All the best places to raise young families in Alabama are located in Jefferson County, according to a new analysis.
Lendingtree looked at seven indicators to rank cities and towns with 5,000 people or more to determine how good they were for young families. The factors included: median family income; median monthly housing costs for all households; homeownership rate of families with children; unemployment rate for those 25 to 44 years old; percentage of 16 to 19 year-olds not enrolled or graduated from high school; average commute time; and percentage of households that have children.
The data came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 5-year American Community Survey.
Coming in at number one on the list was Mountain Brook, followed by Vestavia Hills and Homewood.
Here’s what Lendingtree said about Mountain Brook:
“A suburb of Birmingham, Mountain Brook is the best place for Alabama families for several reasons. First off, this town has a high number of families: 37.9 percent of households have children.
Among these family households in Mountain Brook, the median income is an impressive $151,125 — the highest of any Alabama city we surveyed. With incomes this high, families can more easily afford and get approved for a home loan — even with high-cost local housing at a median of $1,847 per month.
In fact, 90.6 percent of Mountain Brook families own the homes they live in. They also enjoy the shortest commute among the top 10 Alabama cities for families at just 16.8 minutes.”
The top 15 cities for young families in Alabama were:
1. Mountain Brook
2. Vestavia Hills
3. Homewood
4. Madison
5. Muscle Shoals
6. Meridianville
7. Moores Mill
8. Southside
9. Satsuma
10. Chelsea
11. Daleville
12. Pike Road
13. Trussville
14. Gardendale
15. Helena
You can see the details for each city – and where other areas ranked – here.