Montgomery, the state capital · Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainHow Alabama stacks up
In Alabama, On the plus side, high home ownership (70% of homes owner-occupied) and strong schools; on the minus side, costly natural hazards and health that trails most states. The sum of it: a B+ and a score of 72, 15th of 51. Alabama tops the country on cost of living: the typical property-tax bill is $788.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
31st of 51C+40/100 More crime than the typical state. Alabama reports 353 violent crimes per 100,000 people, against 329 nationally. Its larger places pull the town measure down: Mobile and Birmingham sit in the national bottom quarter.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 24th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 60 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 95% of residents of Alabama’s 10,000+ towns.
Crime gathers in the larger cities
Its safest larger towns are Helena (#283), Vestavia Hills (#556) and Mountain Brook (#562), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+. At the other end are Montgomery, Tuscaloosa and Dothan, in the quarter of U.S. towns reporting the most crime per resident. Of residents of its 10,000+ towns, 5% live in the safest quarter nationally and 53% in the quarter reporting the most crime.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Alabama | 5% | 53% |
Places without a police force of their own
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 95% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Scottsboro and Boaz sit out, missing too many years. In Chelsea, Tillmans Corner, Center Point and five other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 37% in Florida to 97% in Tennessee.
Schools
15th of 51B+72/100 Strong results in the classroom. 26% of students test Proficient on the Nation’s Report Card (7th lowest) and 90% graduate on time (6th highest). Vestavia Hills leads its towns at #23 nationally; 18% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Graduation: 90.0% finish high school on time (class of 2023), 6th highest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $13,926 (15th lowest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
2nd of 51A+98/100 Consistently affordable. Only West Virginia puts more residents in the nation’s most affordable quarter of towns. No state charges homeowners less in property tax than Alabama: the typical property-tax bill is $788. Russellville is among the ten best towns in the country for affordability (#9).
Home values run 3.3 times the median household income, 16th lowest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
41st of 51C−20/100 Less healthy than most states. About one adult in four here says their health is fair or poor (6th highest). Its larger places pull the town measure down: Mobile and Birmingham sit in the national bottom quarter.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
13th of 51A−76/100 Ownership above most states. Home ownership stands at 70%, the 13th highest rate of the 50 states and D.C. Its larger places pull the town measure down: Mobile and Birmingham sit in the national bottom quarter. It leads its neighbors on home ownership, ahead of Florida.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
42nd of 51C−18/100 Higher hazard risk than most states. Top-quarter towns are rare here; Opelika comes closest at #721. Compared with $155 nationally, FEMA expects $173 a year in damage per $100,000 of buildings here. Expect inland flooding above all; it makes up 59% of FEMA’s estimate.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 15, 17th most.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 59%, hurricane 24%, tornado 11%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
22nd of 51B58/100 Slightly shorter commutes than average. The average trip to work takes 25.5 minutes. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Mountain Brook and Homewood are typical. Among its neighbors it does best on commute times, with Mississippi second.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 70 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
22nd of 51B58/100 Steady growth. Alabama grew 5.1% between 2010 and 2020, against 7.4% for the country. 36% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 33% in a bottom-quarter one; Pike Road ranks highest.
New homes permitted in 2025: 5.4 per 1,000 residents (21st most).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 69 Alabama towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Alabama compares to its neighbors
None of its neighbors (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee) matches it on cost of living, housing and the commute.
| Alabama | Florida | Georgia | Mississippi | Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 7215th of 51 | C− 1643rd of 51 | C+ 3832nd of 51 | B− 4827th of 51 | B− 5026th of 51 |
| Safety | C+ 4033rd official · 5% in top towns | B 6020th official · 9% in top towns | B 5627th official · 9% in top towns | A− 8213th official · 17% in top towns | C 2847th official · 7% in top towns |
| Schools | B+ 7245th official · 18% in top towns | C 3228th official · 1% in top towns | C+ 3831st official · 6% in top towns | C+ 4437th official · 3% in top towns | A 8615th official · 32% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A+ 981st official · 70% in top towns | C 3426th official · 4% in top towns | B− 5220th official · 11% in top towns | A 885th official · 32% in top towns | B+ 707th official · 14% in top towns |
| Health | C− 2046th official · 13% in top towns | C− 2436th official · 9% in top towns | C+ 4036th official · 17% in top towns | D 848th official · 3% in top towns | C− 1644th official · 9% in top towns |
| Housing | A− 7613th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 7223rd official · 18% in top towns | C− 1839th official · 5% in top towns | B 6015th official · 10% in top towns | C 3231st official · 8% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C− 1840th official · 1% in top towns | D− 245th official · 0% in top towns | A− 7615th official · 41% in top towns | D 643rd official · 0% in top towns | B− 4622nd official · 6% in top towns |
| Commute | B 5828th official · 52% in top towns | D 1044th official · 5% in top towns | C− 2245th official · 20% in top towns | B− 5430th official · 52% in top towns | B− 4632nd official · 39% in top towns |
| Growth | B 5828th official · 36% in top towns | A− 829th official · 51% in top towns | B+ 7413th official · 47% in top towns | D 1450th official · 16% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 57% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work