If you’re looking for the cheapest places to live in Alabama, you’ve come to the right spot.
The Heart of Dixie is home to some of the most affordable places in the country.
But, with the cost of living rising across Alabama, we thought it would be a great idea to give Alabamans, and those looking to move there, a list of the most affordable places to live in Alabama for 2026.
How do you determine the most affordable places to live in Alabama? You use Saturday Night Science to consult the latest Census data on the cost of living metrics like home prices and rents.
$38,000 median income · $757 median rent · #5 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Macon County, Alabama
Tuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. It is also the largest city in Macon County. At the 2010 census the population was 9,865, down from 11,846 in 2000.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,588 median income · $922 median rent · #1 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Mobile County, Alabama
Prichard, located in the heart of Mobile County within Alabama, has one of the lowest costs of living in the state and country. The median home value in Prichard is $57,932, and the median rent is $922, the two most significant drivers of cost.
Statewide, it also has some of the lowest costs associated with groceries, healthcare, and utilities. Prichard is also close to cheap things to do like exploring the 1,100-acre Chickasabogue Park or the Battleship USS Alabama.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,198 median income · $776 median rent · #17 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Talladega County, Alabama
Talladega, located in the central region of Talladega County about 50 miles from Birmingham, rocks the rankings for cheapest places to live in Alabama. The overall cost of living is 9.0 points better than the state average. Which means you’ll have more to spend on the famous Talladega Nights.
Or, if you’re more of a day person, CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park is nearby.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$40,345 median income · $808 median rent · #8 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Etowah County, Alabama
Gadsden rank as the fourth most affordable city in Alabama. Home prices are a god send in Gadsden where they average $114,158.
Located on the Coosa River, just an hour’s drive from Birmingham, it scored well for low transportation and service costs. It has an overall cost of living that is 8.8% lower than the state average.
Gadsden has free access to Noccalula Falls Park and the natural beauty of Neely Henry Lake.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$59,215 median income · $743 median rent · #16 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Etowah County, Alabama
Alabama’s fifth most affordable place to live for 2026 is Attalla. Attalla is one of the city’s that made this list that is located closest to an airport.
Why is that important? Because when you save a bunch of money on your home purchase, you can use that money to take vacations from the nearby Northeast Alabama Regional Airport.
Attalla is the eighth cheapest place to buy a home relative to its median income in the state and offers an overall cost of living well below the national, and state, average.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$33,197 median income · $713 median rent · #3 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Dallas County, Alabama
In Central Alabama, Selma landed as the sixth most affordable city in AL for 2026. Its low 84 cost of living index is attributable to competitive housing costs, with a median home value ranked as the third lowest statewide.
In Selma, you can visit the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute or explore the Old Cahawba Archaeological Park while still saving on a solid-sized paycheck. The median income in the city is $33,197.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,846 median income · $663 median rent · #45 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Marshall County, Alabama
Boaz is a city in Etowah and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is part of the Gadsden, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 9,551. Boaz is known mainly for its outlet shops.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,871 median income · $599 median rent · #31 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Marion County, Alabama
Hamilton’s claim to fame is that they are the home to the former Minnesota Vikings lineman Bookie Bolin. More relevant here, this city of 6,922 in Marion County is the eighth best place in Alabama if you are looking for affordable living.
Yes, the median income in Hamilton is $54,871, and the median home price is $172,641. For all of the economically savvy out there, we’re sure we can agree that this is a Hamilton win.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,357 median income · $940 median rent · #11 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Chambers County, Alabama
Looking for a charming and affordable place to call home? Consider Lanett, Alabama, located in the heart of the state. Despite its population of approximately 6,814, Lanett has a close-knit community feel and plenty of affordable activities for residents to enjoy.
One of the biggest draws to Lanett is its affordable housing. Compared to the state average, Lanett has significantly lower housing costs having the 11th cheapest homes and 47th cheapest rents in Alabama. The median home price is a budget-friendly $123,281, and renters can find places for as low as $940.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,347 median income · $720 median rent · #10 home prices in Alabama
Located in
Covington County, Alabama
With a median home price of $118,904 and a cost of living that is 84% lower than the national average, Opp offers residents the opportunity to stretch their budget further. The town’s affordable housing market allows individuals and families to find homes at a fraction of the cost compared to many other areas in Alabama.
Opp boasts a strong median income of $41,347 and a low unemployment rate. The town’s affordability extends beyond housing, with everyday expenses like groceries, healthcare, and services remaining affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Alabama’s statewide median.
