, 99 more than in 2013. At 22 minutes, New Hope’s average trip to work is below both Alabama’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
| New Hope | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.1% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 16% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Guntersville weather station, 15 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 244 days: longer than most of the country, but shorter than 90% of Alabama places with climate records. The Guntersville weather station, 15 miles away, records that about 49 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 85% of Alabama places with climate records.
New Hope has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. New Hope’s July high is 90°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Alabama it is healthier than 59% of the 187 graded towns: much of Alabama scores lower on these measures.
New Hope beats the Alabama average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 40% of adults have high blood pressure in New Hope.
| New Hope | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 43% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 39% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 12% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 24% | 23% |
| What stands out | New Hope | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 10.4% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.9% | 19.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
New Hope's reported crime rate is below Alabama's. The property crime rate in New Hope is 11.2 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
New Hope grades A− overall with a typical home of about $222K, below the Alabama typical value; only 4 of the 22 Alabama towns graded A− or better can say that. At 2.6 years of the Huntsville metro’s $86K median household income, the typical home (about $222K) costs less against local pay than in 80% of Alabama towns; that ratio is one input to its A+ for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 5.5% in the year to September 2026.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
0.9 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The biggest park or preserve is New Hope City Park, at 24 acres.
| New Hope | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.7% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. New Hope City Park | 0.9 mi | 24 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Hope. Close and well known come first.
18 mi MuseumU.S. Space & Rocket Center1.0M visitors a year
14 mi MuseumBurritt on the Mountain20 mi Theme parkSpace City USA15 mi Theme parkSouthern Adventures
16 mi MuseumHuntsville Museum of Art
19 mi MuseumNorth Alabama Railroad MuseumU.S. Space & Rocket Center: formulanone from Huntsville, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Burritt on the Mountain: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Huntsville Museum of Art: Chris Pruitt, CC BY-SA 3.0 · North Alabama Railroad Museum: Jeff Hunter from Madison, AL, USA, CC BY 2.0
None within 15 miles of New Hope; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 New Hope residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
City in Alabama, United States
New Hope is a city in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2,889 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with New Hope.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hope | #31 | A− | A+ | — | A− | C+ |
| Owens Cross Roads | #34 | B+ | A+ | B+ | A− | B− |
New Hope reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare New Hope with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. New Hope grades A− overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #31 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C+ for health and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.
2 notable people were born here, including Jim Tabor and Nancy Worley.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
