SaksAL
A town of 10,681.
Is Saks a good place to live?
Saks gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $142K for a typical one, or 2.6 years of the Anniston metro’s $55K median household income. It grades C overall, 84th among Alabama's 187 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 85% of the country, and the median household income is $50K, and 20% of residents live below the poverty line. 20% of residents live below the poverty line in Saks, where Alabama’s towns sit at 16% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 82% of U.S. towns.
What makes Saks stand out
Where Saks beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Saks for work
Where Saks’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Saks grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Saks is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Saks: who provides what
Saks is unincorporated, so Calhoun 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 Saks.
Saks is healthier than towns with similar incomes, has homes that are cheap against local pay and sends most of its workers to Anniston and beyond.
Saks’ grade for health is a C−
Against the 5,714 U.S. towns with household incomes like Saks’s, it is less healthy than 61%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
44% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Saks. Saks beats the Alabama average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 46% of adults have high blood pressure in Saks.
| Saks | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 40% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 43% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 23% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 30% | 25% |
| What stands out | Saks | AL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 21.1% | 15.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.3% | 8% |
| More adults in fair or poor health | 26.3% | 22.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Saks’ schools rank ahead of 62% of Alabama districts
Its public schools are run by the Calhoun County school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Saks High School, with 419 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saks Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 625 | B |
| Saks High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 419 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
Saks’ grade for cost of living is an A
At 2.6 years of the Anniston metro’s $55K median household income, the typical home (about $142K) costs less against local pay than in 80% of Alabama towns; that ratio is one input to its A for cost of living.
The typical Saks home is worth about $142,000, up 4.3% in a year, 40% below the Alabama typical home. Saks’ median rent is $898 a month.
| Saks | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $898 a month | $943 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 69% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
About one in three of Saks’ working residents commute to Anniston
Saks has 422 jobs for its 3,554 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 605 in 2013 to 422.
Most working residents leave Saks for work: only 1% work in town. Since 2013, Saks has lost 183 jobs, to 422 in 2023. The average trip to work in Saks is 23 minutes.
| Saks | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mild winters and hot summers in Saks
Saks has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. 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
Saks faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 19 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Saks.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cheaha Mountain and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Saks. Close and well known come first.
16 mi MountainCheaha Mountain
16 mi MuseumInternational Motorsports Hall of Fame
25 mi WaterfallNoccalula Falls Park
6 mi National MonumentFreedom Riders National Monument
11 mi GardenJanney Furnace Park
22 mi TheatreMort Glosser AmphitheaterPhoto credits
Cheaha Mountain: Amann09 (talk · contribs), Public domain · International Motorsports Hall of Fame: BWard 1997, CC BY 4.0 · Noccalula Falls Park: Thejammer (talk), Public domain · Freedom Riders National Monument: Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Janney Furnace Park: dofftoubab, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mort Glosser Amphitheater: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain
Everything we know about Saks
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Saks
About 5 of every 100 Saks residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
About Saks
Census-designated place & Unincorporated Community in Alabama, United States
Saks is a census-designated place (CDP) and Unincorporated community in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 9,956. The community of Saks is served by the City of Anniston police and fire coverage. It is included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 12 sq mi
- Elevation
- 820 ft
- Area code
- 256
Saks’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Saks.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saks | #84 | C | A | — | B | C− |
| Anniston | #181 | D− | B | D− | D | D |
| Alexandria | #55 | B− | B+ | — | B | B− |
| West End-Cobb Town | #100 | C | A | — | B | D− |
Saks, Alexandria and West End-Cobb Town report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Saks with a neighbor →
Questions about Saks
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Saks, AL a good place to live?
Saks grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #84 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C− for health and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Saks, AL expensive?
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.