Alabama statewide median: $236,453
Alabama statewide median: $63,999
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Alabama
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Heart of Dixie for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Alabama boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Alabama using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Alabama to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 105 places in Alabama that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Alabama with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Tuskegee.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Alabama.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Alabama
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuskegee | 8,938 | 79 | $38,000 | $91,299 | $757 |
| 2 | Prichard | 18,961 | 80 | $36,588 | $57,932 | $922 |
| 3 | Talladega | 14,760 | 82 | $44,198 | $143,575 | $776 |
| 4 | Gadsden | 33,374 | 83 | $40,345 | $114,158 | $808 |
| 5 | Attalla | 5,775 | 83 | $59,215 | $141,964 | $743 |
| 6 | Selma | 17,057 | 84 | $33,197 | $79,209 | $713 |
| 7 | Boaz | 10,814 | 84 | $49,846 | $209,918 | $663 |
| 8 | Hamilton | 6,922 | 84 | $54,871 | $172,641 | $599 |
| 9 | Lanett | 6,814 | 84 | $42,357 | $123,281 | $940 |
| 10 | Opp | 6,709 | 84 | $41,347 | $118,904 | $720 |
| 11 | Russellville | 10,799 | 85 | $58,231 | $178,141 | $685 |
| 12 | Fairfield | 9,728 | 85 | $48,456 | $93,495 | $1,008 |
| 13 | Andalusia | 8,766 | 85 | $42,611 | $170,025 | $730 |
| 14 | Chickasaw | 6,332 | 85 | $46,559 | $107,053 | $960 |
| 15 | Bessemer | 25,400 | 86 | $39,613 | $133,911 | $961 |
| 16 | Alexander City | 14,606 | 86 | $47,022 | $202,613 | $721 |
| 17 | Sylacauga | 12,309 | 86 | $50,017 | $166,281 | $773 |
| 18 | Sheffield | 9,340 | 86 | $39,733 | $133,841 | $829 |
| 19 | Tuscumbia | 9,115 | 86 | $59,143 | $196,275 | $748 |
| 20 | Bay Minette | 8,295 | 86 | $44,523 | $212,243 | $782 |
| 21 | Tallassee | 5,134 | 86 | $66,752 | $192,630 | $964 |
| 22 | Decatur | 57,361 | 87 | $61,563 | $224,155 | $896 |
| 23 | Hueytown | 16,414 | 87 | $62,784 | $163,400 | $1,304 |
| 24 | Scottsboro | 15,712 | 87 | $53,929 | $213,721 | $830 |
| 25 | Tarrant | 5,925 | 87 | $42,070 | $77,451 | $985 |
| 26 | Midfield | 5,045 | 87 | $52,755 | $82,421 | $1,244 |
| 27 | Florence | 41,701 | 88 | $52,174 | $210,214 | $820 |
| 28 | Phenix City | 38,499 | 88 | $50,053 | $207,716 | $967 |
| 29 | Albertville | 22,813 | 88 | $56,099 | $214,034 | $872 |
| 30 | Center Point | 15,914 | 88 | $56,417 | $152,329 | $1,218 |
| 31 | Ozark | 14,327 | 88 | $48,944 | $143,766 | $694 |
| 32 | Eufaula | 12,584 | 88 | $47,392 | $163,743 | $698 |
| 33 | Valley | 10,277 | 88 | $51,661 | $177,525 | $1,016 |
| 34 | Greenville | 7,163 | 88 | $40,822 | $116,098 | $730 |
| 35 | Montgomery | 197,494 | 89 | $56,811 | $151,228 | $1,089 |
| 36 | Anniston | 21,271 | 89 | $46,668 | $147,195 | $799 |
| 37 | Jacksonville | 14,437 | 89 | $51,814 | $211,263 | $820 |
| 38 | Arab | 8,679 | 89 | $64,333 | $241,411 | $718 |
| 39 | Oneonta | 6,971 | 89 | $53,980 | $213,540 | $638 |
| 40 | Demopolis | 6,908 | 89 | $34,802 | $152,101 | $692 |
| 41 | Roanoke | 5,336 | 89 | $47,105 | $148,369 | $666 |
| 42 | Brewton | 5,186 | 89 | $50,721 | $149,232 | $695 |
| 43 | Mobile | 203,416 | 90 | $53,558 | $194,564 | $1,068 |
| 44 | Birmingham | 198,173 | 90 | $46,051 | $135,870 | $1,107 |
| 45 | Opelika | 32,820 | 90 | $65,004 | $304,313 | $950 |
| 46 | Cullman | 19,319 | 90 | $61,224 | $261,636 | $925 |
| 47 | Muscle Shoals | 16,951 | 90 | $75,894 | $260,072 | $1,029 |
