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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-CULLMAN-AL · Cullman, AL 18,894 pop · income 41st pct · 22 tracts
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 Cullman
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cullman on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Selma · lowest
32,184
Selma · lowest
32,184 median HH income
33.9% of the leader · rank #1
Damariscotta · near
63,696
Damariscotta · near
63,696 median HH income
67.0% of the leader · rank #2
Los Lunas · near
63,696
Los Lunas · near
63,696 median HH income
67.0% of the leader · rank #3
Walthill · near
63,702
Walthill · near
63,702 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #4
Cullman · this city
63,704
Cullman · this city
63,704 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #5
Velarde · near
63,707
Velarde · near
63,707 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #6
Knik-Fairview · highest
95,000
Knik-Fairview · highest
95,000 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 Cullman 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: 18,894.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Cullman - the verdict
Cullman ranks in the 41st percentile for household income and the 20th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
41st
percentile, household income
47th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
20th
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: Cullman, AL
Cullman is a small town in Alabama, home to 18,894 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Cullman households earn a median of $63,704 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.5%. Home values in Cullman run a median of $215,200, and the median resident age is 41.1 years. About 31.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 57.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 158 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Slowing), down 24% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2681.9 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 59.9°F with 58.7 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Alabama at 88.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $936 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $245 across Alabama, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 61.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Cullman'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 population change to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cullman, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Cullman growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +2,330 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 158 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Cullman?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.5%, 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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 22 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cullman?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Prichard (19,121 residents, $35,331 income); Troy (17,733 residents, $47,595 income); Tillmans Corner (17,678 residents, $52,249 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mebane, NC (18,899 residents); Palestine, TX (18,888 residents); Onalaska, WI (18,909 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Cullman?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
3.9%
Drive alone
88.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 8,735 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 16 public schools within the city match. 31.5% 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
16
Bachelor's degree+
31.5%
Poverty estimate
9.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Cullman?
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 2681.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 18% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2466.6
Violent rate
215.3
Total reported rate
2681.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.9°F, with 58.7 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Alabama is 61.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
59.9°F
Annual precipitation
58.7 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
61.5
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 9.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
C
City profile score · Cullman, AL
55/100
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 C+
31.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
215 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
9.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$63,704
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cullman profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.5%
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 215 /100k
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.5%
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,704
Where Cullman sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Cullman'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 - Cullman highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Cullman, AL (this city): home $215,200, crime 2,682/100k
Mebane, NC : home $295,600, crime 3,518/100k
Palestine, TX : home $153,400, crime 1,863/100k
Onalaska, WI : home $279,100, crime 2,329/100k
Chowchilla, CA : home $331,500, crime 1,866/100k
Ellensburg, WA : home $357,800, crime 2,409/100k
Prichard, AL : home $79,900, crime 2,774/100k
Troy, AL : home $214,100, crime 3,996/100k
Selma, AL : home $102,500, crime 3,092/100k
Calera, AL : home $214,200, crime 1,563/100k
Millbrook, AL : home $193,600, crime 3,681/100k
How does Cullman compare to other US cities?
Where Cullman sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher than other cities
Home value47% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety20% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Alabama alone, Cullman ranks #152 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cullman 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 Cullman near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cullman ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cullman only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#172 of 530
68th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#88 of 517
83rd percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#330 of 556
40th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#78 of 556
86th 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
41st percentile nationally for median household income · 20th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Cullman's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Cullman'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 Cullman's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$215,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 53% 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
Cullman's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,479 of 15,516
More affordable than 45% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,373 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.4×, Cullman sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,479 of 15,516 and #1,373 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$63,704Cullman, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cullman, 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 Cullman, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
18,894
Median Income
$63,704
Median Home Value
$215,200
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
9.5%
Labor force participation
57.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2681.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
215.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2466.6
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
59.9°F
Annual Precipitation
58.7"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
16
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cullman's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
18,469 residents
2021
18,868 residents
2022
19,264 residents
2023
19,914 residents
2024
20,326 residents
2025
20,799 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
158
housing units authorized
Single-Family
146
detached homes
Multifamily
12
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
8.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
209
149
60
$31.3M
2020
127
124
3
$22.9M
2021
192
172
20
$35.9M
2022
277
253
24
$49.0M
2023
181
149
32
$38.0M
2024
158
146
12
$32.8M
Permit volume decreased 24% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.7%
Carpool
5.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
3.9%
Based on 8,735 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 Cullman. 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 Cullman 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 Cullman sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cullman 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.