The short version: The Buckhorn High School zone covers a big slice of northeast Madison County, from the Mt. Carmel and Riverton areas north of Huntsville out to New Market. Buckhorn High earned an A (90) on the 2024-25 state report card, and homes zoned for it sold at a median of $320,000 over the last 12 months. About a third of those sales were new construction, and most homes in the zone are on septic or a private sewer, not city sewer.
Wednesdays are for schools. This week is a school zone that does not get as much attention as Madison City or Huntsville High, but has some of the strongest elementary grades in the county and a wide mix of homes, from new subdivisions to acreage. Here is what the numbers say, as of November 11, 2026.
The schools and their state grades
These are the 2024-25 Alabama State Department of Education report card grades, released in November 2025. The 2025-26 report cards were not out when we checked on November 11; when they are, the grades below will change.
| School | 2024-25 grade | 2023-24 grade |
|---|---|---|
| Buckhorn High School | A (90) | B (87) |
| Buckhorn Middle School | B (81) | B (84) |
| Riverton Elementary | A (95) | A (93) |
| Mt. Carmel Elementary | A (94) | A (95) |
| New Market School | A (94) | A (91) |
A state grade is one measure. It blends achievement, growth, graduation and readiness, and chronic absenteeism. Visit the schools and look at the programs that matter to you. You can see how these compare with the rest of North Alabama on our school rankings.
Which schools a home feeds into
MLS listings in the zone name three main elementary schools: Riverton Elementary (350 of 732 sales), Mt. Carmel Elementary (320) and New Market (47). A handful name Walnut Grove, Lynn Fanning or Riverton Intermediate. For middle school, most listings name Buckhorn Middle (551 sales), but 173 name Riverton and a few name New Market. In other words, not every Buckhorn High home goes through Buckhorn Middle.
Listing agents type these fields in, and zone lines can split a street. Confirm the zone for any address with Madison County Schools before you write an offer.
What homes sold for
From November 12, 2025, through November 10, 2026, 732 homes, townhomes and condos with Buckhorn as their high school closed on Valley MLS. The median sale price was $320,000, and the middle half sold between about $274,000 and $409,000. The median price per square foot was $164, and the median time from listing to closing was 108 days.
Price varies by which elementary school is on the listing:
| Elementary on listing | Sales | Median price | Median $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverton Elementary | 350 | $300,810 | $163 |
| Mt. Carmel Elementary | 320 | $342,955 | $166 |
| New Market | 47 | $280,000 | $158 |
Resale homes only (builder sales left out), by size:
| Living area | Sales | Median price | Median $/sq ft | Median days, list to close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft | 88 | $238,200 | $190 | 47 |
| 1,500-1,999 | 113 | $285,000 | $165 | 92 |
| 2,000-2,499 | 83 | $365,000 | $164 | 100 |
| 2,500-2,999 | 78 | $425,700 | $155 | 132 |
| 3,000 and up | 103 | $540,000 | $156 | 110 |
The resale homes were built across a wide range. Half were built between 1992 and 2019, with a median of 2005, and the median lot was about half an acre. The smallest homes sold fastest; homes over 2,500 square feet took the longest.
A lot of new construction
Builders' own offices listed 267 of the 732 sales, about 36%: D.R. Horton (DHI Realty) 89, Lennar 67, Adams Homes 37, Davidson Homes 33, Smith Douglas 30 and Woodland 11. The busiest subdivisions by sales were Grand Hollow and Deerfield, both mostly new D.R. Horton homes. The median builder sale was $304,900, against $342,500 for resales. Price per square foot was close: $159 for builder sales and $166 for resales.
On November 11 there were 296 active listings zoned for Buckhorn High (92 by builder offices) and 101 more under contract or pending. At last year's pace of about 61 closings a month, that is close to five months of supply. Buyers in this zone have choices, and builder incentives are worth comparing against resale prices.
Buckhorn next to its neighbors
To compare like with like, here are resale homes of 1,800 to 2,600 square feet over the same 12 months in Buckhorn and two nearby Madison County Schools high school zones.
| High school zone | 2024-25 grade | Sales | Median price | Median $/sq ft | Median days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhorn | A (90) | 153 | $345,552 | $164 | 93 |
| Sparkman | B (89) | 283 | $345,000 | $162 | 75 |
| Hazel Green | B (88) | 196 | $322,000 | $152 | 94 |
Buckhorn and Sparkman sold at almost the same price for this size of home. Hazel Green was about $12 a square foot lower.
Septic, private sewer or city sewer
This is the question I would put near the top of the list in this zone. Of the 732 sales, the MLS sewer field showed 302 on septic tanks, 248 on private sewer and 168 on public sewer (a few were blank or listed both). The field is entered by the listing agent and can vary on the same street, so treat it as a starting point.
Septic means a system you maintain yourself, so ask for its age and service records and have a licensed septic inspector look at it. Private sewer means a monthly bill from a private company. On November 3, Madison County voters approved a local amendment on Public Service Commission oversight of private sewer companies (unofficial results); we covered what that means for buyers in our post on the new sewer and senior tax rules. Ask the seller who provides the service and what the current bill is.
Shopping the Buckhorn zone? Let's talk
We track sales in the Buckhorn, Sparkman and Hazel Green zones every week. Tell us your budget and must-haves, and we will set up a search that sends you new listings zoned for the school you want, pull recent sales for the streets you like, and show you how the new builds stack up against resales.
Questions about the Buckhorn zone? Call or text George at (256) 808-6861, or send us a message.
Sales data: Valley MLS closings of homes, townhomes and condos listed with Buckhorn, Sparkman or Hazel Green as the high school, November 12, 2025 to November 10, 2026; active and pending counts as of November 11, 2026. Builder sales are those listed by builders' own offices. School fields come from listings and can be wrong; confirm the zone by address with Madison County Schools. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Sources: Alabama State Department of Education (report card data); Madison County Schools; Valley MLS.