Moving to Northport, AL: The Complete Relocation Guide

Northport at a glance

Data window: MLS figures cover closed residential sales from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026 and were pulled from the West Alabama MLS on September 8, 2026 by The Williams Group. Census, HUD, BLS and city figures are the latest published as of September 9, 2026. All figures are believed accurate but not guaranteed.

Is Northport a good place to live?

Yes, and it is the answer we give most often to families who call us wanting “Tuscaloosa” but describe a bigger yard, a newer house, a lower tax bill and a quiet street. Northport is its own city with its own mayor, police, fire department, water system and downtown, not a neighborhood of Tuscaloosa, and it has been the faster-growing side of the river for most of the last twenty years: the population jumped about a third between 2010 and 2020 and has kept inching up since. Niche ranked it the #1 place to live in Tuscaloosa County for 2026. Our team has been headquartered on Highway 69 North in Northport for years, and two things stand out from the families we help move here: they are surprised how close it is to everything (campus is one bridge away), and they are surprised how much house the money buys compared with the north-of-the-river neighborhoods inside Tuscaloosa.

Here is the honest scorecard, cons included.

What people love about living in Northport

What people struggle with

Who should think twice: anyone whose children will be in high school soon and who is set on an A-rated public high school without checking the zone first, and anyone who wants to walk to a downtown nightlife strip. For the neighborhood-level, day-to-day view, read our Living in Northport complete guide.

What does it cost to live in Northport?

A household buying the median Northport home (about $291,500) with 10% down at today’s rates should expect roughly $2,050 to $2,250 a month for principal, interest, taxes and insurance, plus $300 to $550 for utilities and internet. The tax line is where Northport separates from Tuscaloosa: about $90 a month instead of $125 on a $300,000 house. Insurance runs a little above the national average because of wind and hail, and the sales tax runs high. Here are the actual numbers and where each comes from.

Home prices in Northport (2026)

Over the twelve months ending August 31, 2026, 321 homes closed inside the Northport city limits at a median of $291,500, with the middle half of sales between $240,000 and $345,000, a median of about $170 per square foot and a median 22 days on market, according to the West Alabama MLS. Widen the lens to every sale with a Northport mailing address, which pulls in the Lake Tuscaloosa and Highway 43 country north of the city line, and the median rises to $320,000 across 578 sales (middle half $262,000–$420,000). The unincorporated north county on its own ran $380,000 (324 sales, middle half $300,000–$514,000), because that is where the lake homes and acreage are. For context, the countywide median was $291,198 on 2,744 sales, the Tuscaloosa city median was $289,900, and the north-of-the-river neighborhoods inside Tuscaloosa ran $559,000. In other words, Northport prices track the county as a whole while sitting ten minutes from the most expensive district in it. The Alabama Center for Real Estate’s July 2026 Tuscaloosa-area report put the county median at $288,800, up about 6% year over year, with roughly three months of inventory; we publish the current figures each month in our Tuscaloosa County housing market report.

Two things the medians hide. First, new construction is a bigger share of the Northport market than anywhere else in the county, and builder pricing on a 1,800-square-foot three-bedroom in a new Highway 69 North subdivision has generally started in the low-to-mid $300,000s this year; our new construction guide explains builder contracts, incentives and why you still want your own agent. Second, the older neighborhoods between downtown and McFarland Boulevard, plus the 1970s–90s subdivisions off Highway 82 West, are where most of the sub-$250,000 houses with a yard in the whole metro are found, which is why first-time buyers end up here.

Rent in Northport

Median gross rent in Northport is $982 (Census ACS 2020–2024), lower than Tuscaloosa’s $1,055 because there are fewer student-oriented complexes. HUD’s fiscal 2026 fair market rents for the Tuscaloosa metro, which set the ceiling for voucher payments and are a fair guide to a decent unit, are $1,169 for a two-bedroom and $1,490 for a three-bedroom. Single-family rentals in newer Northport subdivisions typically list from about $1,600 to $2,200. If you are weighing a year of renting first, our renting vs. buying in Alabama piece runs the math, and a short-term lease across the river near campus is a common bridge while you learn the neighborhoods.

