Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Tarrant earns a D, 133rd of 187 graded towns in Alabama, mostly because of schools and health. Its schools rank behind 97% of the state's. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 97% of the country. One bright spot: a typical home costs about $75K, 1.1 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income. Tarrant’s rate of reported violence is 25.2 per 1,000 residents, above both Alabama’s towns (3.1) and U.S. towns (1.9). No town in Alabama scores higher than Tarrant on walkability. Tarrant's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 91% of U.S. towns.
Where Tarrant beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Tarrant Intermediate School | 3–6 | 404 |
| Tarrant Elementary School | PK–2 | 307 |
| Tarrant High School | 7–12 | 597 |
Where Tarrant’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 Tarrant is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 93% of comparable towns) to D− for schools (better than 3%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 734 in 1920, 6,124 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Tarrant. Close and well known come first.
7 mi Stadium & arenaLegion Field
5 mi Stadium & arenaProtective Stadium
5 mi MuseumSloss Furnaces
6 mi Stadium & arenaLegacy Arena31 mi LakeLewis Smith Lake
5 mi Stadium & arenaBirmingham–Jefferson Convention ComplexLegion 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Tarrant, 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 Tarrant.
Tarrant draws workers from Birmingham and beyond, has homes that are cheap against local pay and is mostly renters.
At 1.1 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income, the typical home (about $75K) costs less against local pay than in 99% of Alabama towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living. The typical value, about $75K, is 10% below its November 2022 peak.
The typical home value in Tarrant is about $75,000, up 0.9% in a year, 69% below the Alabama typical home. Homes sold in Tarrant spent a median 166 days on the market. 38% of the homes sold in Tarrant went for more than their asking price.
| Tarrant | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 39% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $985 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The public schools here belong to the Tarrant City school district. The largest public high school is Tarrant High School, with 597 students. Of its 3 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarrant Intermediate SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 404 | D |
| Tarrant High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 597 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
A fifth of Tarrant adults have diabetes. Only 7 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a higher share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Tarrant. In Tarrant, 42% of adults feel lonely, and 36% worry about having enough food. This Alabama town does better than the Alabama average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 20.
| Tarrant | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 15% | 12% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 36% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 19% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 30% | 25% |
| What stands out | Tarrant | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.5% | 8.2% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 18.4% | 9.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
4,353 jobs are based in Tarrant, 2.4 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Jobs based in Tarrant grew to 4,353 in 2023, 960 more than in 2013. Just 4% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. The share of residents in Tarrant who live below the poverty line: 24%. The top destinations are Birmingham (33%), Hoover (7%) and Homewood (6%).
| Tarrant | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 24% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $42,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.1% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Walkers can cover 1.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Tarrant’s density of trails stands at 0.2 miles per square mile. It has one park or preserve, 15 acres in all.
| Tarrant | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.6% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chief William C Hewitt Park | — | 15 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expect July afternoons of 91° and January nights of 33°, with about 1 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
In Tarrant, the rate of thefts and burglaries is 45.7 per 1,000 residents. Tarrant's reported crime rate is well above Alabama's. 149 violent crimes were reported in 2022.
FBI crime data, 2022 · crimes reported to police
Since 1982, Tarrant has seen 36 flood insurance claims paid out. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in half of U.S. communities. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
7 within 15 miles of the center of Tarrant
About 2 of every 100 Tarrant residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
City in Alabama, United States
Tarrant is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, bordering Birmingham's north side. At the 2020 census, the population was 6,124. It is home to the ABC Coke plant owned by the Drummond Company, "the largest single producer of foundry coke in the U.S.".
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Tarrant.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tarrant | #133 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
| Birmingham | #164 | D− | B | D− | D | D |
| Fultondale | #95 | C | B+ | C− | C | B |
Tarrant reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Tarrant with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Tarrant grades D overall, better than 14% of U.S. towns and #133 of 187 in Alabama. It grades D− for health and D− for schools. Schools 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−.
