With a budget of $200k and small children, where would you live in Birmingham with one adult commuting to Tuscaloosa and one working remotely?

The housing market has become insane in Birmingham and I am wondering how anyone can afford to live in the “good” family friendly areas. We are considering homeschooling but would also like to be close enough to the private school options just in case that doesn’t work out (so, not an hour away from town).

Ideally we would be as close to the Hoover/Vestavia area as possible, but with our budget that seems impossible. Any thoughts about family life in Bessemer (outskirts), Hueytown, McCalla….? Alabaster and Helena would be great but seems we can get more in our budget if we go west.

Biggest priorities would be safety, community feel, family life around town (parks, events etc), and proximity to convenience stores/shopping.

ETA we prefer to stay near Birmingham because of friends/family which is why we don’t want to look for options in Tuscaloosa.