Tuscaloosa is a quiet town that derives a big percentage of its energy from the UA student population, school events, and University cottage businesses. If you’re into that kind of spiky local loyalty and spirit, you’re going to love it here. 

Now we aren’t saying we don’t love football. We’re just saying that if you don’t love football Tuscaloosa can be a tough place to live. The spirit of the town is driven by a deep passion for the “Crimson Tide”. A lot of college towns get caught up in the madness but Tuscaloosa is a particularly acute case. 

 UA Rules

LookyLOO Review of Tuscaloosa

Southern college towns often have similar lifestyles. A big cafe, bar and live music scene, which is very true for Tuscaloosa, and then a short hop to an awesome rural outdoor experience. Many many locals straddle these two worlds. A fun, partying nightlife in town, and then amazing fishing, hiking, camping and kayaking just outside of town. If this sounds fun then come on down. 

If you want to see what happens in Tuscaloosa check out the [calendar of events](http://eventsintuscaloosa.com/). 

We highly recommend visiting Tuscaloosa and staying in the community in a [VRBO](https://vrbo.com/affiliate/p4JS4ZC) rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our [partnership with Expedia](expedia.com/affiliate/9NZ8LBQ) as well.

Lifestyle

Tuscaloosa has a few big employers, the University and Mercedes the largest. It is not however the kind of college town generating tons of startup jobs for graduates, or attracting a big tech scene. If you’re looking for high-paying jobs then you’ll likely need to commute to Birmingham (~60 miles). We’d recommend remote workers or those already with jobs making the move but if you’re looking for work when you move here then be prepared to commute or work in the service biz. 


Worklife 

A lot of college towns have become very pricey. And why not, they tend to be beautiful, have cool stuff going on culturally(for their size), and often have really good housing options. Tuscaloosa has those things but the price spike hasn’t hit here yet. It’s moved up a bit but remains far less than other college cities across the southeast, midwest and northeast. 


Affordable College Town

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**Dependent_Chair6104**
20d ago
🦉🦉🦉

I’ve been here for 12 years, and I like it. I’ll probably move at some point, but I never feel motivated enough to get around to it, so it must not be that bad!

Positives for me are a nice downtown area, good food, pleasant people (in my experience), fairly close to Birmingham, decent enough parks, and easy to navigate.

Negatives are the heat, horrible pedestrian/bike infrastructure, not close to major music venues (big artists come about as close as Atlanta or Nashville, usually), and a less varied nerd scene than I’d like.

I’ve never had any crime issues, personally, and I’ve lived in a variety of places around town. I’m sure that’s not universally true, but just throwing out my experience.

For more reviews of what living in Tuscaloosa is like from locals, check out [The Reviews](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/tuscaloosa/reviews).


Reviews of Tuscaloosa from Locals

Downtown Tuscaloosa is easily the best neighborhood for young professionals. Everything is walkable, it has cool historical architecture and warehouse/building conversions for apartment/condos for younger renters and buyers. It has tons of commercial spaces filled with bars, restaurants, music spots and some culture to keep locals busy. You also get the Black Warrior River running through the area so there is access to some water activities even while you’re living a downtown lifestyle. 
- Downtown


Young Professionals

Downtown

The Townes is a wonderful upscale family neighborhood. The area is notable for great parks for the kiddos to run around in, wide sidewalks and beautiful trees lining the streets, big older and new development homes and excellent schools. 
- The Townes
- Crowne Pointe
- University Circle


Families

The Townes

Tuscaloosa

**Ok_Huckleberry_4907**
2y ago
🦉🦉🦉

I feel like Tuscaloosa and auburn are pretty comparable as college towns, where life revolves around football, but I’m bias “Roll Tide”

The food scene in Tuscaloosa is a bit lack luster in my opinion. It’s a few international restaurants in the area, but not sure if they are all 100% authentic. You will have a few good options, and if you get tired of it bham is just a little drive away.

Tuscaloosa has a Sam’s club, Fresh market, Publix, and the standard places such as aldis, Winn Dixie, Walmart and target.

I currently live in “The Townes” and it’s safe with good schools nearby and easy access to the lake for warm weather activities. I am considering moving down the street to a new subdivision for a bit more yard space but I love my neighborhood. It’s very kid friendly and they enjoy decorating for the holidays so be prepared for that, you don’t want to be the family that doesn’t decorate.

I have one specialist doctor in the DCH tower that’s a good guy but he is the only one I see in DCH, there is a great ENT in town, but for anything else and any type of emergency I recommend going to UAB

Para has several programs and activities that you can join and I’m sure soccer is an option. I haven’t seen any posts about pickle ball, but I think they have it periodically at North river yacht club and at Indian hills country club.

**Bear_Upstairs**
21d ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉

Welcome to Alabama! Tuscaloosa is a beautiful centrally located city in AL, it is largely a “college town” where the University has a lot of pull in the local economy and politics, but it slows down a lot in the summer/winter break times as the students usually leave.

From my experience, it’s a bit hard to make friends as a permanent resident because most of your age group has a 2-4 year lifespan here and often moves on elsewhere after graduation, lots of social activities are centered around the bar scene. Birmingham is a fun bigger city an hour away with better nightlife and more stuff going on.

It’s a fast growing place with new stuff popping up all the time, if you’re into hiking, fishing, football, or hunting -this is a great place for you! Downtown is fairly safe, like most cities, there are areas to avoid but I feel generally safe just about anywhere and haven’t really experienced any of the petty theft/violence some people have mentioned in this sub.

**birtsmom**
19d ago
🦉🦉🦉

Better have a car, love college football, be prepared to decide if you're for Alabama ( in Tuscaloosa) or Auburn ( there are quite a few of us around). There's nice hiking. An art museum in Birmingham. Neither Atlanta, Huntsville, nor Nashville are too far away. Beaches on the Gulf of Mexico have outrageous hotel,/condo rates. Rent is absurd here. Mostly because of out of state Alabama students who want to live like they do at home- driving BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers. It's out of control. When I got out of school in 1985 I could afford a decent apartment with my $7 an hour pay. I now make 4.5 times that and cannot afford the same apartment ( if you go by the 30% of your budget on housing). Good luck.

**Dependent_Chair6104**
20d ago
🦉🦉🦉

I’ve been here for 12 years, and I like it. I’ll probably move at some point, but I never feel motivated enough to get around to it, so it must not be that bad!

Positives for me are a nice downtown area, good food, pleasant people (in my experience), fairly close to Birmingham, decent enough parks, and easy to navigate.

Negatives are the heat, horrible pedestrian/bike infrastructure, not close to major music venues (big artists come about as close as Atlanta or Nashville, usually), and a less varied nerd scene than I’d like.

I’ve never had any crime issues, personally, and I’ve lived in a variety of places around town. I’m sure that’s not universally true, but just throwing out my experience.


Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Druid City

Looklyloo Score: 84