Property taxes in Northport, with the math

Alabama assesses an owner-occupied home at 10% of its market value, and the total rate inside the City of Northport is 38.5 mills, so a $300,000 homesteaded house pays roughly $1,100 a year, about $92 a month. The 38.5 mills break down as 6.5 state, 16.0 Tuscaloosa County general, 4.5 county school district and 11.5 City of Northport. The same house inside the Tuscaloosa city limits is taxed at 51.5 mills (the city levies 13.5 and adds the Tuscaloosa City Schools millage) and pays about $1,500; in the unincorporated county at 27.0 mills it pays about $760. Here is the Northport arithmetic on a $300,000 home with the standard homestead exemption (H-1): $30,000 assessed value, less the $4,000 state and $2,000 county homestead deductions on those portions, works out to about $1,108. Without the homestead, as a rental or second home assessed at 20%, the bill is about $2,310. Homeowners 65 and older with adjusted gross income under $12,000, or who are permanently disabled, are exempt from all state and county property tax on their primary residence; those 65 and older above that income are exempt from the state portion and from county taxes on the first $5,000 of assessed value (Alabama Department of Revenue). Taxes are billed October 1 and due by December 31, paid in arrears, so your first full bill arrives the fall after you close. A 2024 state law also caps annual assessment increases at 7% for most existing homes through 2027 (Act 2024-344). Our Tuscaloosa vs. Northport property tax explainer and the broader Alabama property taxes explained guide go deeper; the Tuscaloosa County Tax Assessor ((205) 464-8240) will confirm any parcel.

Utilities in Northport, by provider

Plan on roughly $300 to $550 a month for electricity, water and sewer, garbage, gas and internet in a typical three-bedroom home, with the low end in spring and fall and the high end in July, August and the coldest weeks of January. Northport is simpler than Tuscaloosa in one respect: the city runs water, sewer and garbage itself, on one bill. Here is who you will actually pay:

Worked example: a household using 5,000 gallons a month pays about $41 for water, $42 for sewer and $17 for one garbage cart, roughly $100 before taxes, under the city’s October 2025 rate schedule. Electric and gas estimates are derived from Alabama Power and Spire published rates and U.S. Energy Information Administration state averages; your usage will vary. Northport draws and treats its own drinking water; the plant was named the Alabama–Mississippi Section of the American Water Works Association’s 2025 Water Treatment Plant of the Year for small surface-water systems.

Homeowners insurance, wind and hail

Alabama homeowners pay about 11% to 14% more than the national average for insurance, roughly $1,600 to $1,750 a year on the most recent NAIC data, and 2026 quote models put a typical policy anywhere from about $1,900 to $4,900 depending on the home’s value, roof and deductible. The reason is wind and hail. Most Alabama policies carry a separate wind/hail deductible of 1% to 5% of the dwelling coverage, and tornado damage falls under it, so on a $300,000 house a 2% deductible means the first $6,000 of storm damage is yours. Roof age matters more here than almost anywhere else; a 15-year-old architectural shingle roof can add hundreds to a quote or make a carrier decline. Northport’s newer housing stock is an advantage here: a 2018-and-newer roof with hip framing and ring-shank nails often prices noticeably better than a 1995 gable roof across the river.

Two programs help. Alabama law (Ala. Code § 27-31D) requires insurers to discount the wind portion of your premium for a home certified to the IBHS FORTIFIED standard, typically 20% to 35% for a FORTIFIED Roof and up to about 55% for FORTIFIED Gold. And the state’s Strengthen Alabama Homes program, run by the Alabama Department of Insurance, pays up to $10,000 toward a FORTIFIED roof on an owner-occupied home; Tuscaloosa County homeowners became eligible in a November 2025 grant round, so watch the schedule for the next one. If you are buying a home that needs a roof, ask us about writing the offer around it. Our Alabama homeowners insurance guide covers the rest.

Sales tax and income tax in Alabama

The combined sales tax inside the City of Northport is 10% (4% state, 3% Tuscaloosa County, 3% city), the same as Tuscaloosa and among the higher combined rates in the country. One cent of the city’s three is the “Northport First” penny, earmarked for education, recreation and infrastructure; it is what paid for River Run Park. Groceries are taxed at about 8% after the state cut its share to 2% in September 2025; local governments still tax food at the full rate. In the unincorporated county the rate is 7%.