| 48 | Fort Payne | 14,927 | 90 | $47,479 | $203,035 | $679 |
| 49 | Clanton | 8,958 | 90 | $47,520 | $217,129 | $869 |
| 50 | Atmore | 8,334 | 90 | $38,862 | $154,610 | $777 |
| 51 | Rainsville | 5,702 | 90 | $74,046 | $227,373 | $519 |
| 52 | Dothan | 71,514 | 91 | $55,792 | $203,928 | $960 |
| 53 | Saraland | 16,404 | 91 | $61,509 | $233,993 | $1,060 |
| 54 | Hartselle | 15,847 | 91 | $76,290 | $246,208 | $804 |
| 55 | Jasper | 14,442 | 91 | $66,238 | $168,864 | $721 |
| 56 | Robertsdale | 7,194 | 91 | $59,152 | $267,052 | $996 |
| 57 | Southside | 9,483 | 92 | $76,487 | $269,901 | $1,184 |
| 58 | Montevallo | 7,556 | 92 | $56,626 | $248,376 | $956 |
| 59 | Wetumpka | 7,437 | 92 | $57,763 | $278,368 | $1,140 |
| 60 | Monroeville | 5,802 | 92 | $32,513 | $139,433 | $577 |
| 61 | Headland | 5,217 | 92 | $79,063 | $224,992 | $822 |
| 62 | Oxford | 22,063 | 93 | $74,268 | $195,937 | $925 |
| 63 | Troy | 17,716 | 93 | $50,717 | $181,784 | $922 |
| 64 | Millbrook | 17,189 | 93 | $70,313 | $218,705 | $1,111 |
| 65 | Lincoln | 7,305 | 93 | $57,145 | $229,657 | $919 |
| 66 | Semmes | 5,626 | 93 | $66,417 | $238,190 | $1,057 |
| 67 | Smiths Station | 5,496 | 93 | $64,669 | $280,274 | $1,012 |
| 68 | Glencoe | 5,353 | 93 | $68,517 | $207,535 | $736 |
| 69 | Moody | 13,488 | 94 | $86,627 | $259,875 | $1,553 |
| 70 | Rainbow City | 10,284 | 94 | $56,398 | $247,414 | $1,048 |
| 71 | Pinson | 7,832 | 94 | $76,410 | $216,703 | $1,509 |
| 72 | Enterprise | 29,505 | 95 | $73,125 | $202,764 | $1,098 |
| 73 | Athens | 29,002 | 95 | $69,922 | $307,881 | $899 |
| 74 | Leeds | 12,028 | 95 | $69,737 | $249,223 | $1,058 |
| 75 | Huntsville | 222,791 | 96 | $74,714 | $287,569 | $1,171 |
| 76 | Irondale | 13,464 | 96 | $72,343 | $289,627 | $1,320 |
| 77 | Pleasant Grove | 9,442 | 96 | $70,317 | $225,144 | $1,400 |
| 78 | Guntersville | 8,916 | 96 | $67,929 | $301,985 | $842 |
| 79 | Northport | 31,218 | 97 | $80,913 | $266,846 | $982 |
| 80 | Clay | 10,273 | 97 | $81,920 | $250,060 | $2,240 |
| 81 | Fultondale | 9,384 | 97 | $73,575 | $228,868 | $1,269 |
| 82 | Satsuma | 6,822 | 97 | $101,042 | $237,699 | $1,300 |
| 83 | Tuscaloosa | 111,038 | 98 | $51,464 | $228,947 | $1,055 |
| 84 | Calera | 17,714 | 98 | $87,194 | $254,701 | $1,601 |
| 85 | Pell City | 13,587 | 98 | $68,638 | $276,450 | $1,099 |
| 86 | Prattville | 39,482 | 99 | $81,337 | $262,195 | $1,313 |
| 87 | Alabaster | 33,917 | 100 | $91,357 | $303,750 | $1,372 |
| 88 | Pelham | 24,827 | 100 | $101,094 | $323,686 | $1,577 |
| 89 | Gardendale | 16,534 | 100 | $82,192 | $266,523 | $1,299 |
| 90 | Daphne | 29,453 | 102 | $87,250 | $326,736 | $1,388 |
| 91 | Helena | 21,769 | 102 | $115,139 | $363,042 | $1,574 |
| 92 | Auburn | 80,594 | 104 | $63,668 | $412,908 | $1,098 |
| 93 | Foley | 24,026 | 104 | $66,336 | $301,570 | $1,242 |
| 94 | Madison | 60,106 | 105 | $134,655 | $374,497 | $1,453 |
| 95 | Spanish Fort | 10,662 | 106 | $99,346 | $379,955 | $1,390 |
| 96 | Springville | 5,081 | 106 | $84,231 | $321,266 | $834 |
| 97 | Chelsea | 16,260 | 107 | $115,337 | $384,778 | $1,414 |
| 98 | Hoover | 92,642 | 109 | $109,253 | $437,228 | $1,457 |
| 99 | Trussville | 26,673 | 112 | $123,275 | $394,833 | $1,711 |
| 100 | Gulf Shores | 16,401 | 112 | $78,188 | $450,266 | $1,483 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 105 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Alabama Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Alabama for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Alabama.
The cheapest cities in Alabama are Tuskegee, Prichard, Talladega, Gadsden, Attalla, Selma, Boaz, Hamilton, Lanett, and Opp.
