By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

A national website recently released a list of the best places to buy a house in the state of Alabama for 2019, and a number of cities within Shelby County were listed as top candidates.

Niche.com is a national website that helps people research U.S. colleges, schools, neighborhoods, companies and more while using rankings and analysis on large data sets to help provide insight.

Using a variety of methodology, Niche.com released the “2019 Best Places to Buy a House in Alabama,” and seven cities in Shelby County made the top 25 list.

Several key factors used to provide the rankings included a location’s housing market, including home values, taxes, crimes rates, monthly housing income, quality of local schools and more to measure the overall quality of an area.

In Shelby County, the website ranked Chelsea as the 2019 best place to buy a house coming in at No. 3, followed by Indian Springs at No. 6, Helena at No. 7, Calera at No. 9, Pelham at No. 12, Hoover at No. 16 and Alabaster at No. 23.

The highest rated factors when calculating the best places to buy a home included a 15 percent weight on home value to income ratio, a 15 percent weight on public schools, a 10 percent weight on monthly housing cost among others.

At No. 3, Chelsea was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A- and a grade of A- for public schools.

At No. 6, Indian Springs was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A+ and a grade of A- for public schools.

At No. 7, Helena was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A and a grade of B+ for public schools.

At No. 9, Calera was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A and a grade of A- for public schools.

At No. 12, Pelham was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A and a grade of A- for public schools.

At No. 16, Hoover was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A+ and a grade of A+ for public schools.

At No. 23, Alabaster was awarded an overall Niche grade of an A and a grade of A for public schools.

Overall, Madison came in as the No. 1 2019 best place to buy a house in Alabama.

To view the full list and see more of the “2019 Best Places to Buy a House in Alabama” rankings, visit Niche.com/places-to-live/search/best-places-to-buy-a-house/s/alabama/.