Alabama’s income tax tops out at 5% on taxable income over $3,000 (single) or $6,000 (married filing jointly), with brackets of 2% and 4% below that, and Alabama lets you deduct the federal income tax you paid, which lowers the effective rate. For retirees the state is unusually friendly: Social Security is fully exempt, defined-benefit pensions (private, military, federal and state) are fully exempt, and taxpayers 65 and older can exclude the first $6,000 per person of 401(k) and IRA withdrawals under Act 2022-294 (2022 Regular Session), codified at Code of Alabama Section 40-18-19(a)(13) (Alabama Department of Revenue, Schedule RS). Neither Northport nor Tuscaloosa levies an occupational tax on wages; Birmingham’s 1% (City of Birmingham Tax and License Administration) does not follow you here.

How Northport compares to the cities people move here from

Most of the families we help relocate to Northport arrive from Nashville, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, the Washington area, New York, Southern California or Houston, and in every case the home price, the rent and the property tax bill are lower here, usually by a lot. The table uses one consistent source per column so the comparison is honest: National Association of REALTORS® median single-family sale prices for the second quarter of 2026, Census Bureau 2024 median gross rents and effective property tax rates, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis 2024 price index (U.S. = 100). Northport is not in NAR’s metro list, so its row uses the West Alabama MLS 12-month city median and Census figures for the city.

Sources: metro home prices from the National Association of REALTORS® Metropolitan Median Area Prices, Q2 2026 (existing single-family). *Northport and Tuscaloosa city figures are West Alabama MLS 12-month medians for all residential sales including condos and new construction (9/1/2025–8/31/2026). Rents from Census ACS (city figures 2020–2024; metro figures 2024 one-year). Effective tax rates for Northport and Tuscaloosa are computed from millage on a homesteaded home; metro rates are median real estate taxes paid ÷ median home value (ACS 2024). Cost-of-living index is the BEA all-items Regional Price Parity for the Tuscaloosa metro, 2024. Income tax rates from the Tax Foundation, 2026. Retrieved September 2026.

Read the table this way: a Nashville family selling a $420,000 house and buying a comparable $290,000 house in Northport cuts the mortgage by roughly a third and the property tax bill roughly in half; a Chicago or Dallas family paying $5,500 to $6,500 a year in property tax drops to about $1,100. Where Northport gives some of that back is the 10% sales tax and summer power bills. Tell us where you are coming from and we will run your real side-by-side; our how much house can you afford in Alabama guide is a good place to start.

Where should you live in Northport?

Northport has three broad bands, and the first question we ask is which one you are actually shopping: the established city between the river and Highway 82, the newer subdivisions along Highway 69 North and Highway 43, or the unincorporated lake-and-acreage country beyond the city limits that carries a Northport address but pays county taxes and sends kids to different schools. Those bands differ by $100,000 in median price, by 11.5 mills in property tax, and by a high-school zone. Below is how we match them to the people who move here, using real 12-month sale prices from the West Alabama MLS (September 2025 through August 2026); “typical range” is the middle half of sales, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.

Source: West Alabama MLS, residential closings 9/1/2025–8/31/2026 by MLS area (Area 06 = City of Northport; Area 08 = north Tuscaloosa County), pulled 9/8/2026 by The Williams Group. Subdivision names are examples within each band, not a complete list, and individual subdivisions sell above and below the band; we can pull any subdivision’s 12-month sales on request. School zones are confirmed by address only (see below).

