Shelby County Community Among Money’s Best Places To Live In 2020

ALABASTER, AL — Alabaster is one of the 50 best places in the United States to live, according to a new ranking by Money magazine. The annual list, released this week, ranks communities based on factors such as safety, cost of living and diversity.

Out of communities on this year’s list, Alabaster ranked 39th.

To determine this year’s Best Places To Live, Money analyzed a list of 1,890 communities with a population of at least 25,000. The publication then analyzed 115 separate data points on each community’s economy, housing market, education system, employment, weather and more.

Reporters then researched each location to ensure the statistics were an accurate representation of each community.

Money added several additional factors this year to account for the coronavirus pandemic and recent unrest stemming from racial inequality. The publication incorporated new filters in two key areas: countywide unemployment and housing distress as a result of COVID-19 economic disruptions; and demographics, to ensure locations selected for this year’s list were racially diverse and well-integrated.

To ensure geographic diversity, the publication limited the number of communities each county and state could have on this year’s list — one community per county, and two per state.

Read more on the methodology used to determine 2020’s Best Places To Live.

Here’s a look at some of the data collected on Alabaster:

• Population: 33,000
• Median household income: $75,000
• Median home price: $192,000
• Unemployment rate: 5.4 percent

"More than 80 percent of households own their homes — a far higher home ownership rate than the 68 percent for the U.S. as a whole," Money magazine reporter Samantha Sharf said of Alabaster. "It helps that the median home here costs $192,000, more than the typical home in Alabama, but almost 30 percent less than the national median."

So, where is the best place to live in the United States? According to this year’s list, it’s Evans, Georgia. A city of 36,000 perched on the Savannah River just northwest of Augusta, Evans has been attracting new residents with plenty of good-paying jobs in health care and administration, as well as at a nearby U.S. Army base, Fort Gordon.

Here are the top 10 Best Places To Live, according to Money:

1. Evans, Georgia
2. Parker, Colorado
3. Meridian, Idaho
4. Rockwall, Texas
5. Columbia, Maryland
6. Westfield, Indiana
7. Syracuse, Utah
8. Franklin, Tennessee
9. Woodbury, Minnesota
10. Morrisville, North Carolina

See the full list of Best Places To Live.