Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetAL-ARAB-AL · Arab, AL 8,573 pop · income 37th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Arab
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Arab on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Atmore · lowest
33,104
Atmore · lowest
33,104 median HH income
26.8% of the leader · rank #1
Miami Gardens · near
60,979
Miami Gardens · near
60,979 median HH income
49.3% of the leader · rank #2
Steeleville · near
60,982
Steeleville · near
60,982 median HH income
49.3% of the leader · rank #3
Coaldale boro… · near
60,982
Coaldale boro… · near
60,982 median HH income
49.3% of the leader · rank #4
Arab · this city
60,985
Arab · this city
60,985 median HH income
49.3% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Brownwood · near
60,987
Lake Brownwood · near
60,987 median HH income
49.3% of the leader · rank #6
West Long Bra… · highest
123,661
West Long Bra… · highest
123,661 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Arab on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 8,573.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Arab - the verdict
Arab ranks in the 37th percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
37th
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
9th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Arab, AL
Alabama's Arab is a small town, with 8,573 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Arab report a median income of $60,985 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.7%. Arab's housing stock carries a median value of $196,700, and the median resident age is 36.9 years. Educational attainment runs 24.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 38 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 124% from five years earlier. Arab's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3805.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Alabama scores 88.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $936 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alabama's average monthly utility costs around $245 (state average). Workers in Arab report an average commute of 27.4 minutes, with 82.2% driving alone and 7.5% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 61.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Arab's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Arab, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Arab?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3805.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Arab?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +616 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +7.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 38 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Arab?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Brook Highland (8,428 residents, $87,143 income); Atmore (8,389 residents, $33,104 income); Guntersville (8,771 residents, $67,448 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sutherlin, OR (8,574 residents); West Long Branch, NJ (8,576 residents); Sonterra, TX (8,576 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Arab?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 24.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
5
Bachelor's degree+
24.4%
Poverty estimate
11.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 27.4 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
7.5%
Drive alone
82.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,768 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 11.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
D
City profile score · Arab, AL
48/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
88.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
257 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$60,985
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Arab profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.4%
Violent crime: 39/100 (F) · 257 /100k
Household income: 36/100 (F) · $60,985
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.7%
Where Arab sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Arab's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Arab highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Arab, AL (this city): home $196,700, crime 3,806/100k
Sutherlin, OR : home $261,700, crime 1,933/100k
West Long Branch, NJ : home $631,300, crime 1,194/100k
Beebe, AR : home $163,400, crime 2,383/100k
Atmore, AL : home $128,900, crime 4,955/100k
Guntersville, AL : home $293,500, crime 2,777/100k
Andalusia, AL : home $156,000, crime 4,334/100k
Clanton, AL : home $158,200, crime 3,622/100k
Orange Beach, AL : home $476,000, crime 2,202/100k
How does Arab compare to other US cities?
Here's how Arab stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income37% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety9% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Alabama, Arab ranks #196 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Arab against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Alabama only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Alabama-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Arab near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Arab ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Arab only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#193 of 530
64th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#126 of 517
76th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#272 of 556
51st percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#130 of 556
76th percentile in Alabama
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Alabama only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
37th percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Arab's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Arab's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Arab's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Arab's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,804 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,428 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Arab sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,804 of 15,516 and #6,428 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$60,985Arab, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Arab, AL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Arab, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,573
Median Income
$60,985
Median Home Value
$196,700
Median Age
36.9
Poverty Rate
11.7%
Labor force participation
58.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3805.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
256.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3549.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Arab's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,445 residents
2021
8,486 residents
2022
8,634 residents
2023
8,863 residents
2024
8,975 residents
2025
9,061 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
38
housing units authorized
Single-Family
38
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
17
0
$1.8M
2020
23
23
0
$3.1M
2021
43
43
0
$5.8M
2022
68
68
0
$10.8M
2023
14
14
0
$3.4M
2024
38
38
0
$6.2M
Permit volume increased 124% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
27.4 minutes
Drive Alone
82.2%
Carpool
9.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
7.5%
Based on 3,768 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Alabama statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $245
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Alabama at $245 (electricity about $138 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Alabama statewide averages, not a meter reading for Arab. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Alabama's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Arab is $936/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Alabama statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 61.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Alabama statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Arab sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Arab compares to similar-size Alabama cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.