Real estate blog ranks the ’10 Best Places in Alabama’

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January 18, 2015

(Slideshow above: Movoto’s “10 Best Places in Alabama.”)

The Movoto Real Estate blog is back with another list, this time ranking what they believe to be the “10 Best Places in Alabama.”

While any list like this tends to be highly subjective, Movoto has attempted to lay out some measurable criteria used to come up with their results.

The seven criteria they use in their rankings are:

1. Total Amenities
2. Quality of Life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, teacher per student ratio)
3. Total Crimes
4. Tax Rates (sales tax, income tax)
5. Unemployment
6. Commute Time
7. Weather (temperature, air quality)

“With these criteria in mind, we looked at the U.S. Census data for places in Alabama with a population of more than 5,000 people, which came to 102 locales,” explains Movoto’s Natalie Grigson. “Each place was ranked from one to 102 in the criteria, with one being the best possible score. From there, the individual rankings were averaged into an overall Big Deal Score — the lowest score being our winner.”

After tallying up all of the scores, here is Movoto’s Top 10 list:

1. City of Auburn
2. City of Madison
3. City of Pelham
4. City of Florence
5. City of Calera
6. City of Enterprise
7. City of Chelsea
8. City of Mountain Brook
9. City of Albertville
10. City of Alabaster

“Alabama is the gem of the South,” Grigson concluded. “There is something undeniably charming, comfortable, and downright American about the Heart of Dixie.”

Check out the slideshow above for more details on each city.