Three clarifications that trip up almost every newcomer. First, “North of the River” and “North River” are not Northport. Both terms refer to the part of Tuscaloosa north of the Black Warrior along Rice Mine Road and New Watermelon Road; it is inside the Tuscaloosa city limits, taxed at 51.5 mills, zoned to Tuscaloosa City Schools, and it is the most expensive district in the county (median $559,000 this year). Northport is a separate city immediately to its west. Second, a Northport mailing address does not mean you are in Northport. The 35475 ZIP code runs far north of the city limits into unincorporated county, where the taxes drop to 27 mills and the high school changes to Northside; a listing that says “Northport” in the address line can be either, and we check the parcel on every one. Third, Lake Tuscaloosa is not in Northport either; it is a City of Tuscaloosa reservoir whose western shore is reached from Northport’s Highway 43 and Highway 69 corridors. For the neighborhood-by-neighborhood detail, read our Northport community guide, and for the other side of the river our Tuscaloosa community guide.

What are the schools like in Northport?

Every public school in Northport belongs to the Tuscaloosa County School System, which earned an 84 (B) on the 2024–25 Alabama report card, its highest score ever, with a 92% graduation rate; but the eleven county schools inside the city limits range from 93 (A) at the elementary level to 72 (C) at Tuscaloosa County High, so the zone you buy in matters more than the district. There is no Northport city school system. The city studied creating one from 2021 to 2023 and the consultant’s report found it would take roughly 34 additional mills of property tax to fund; no separation was approved and Northport remains in the county system. A student attends the school zoned to the parent’s legal residence; the district publishes zones only through its InfoFinder address lookup, which we run for every home before you tour it.

The Northport schools and their 2024–25 report-card scores

Scores are the Alabama State Department of Education 2024–25 report card (90–100 A, 80–89 B, 70–79 C), released November 2025, as reported by the district and local press; confirm at statereportcard.alsde.edu. Attendance zones are described in general terms from the schools’ grade spans and locations; the only authoritative source is the district’s address lookup.

The practical takeaway: the Highway 69 North corridor gives you an A-rated K–6 run (Northport Elementary, Huntington Place, Northport Intermediate) that many families rank alongside the best Tuscaloosa City zones, and the whole city then funnels into Echols and Tuscaloosa County High, which is large, competitive in athletics and improving but scored a C last year. Families who want a B-rated high school without going private either buy just north of the city line in the Northside zone (county taxes, longer drive) or cross the river into the Northridge zone (city taxes, higher prices). Enrollment is online through the district’s TCSS site; you will need the Alabama Certificate of Immunization, a birth certificate and two proofs of residence. Our note on 2026 test-score gains across both districts has the trend lines.

Private and parochial options

Northport itself has no large private school; the options are across the river within about ten minutes. North River Christian Academy (K–12, about 190 students, non-denominational) sits on McFarland Boulevard North just over the Woolsey Finnell Bridge; Tuscaloosa Academy (PK–12, independent, founded 1967, about 460 students) is north of the river; and Holy Spirit Catholic School, American Christian Academy and Tuscaloosa Christian School are on the south side. Published 2025–26 tuition runs about $6,900 to $8,900 a year at Holy Spirit and $7,600 to $8,200 at American Christian Academy; Tuscaloosa Academy prices tuition individually, and North River Christian’s schedule is on request. Verify current rates directly with each school. The University of Alabama, Shelton State Community College and Stillman College are all within fifteen minutes of any Northport address.

Who’s hiring in Northport?

Northport is a bedroom city for the Tuscaloosa job market, which is anchored by the University of Alabama, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International and the DCH Health System, and the Tuscaloosa metro’s unemployment rate was 4.3% in July 2026 with about 116,500 nonfarm jobs, up 1.7% in a year (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Inside the city itself, the largest employer by far is Northport Medical Center, DCH’s 204-bed hospital on Hospital Drive with about 1,760 employees, an emergency department, labor and delivery with a neonatal unit, orthopedics, imaging, and the North Harbor behavioral-health and DCH Rehabilitation pavilions. The City of Northport employs about 300 people, the Northport Walmart Supercenter about the same, and the Tuscaloosa County School System, with roughly 2,400 employees countywide and ten schools in the city, is a major employer of Northport residents. About a third of Northport’s working residents are in education and health care, 14% in manufacturing and 9% in retail (Census ACS).

