Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Good on most counts; one lags. Its best grade is for cost of living: a typical home costs about $436K, 5.1 years of the Huntsville metro’s $86K median household income. With a B+ overall, Owens Cross Roads is better than 73% of U.S. towns and ranks 34th of 187 in Alabama. It is strong on schools as well: its schools outperform 82% of the state's. The catch is walkability (D). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Alum Hollow Land Trust, at 329 acres. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 79% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · schools, state test and graduation results · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenStreetMap.
Where Owens Cross Roads beats most towns.
1,521 counted in 2010 and 2,594 in 2020; an estimated 3,334 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 27% since 2020, after 70.5% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Owens Cross Roads is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for cost of living (better than 95% of comparable towns) to D for walkability (better than 12%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 767 in 1970, 2,594 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 2017 and 4 maps from 1936 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Owens Cross Roads, 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 Owens Cross Roads.
Owens Cross Roads fares better on crime within Alabama than nationally, looks healthier within Alabama than nationally and has a longer frost-free season than most of the country, though not than most of Alabama.
The share of households in Owens Cross Roads who own their home is 85%, above both the Alabama town median (69%) and the median of U.S. towns (73%). Zillow values the typical Owens Cross Roads home at about $436,000, up 2.1% in a year, 83% above the Alabama typical home. Homes sold in Owens Cross Roads spent a median 72 days on the market.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Flood insurance has paid out on 59 claims in Owens Cross Roads since 1980. Nearly two thirds of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 16%. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Owens Cross Roads after 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Owens Cross Roads, the typical journey to work is 29 minutes. Most working residents leave Owens Cross Roads for work: only 3% work in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs locally rose by 85, to 424. For workers locally, the share who do their job from home is 17%.
| Owens Cross Roads | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.8% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $86,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Just 66 of its 5,135 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Owens Cross Roads itself; its outdoors grade is D.
Across 1 park or preserve: 1.3 miles of trail. Owens Cross Roads’ density of trails stands at 0.2 miles per square mile, where Alabama’s towns sit at 0.1 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Owens Cross Roads | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Alum Hollow Land Trust | — | 329 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median age in Owens Cross Roads is 32.1 years. Children under 18 are 33% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 12% of residents (18% statewide). The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts Owens Cross Roads at 3,334 residents, up 27% since 2020. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 24%, against 28% across Alabama.
| Owens Cross Roads | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 32.1 years | 39.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 12% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 24% | 23% | 29% |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4 points. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women.
| Owens Cross Roads | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.8% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 18.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.9% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.5% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.8% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.1% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 5.4% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 14.8% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 19.3% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 26.2% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.4% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.8% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.5% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,300, single groups can be off by several points
At 12.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 91% of Alabama’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 1.2 per 1,000 residents.
For Owens Cross Roads, the level of property crime is 6.7 per 1,000 residents. The violent crime rate for Owens Cross Roads comes to 1.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Owens Cross Roads | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.7 per 1,000 residents | 17 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.2 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The Guntersville weather station, 19 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, 19 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.
July afternoons reach 90°, January nights drop to 32° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Alabama it is healthier than 70% of the 187 graded towns: much of Alabama scores lower on these measures. Its widest gap with Alabama is tooth loss: 8.8% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 15.4% statewide.
Two figures for adults in Owens Cross Roads: 11% have diabetes, 36% have high blood pressure. CDC measures, 32 in all: Owens Cross Roads beats Alabama on 7 and trails on 1. In Owens Cross Roads, a quarter of adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Owens Cross Roads | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 36% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 15% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 43% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Owens Cross Roads | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.8% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 11.1% | 14.8% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 72.3% | 78% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Owens Cross Roads. Close and well known come first.
14 mi MuseumU.S. Space & Rocket Center1.0M visitors a year
10 mi MuseumBurritt on the Mountain16 mi Theme parkSpace City USA11 mi Theme parkSouthern Adventures
12 mi MuseumHuntsville Museum of Art
15 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
3 within 15 miles of the center of Owens Cross Roads
About 5 of every 100 Owens Cross Roads residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
Where Owens Cross Roads’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
City in Alabama, United States
Owens Cross Roads is a city in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. It was incorporated as a town on October 9, 1967, and later met the city threshold of 2,000 population in 2020, later changing its designation to city on October 10, 2022. The population was 2,594 as of the 2020 census, and was estimated at 3,334 in 2025. It is home to Brazelton Cemetery.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Owens Cross Roads.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owens Cross Roads | #34 | B+ | A+ | B+ | A− | B− |
| Huntsville | #61 | B− | B | C | B | B− |
| New Hope | #31 | A− | A+ | — | A− | C+ |
New Hope reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Owens Cross Roads with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Owens Cross Roads grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #34 of 187 in Alabama. It grades B− for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools. Walkability 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+.
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
