Population
8,771 residents
Census ACS 2023 - Alabama
City profile · Alabama · Census ACS 2023
Population, income, housing, safety, climate and schools for Guntersville - drawn straight from Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA, NCES, HUD and FEMA, refreshed on the 2024–2025 release cycle.
Guntersville - the verdict
Nationally, Guntersville sits in the 46th percentile for household income and the 18th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
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.
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 8,771 residents in Guntersville, a small town within Alabama. Guntersville households earn a median of $67,448 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.4%. Guntersville's housing stock carries a median value of $293,500, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. Educational attainment runs 33.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 44 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 36% from five years earlier. Guntersville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2776.6 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Guntersville's yearly average temperature at 61.9°F with 56.8 inches of precipitation per year and 0.7 inches of snowfall.
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $776 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alabama run around $245, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Guntersville report an average commute of 19.9 minutes, with 85.8% driving alone and 8.6% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 87.3 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
Population
8,771 residents
Census ACS 2023 - Alabama
Median Household Income
$67,448 /yr
Poverty 13.4%
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Well Below Average - BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
Where Guntersville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Alabama and the picture shifts: Guntersville ranks #156 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
For each metric we count every US city with population 1,000+ and a non-null value, then compute what share of them fall below Guntersville's value: round(cities-below ÷ total × 100). Safety is inverted (percentile = share of cities with a higher crime rate) so a higher number always means safer. The in-state rank narrows that same crime-rate comparison to only the cities PlainCities tracks in Alabama, breaking ties alphabetically. See the methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
46th percentile nationally for median household income · 18th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
How Guntersville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$293,500 36th percentile more affordable than 36% of 15,600 US cities
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
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
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.
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 69 |
| 2020 | 75 |
| 2021 | 66 |
| 2022 | 54 |
| 2023 | 71 |
| 2024 | 44 |
Permit volume decreased 36% from 2019 to 2024.
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Based on 3,292 workers 16 and over.
State-average estimates for Alabama - EIA 2023 residential energy data
Estimates reflect Alabama state averages. Actual costs vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Cost of living is a Alabama state average from BEA; rent and hazard risk are county-level figures from HUD and FEMA for the county Guntersville sits in
Population-matched peers from other states, closest to Guntersville's 8,771 residents (Census ACS 5-Year 2023).
Median-household-income-matched peers from other states, closest to Guntersville's $67,448 (Census ACS 5-Year 2023, table B19013).
City-level race and ethnicity, Census ACS 5-year 2023 (tables B02001, B03001), OMB Directive 15 categories.
Population + median household income, sourced from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 (population) and B19013 (median household income).
| City | Population | Median Household Income |
|---|---|---|
| Guntersville (this city) | 8,771 | $67,448 |
| Andalusia | 8,841 | $47,500 |
| Clanton | 8,862 | $49,952 |
| Meadowbrook | 8,939 | $145,464 |
The population of Guntersville, AL stands at 8,771 according to U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates.
Guntersville households earn a median of $67,448 annually, based on Census ACS 2023 data.
BEA does not publish a city-level cost-of-living figure for Guntersville; the closest available measure is the Alabama state average, a cost of living index of 88.8 (U.S. average = 100), rated "Well Below Average" based on BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 data. Costs within Alabama vary by metro area.
Guntersville has a total crime rate of 2776.6 per 100,000 residents, which is above the national average. This reflects incidents reported to the FBI UCR program, not a definitive safety score -- agency reporting is voluntary and completeness varies by jurisdiction.
Guntersville's median home value sits at $293,500, according to Census ACS 2023 estimates.
The average annual temperature in Guntersville runs 61.9°F, 56.8 inches of precipitation, and 0.7 inches of snowfall per year. Source: NOAA Climate Normals.
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.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES.
Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.