The commutes that matter, in normal weekday traffic: the University of Alabama and downtown Tuscaloosa are about 10–15 minutes via the Hugh Thomas Bridge; DCH Regional Medical Center is about 10–15 minutes via the Woolsey Finnell Bridge; the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance is roughly 30–35 minutes via the Black Warrior Parkway toll bridge and I-20/59, or a few minutes longer through town; and Birmingham is about an hour. Mercedes announced a $4 billion investment in the Vance plant in March 2026 (Made in Alabama), which is why many of our relocation calls this year are from Germany, South Carolina and Michigan. Remote workers should know that AT&T Fiber and C Spire Fiber reach roughly half of Northport addresses, with the newest subdivisions generally wired and the older grid still being built out; we confirm the provider at the address before you make an offer. For the current employer list, see the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority.

Northport’s own economy is shifting toward hospitality and recreation. River Run Park’s nine tournament fields were projected by the city to draw about 530,000 visitors a year, and the University Beach developer has projected hundreds of resort and hotel jobs once the lagoon, water park and 144-room Marriott Autograph Collection hotel open (see the growth section below for the timeline caveats). Retail is concentrated at Northwood Crossings (Publix, Hobby Lobby, Five Below) at McFarland Boulevard and Highway 69, and along the McFarland corridor to the Northport Walmart; we track openings in our monthly Tuscaloosa–Northport business roundup.

What’s the weather really like in Northport, and what about tornadoes and floods?

Northport shares Tuscaloosa’s humid subtropical climate: an average July high of 91.6°F, an average January low of 35.7°F, about 53.5 inches of rain a year, almost no snow, and a real tornado season that peaks March through May with a smaller second season in November and December. Those are NOAA’s 1991–2020 climate normals for the Tuscaloosa airport station, four miles from downtown Northport. In practice about 85 days a year reach 90°F, about 48 nights dip to freezing, and the growing season runs nearly nine months. October and April are the months people move here for.

Tornado risk, honestly

Alabama sits in the heart of “Dixie Alley” and averages roughly 60 to 64 tornadoes a year in the modern record kept by the National Weather Service in Birmingham, the office that issues Northport’s warnings. Northport’s own history has two chapters. On March 21, 1932, a tornado leveled downtown Northport and killed 38 people locally; the brick storefronts you see on Main Avenue today are largely the 1920s buildings that survived and the rebuild that followed. The two violent tornadoes of the modern era, the F4 of December 16, 2000 and the EF-4 of April 27, 2011 that killed more than 40 people in the Tuscaloosa area, both tracked south of the Black Warrior River and did not strike Northport (NWS Birmingham event summary). That is geography and luck, not protection; on March 15, 2025 an EF-1 with 95-mph winds tracked 11.5 miles along Tierce Patton Road and the Lake Tuscaloosa shore just north of the city (NWS survey), with no fatalities. Most Alabama tornadoes are EF-0 or EF-1; a violent one hitting a populated part of the county is a once-in-a-generation event, but it is not a zero.

Here is how residents live with it. Storms usually arrive with days of forecast warning and the local TV meteorologists are very good. The Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency operates 73 outdoor warning sirens countywide, five of them Northport’s, tested the first Wednesday of every month at noon; runs the free TuscALERT phone and text alert system that every household should join the week they arrive; and publishes a map of community storm shelters. Many of the newer Highway 69 North subdivisions were built with residential safe rooms or reinforced closets, and Alabama offers a state income tax credit for a qualified storm shelter at a primary residence; on an older home we can point you to local installers who build to the FEMA P-320 standard. Hurricanes arrive as remnants, heavy rain and gusty wind rather than surge, because the Gulf is about 200 road miles away.

Flooding and flood zones

Northport sits on the river’s north bank behind a levee, and the town has flooded before: the April 1979 Black Warrior flood brought major flooding to Northport and Tuscaloosa (USGS), and the county EMA’s archive records another in 1951. Today a levee runs along the north bank (the Platt Levee Trail is on top of it), but the river’s floodplain and the creek corridors that drain into it, including Twomile Creek, carry FEMA flood-zone designations in places, and a federally backed mortgage on a home in Zone A or AE requires flood insurance. Check any address free at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center or the state’s “Am I in a Floodplain?” tool; the river’s live stage is posted by the USGS Northport gauge. Most of the city, including every newer subdivision on the Highway 69 North ridge, sits well above the river; we pull the panel on every home anyway, and the Alabama home inspection guide covers the drainage, crawl-space and roof items that matter in this climate.

