Meadowbrook, Ala.

Nearest major city: Birmingham
Population: 6,687
Median family income: $113,049*
Median home price: $213,300
Unemployment rate: 7.6%
Violent crime index: 10

Meadowbrook, a neighborhood near Hoover, offers a range of real estate from starter homes to midlevel properties. A large portion of the population, 46%, is married with children and the average commute is 24 minutes. The area is a short drive to The Summit, one of Birmingham's upscale shopping malls with stores including Saks Fifth Avenue and Anthropologie.

* Household median income, which is derived from U.S. Census data, and the median home price are 2009 projections. The unemployment rate comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and is for December 2009. The violent crime index, which is based on FBI crime statistics, is a weighted index of the most recently available seven years ("100" is the national average for violent crime, so "200" would be twice the national average and "50" would be half the national average). The commute time is the median travel time for residents in the area, and is not necessarily the time it takes to reach the largest major city.

next slide previous slide