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Alabama

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Alabama

Mountain Brook

Median home price: $175,770
Cost-of-living index: 127%*
Nonretail spending index: 129%
Location: about 5 miles southeast of Birmingham
Population: 20,032

Mountain Brook is a wealthy enclave with fantastic schools. Mountain Brook High School, which was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School twice in the early 1980s and in the early 1990s, has a number of well-known alumni, including actress Courtney Cox.

*For all slides, this is the percent above or below the average cost of living for the state. Similarly, the nonretail spending index refers to the percentage above the state average for that category.