Your Northport relocation timeline

Alabama gives new residents 30 days to transfer a driver license and 30 days to register a vehicle, and the homestead exemption must be claimed between October 1 and December 31, so the paperwork side of a move has real deadlines even though the buying side is flexible. Northport has one convenience Tuscaloosa does not: the county License Commission keeps a satellite office inside Northport City Hall, so your tag, your water deposit and your garbage cart are all handled at the same address. This is the checklist we hand every relocating client.

How do you buy a home in Northport from out of state?

Many of the families we move to Northport see their new home in person exactly once before closing, on a planned two-day house-hunting trip, and some close without visiting at all. It works because the process is built for it: video tours, e-signature, remote notarization, and a local team whose office is on Highway 69 North, ten minutes from every neighborhood on this page, for the inspection, the appraisal and the walk-through. Here is how The Williams Group runs a remote purchase.

What’s it actually like to live in Northport?

Northport was settled in the 1810s as “Kentuck,” was renamed Northport in the 1830s for the obvious reason, incorporated in 1871, and has spent the last fifty years turning a river-landing downtown into the arts side of the Tuscaloosa area. The 20-block Northport Historic District (National Register, 1980) along Main Avenue keeps its brick streets, murals and 1920s storefronts, and an 1890s wood-and-steel rail trestle still carries trains over the river at the edge of downtown. The Kentuck Art Center at 503 Main Avenue houses eight working artist studios and two galleries, holds free Art Nights, First Friday events and art markets through the year, and founded the Kentuck Festival of the Arts in 1971 for the city’s centennial. One honest correction to most of what you will read online: the festival moved across the river to Snow Hinton Park in Tuscaloosa in 2024 because Kentuck Park’s land was redeveloped for sports, and the 2026 festival is October 17–18 there; it drew more than 16,000 people in its first year at the new site and still carries Northport’s name.

Downtown’s food is the kind you drive across the river for: City Cafe for a meat-and-three breakfast and lunch, Archibald’s, the family barbecue pit that has been smoking ribs in Northport since the 1960s, Billy’s Sports Grill, and a handful of newer spots along Main Avenue and 5th Street that turn over often enough that we will give you the current list when you visit. The first Tuesday of December brings Dickens Downtown, a free Victorian Christmas evening put on by the Friends of Historic Northport with carriage rides, a tree lighting and faux snow; the Northport Farmers Market runs Saturdays from 6 a.m. to noon at 4150 5th Street from late March into the fall; and the Northport Heritage Museum, in a 1907 house at 1991 Park Street, doubles as the visitor center.

Outdoors, the Richard L. Platt Memorial Levee Trail gives you 2.5 paved miles along the river and Twomile Creek from 30th Avenue near Kentuck Park (parking at 30th Street and Rice Mine Road), with the trestle and the Tuscaloosa skyline for scenery and very little shade, so go early in summer. Kentuck Park at 3401 5th Street has tennis, pickleball, a playground and shelters. River Run Park, the city’s new 36-acre, nine-field baseball and softball complex on the riverfront, hosts tournaments most spring and summer weekends and is the first phase of a 300-acre “Northport Shore” plan that calls for an indoor recreation center, courts and trails over the coming years; our River Run Park post covers what it means for nearby home values. Lake Lurleen State Park (1,625 acres, a 250-acre lake, 91 campsites and a 23-mile trail system) is about nine miles northwest on Highway 82. Two clarifications: Sokol Park, with its ball fields, dog park and mountain-bike trails, is in Tuscaloosa on Watermelon Road, a few minutes east of Northport, not in Northport as several listing sites say; and Northport has no branch library, so the Tuscaloosa Public Library’s main branch on Jack Warner Parkway across the river is yours (confirm any non-resident card fee with the library). Parks and recreation programs are run by the countywide PARA authority, whose 2026 reorganization with the City of Tuscaloosa we covered here.

