Facts about Auburn

Auburn Public Schools

Auburn's public school system includes one kindergarten, six elementary schools, one middle school, one junior high school, and one high school. Auburn's school system has repeatedly been ranked among the top public school systems in the state and nation. Auburn City Schools has been ranked among the top 100 school districts in the United States by Parenting magazine and as the best educational value in the Southeast by the Wall Street Journal. Auburn's Early Education Center has specialized programs for autism education, has been recognized as a national Blue Ribbon school, and is an Intel and Scholastic School of Distinction. Auburn High School has strong International Baccalaureate and music programs, and was ranked in 2006 by Newsweek as the top non-magnet public high school in Alabama, and one of the top 30 in the United States.

Inc.com has named the Auburn-Opelika area the No. 5 best city for doing business in the nation based on growth trends and employment data. The Auburn area was the highest ranking metro in the State of Alabama. News of the ranking came on the heels of the groundbreaking of Aluminum Technology Schmid North America, Inc., the first manufacturing facility to locate in Auburn Technology Park West, Auburn's newest technology park.
The Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Statistical Area was recently named by Golf Digest as the #1 area for golf in the United States. One part of the reason this area received this ranking is that Opelika is home to Robert Trent Jones Grand National. The site for the course, which hugs the edge of Lake Saugahatchee in Opelika's northwest, was described by Jones as the "single greatest" site for a golf complex that he had ever seen. The course, which is considered to be the jewel of Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, has hosted a number of national tournaments, including the 1997 Nike Tour championship, the 1998 LPGA Tournament of Champions, and the 2000 NCAA Men's Division 1 National Championship. The region's moderate climate in the location of several other world-class golf facilities in adjacent Auburn also played a part in this selection.
Approximately 4 hours away from the Gulf Coast, which boast beautiful stretches of white sand beaches
Auburn is the home to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. The Smith Museum maintains a collection of primarily 19th and 20th century American and European art. The museum's exhibits include the Advancing American Art Collection, consisting of 36 works by mid-20th century American artists including Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, and Georgia O'Keefe, a collection of engravings by naturalist John James Audubon, and works by Dali, Chagall, Renoir, Picasso, and Matisse. Major sculptural works at the museum include a collection of Tibetan bronzes, Jean Woodham's Spinoff, and Dale Chihuly's Amber Luster Chandelier.
Auburn University football in particular is a major force in Auburn's culture and economy. When Auburn University has home football games in the fall, the city often sees over 100,000 visitors, and the yearly economic impact is measured at nearly $100 million. Home football games particularly change the face of Auburn for several weekends a year. Tens of thousands of fans flood the campus hours—sometimes days—before the game to tailgate, creating a festival-like atmosphere throughout the weekend. Football games in Auburn are played in 87,451 seat Jordan-Hare Stadium, which sits on the main campus, just a few blocks from downtown.
Nearby Opelika, hosts TigerTown, a new 130-acre (0.53 km2) mixed-use development, will be east Alabama's largest retail center with more than 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of retail space when completed. Located at the intersection of Interstate 85 and Highway 280 in Opelika, TigerTown's tenants include The Home Depot, Target, Best Buy, Starbucks Coffee, PETCO, Office Depot, Hibbett Sports, World Market, Hobby Lobby, and Old Navy, to name a few.  
  Opelika also has a strong historical preservation group that has helped maintain much of its heritage and architecture. In Opelika, you can find many houses that were built at the turn of the century, and still have that "old world" charm. If you're looking for charming bungalows or Victorian homes, Opelika has many of these homes.
Recreational opportunities in Auburn include 16 parks, highlighted by Chewacla State Park, a 700 acre (2.8 km˛) park in the Appalachian foothills, Kiesel Park, a 200 acre (0.8 km˛) "passive" park with numerous trails, and the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve. The Donald E. Davis Arboretum showcases 150 different tree species native to Alabama and the Southeast. Auburn is also ringed by miles of multi-use trails and several lakes.
Climate Winters in Auburn are typically mild, with average highs between 55 and 60 °F (13 to 16 °C) and average lows between 35 and 40 °F (2 to 4 °C).
Auburn is accessible by Interstate 85, US 29, and US 280. Less Than 2 hours away from Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. Hartsfield Airport is the central hub for Delta Airlines, Airtran, and Georgia Skies Airline.