Weekends look like this for most families we know here: a ballgame or practice at River Run, the farmers market, a walk on the levee, dinner downtown, and then across the bridge for whatever the University is putting on, because the Alabama football schedule (2026 home games here), the riverfront amphitheater, the Bama Theatre and the new downtown Tuscaloosa restaurants are all fifteen minutes away and you get to leave them behind at night. The Gulf beaches are about four hours south; Birmingham is an hour; Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans are four to five.

What’s being built: the growth you are buying into

Northport is in the middle of the largest wave of public and private investment in its history, and every one of these projects changes something about where you might buy. The city government that will see them through took office in November 2025: Mayor Dale Phillips, a retired Tuscaloosa police commander, and a five-member district council, four of whom ran on a “responsible growth” platform. City Hall is at 3500 McFarland Boulevard ((205) 339-7000), and the council has begun buying land downtown between Lurleen Wallace Boulevard, Bridge Avenue and 10th Street for a new City Hall, because the current building needs roughly $4 million in repairs. Here is the scorecard as of September 2026:

Sources: City of Northport council actions as reported by the Tuscaloosa Thread, ABC 33/40, WBRC and Patch (2024–2026); ALDOT project pages; Federal Highway Administration toll facility inventory. Development timelines are the developers’ and the city’s stated targets and routinely change; we update this table when they do.

Why do relocating buyers work with The Williams Group?

Because Northport is our home base. The Williams Group at Keller Williams Realty works from two physical offices, and the West Alabama office is at 4412 Highway 69 North in Northport, in the middle of the subdivisions on this page. The team is ranked #6 in Alabama by both sales volume and transaction sides in the 2025 RealTrends Verified rankings, closed more than 200 homes in 2025 for more than $63 million in volume, and many of the families we help every year are moving in from another state. That means someone is always available to answer the phone, attend an inspection or run a video tour, because it is a team and not one agent; it means we have current notes on the HOA, the drainage, the school lookup and the fiber provider for the neighborhoods above; and it means that if you are deciding between Northport, Tuscaloosa and the Birmingham suburbs, the same team can show you all three without a referral. Read what clients say on our reviews page, meet the whole team on our agents page, or start the conversation here.

Your relocation team

Frequently asked questions about moving to Northport

Explore Northport and nearby communities

This page is part of our Complete Guide to Relocating to Alabama. For the day-to-day view of each community, including neighborhoods, schools and current listings, start with the local guides:

Buying for a University of Alabama student? Start with the Complete Guide for UA Parents. Considering a lake place? Read the Lake Tuscaloosa second-home guide. And for the current numbers each month, follow our Tuscaloosa County housing market reports.

Sources and data note: Housing figures are from the West Alabama MLS (residential closed sales 9/1/2025–8/31/2026 by MLS area and city, retrieved 9/8/2026 by The Williams Group at Keller Williams Realty) and the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama (July 2026 reports); national and metro home prices from the National Association of REALTORS® (Q2 2026 metro medians). Population, income, rent, commute and homeownership figures are U.S. Census Bureau estimates (Vintage 2025 population; ACS 2020–2024). Fair market rents are HUD FY2026. Millage and homestead rules are from the Tuscaloosa County Tax Assessor and the Alabama Department of Revenue. Utility figures are from the City of Northport rate schedule effective October 1, 2025, Alabama Power and Spire published rate schedules, and U.S. Energy Information Administration averages. Insurance figures are from NAIC data as published by the Insurance Information Institute and 2026 rate-comparison models. School data is from the Alabama State Department of Education report card (2024–25), the Tuscaloosa County School System and the National Center for Education Statistics. Employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority and the Alabama Hospital Association. Climate normals from NOAA/NCEI (1991–2020); tornado data from the National Weather Service Birmingham and the Tuscaloosa County EMA; flood history from the U.S. Geological Survey. Development and government items from City of Northport actions as reported by local news outlets, 2024–2026. All data deemed reliable but not guaranteed and subject to change; verify time-sensitive items with the issuing agency. The Williams Group provides real estate brokerage services; we are not lenders, attorneys, insurance agents or tax advisers. Consult licensed professionals about your situation. Guide published September 2026.