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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-HARTSELLE-AL · Hartselle, AL 15,586 pop · income 47th 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 Hartselle
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hartselle on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Talladega · lowest
46,820
Talladega · lowest
46,820 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #1
Ada · near
67,857
Ada · near
67,857 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #2
Cedar Rapids · near
67,859
Cedar Rapids · near
67,859 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #3
Hartselle · this city
67,863
Hartselle · this city
67,863 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #4
Hauser · near
67,868
Hauser · near
67,868 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #5
Coulee Dam · near
67,868
Coulee Dam · near
67,868 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #6
Sayville · highest
145,278
Sayville · highest
145,278 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 Hartselle 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: 15,586.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hartselle - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Hartselle places in the 47th percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
47th
percentile, household income
40th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
17th
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: Hartselle, AL
Hartselle is a small town in Alabama, home to 15,586 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Hartselle households earn a median of $67,863 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.1%. Hartselle's housing stock carries a median value of $192,200, and the median resident age is 38.6 years. About 29.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 60 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier. Hartselle's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2910.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not 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 Hartselle report an average commute of 24.0 minutes, with 86.4% driving alone and 4.9% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 61.5 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Hartselle'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 work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hartselle, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, 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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Hartselle?
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 86.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.0 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Hartselle?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.1%, 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hartselle?
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 2910.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 28% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hartselle?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Scottsboro (15,641 residents, $52,949 income); Chelsea (15,731 residents, $110,056 income); Gulf Shores (15,785 residents, $73,873 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sayville, NY (15,593 residents); Mount Clemens, MI (15,567 residents); Williamsburg, VA (15,564 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 Hartselle?
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 29.4% 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
7
Bachelor's degree+
29.4%
Poverty estimate
9.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Hartselle 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 +728 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 60 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+4.7%
2025 estimate
16,312
2020 estimate
15,584
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 9.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
C
City profile score · Hartselle, 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
29.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$67,863
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
225 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
9.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Hartselle profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.4%
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,863
Violent crime: 44/100 (D) · 225 /100k
Poverty rate: 43/100 (D) · 9.1%
Where Hartselle sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hartselle'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 - Hartselle highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Hartselle, AL (this city): home $192,200, crime 2,911/100k
Williamsburg, VA : home $393,200, crime 1,404/100k
Hudson, MA : home $457,400, crime 722/100k
Berea, KY : home $178,000, crime 936/100k
Scottsboro, AL : home $175,700, crime 1,974/100k
Gulf Shores, AL : home $367,000, crime 2,079/100k
Gardendale, AL : home $234,900, crime 1,785/100k
Talladega, AL : home $116,600, crime 3,982/100k
How does Hartselle compare to other US cities?
Where Hartselle sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value40% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety17% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Alabama and the picture shifts: Hartselle ranks #161 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hartselle 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 Hartselle near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hartselle ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hartselle only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#142 of 530
73rd percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#134 of 517
74th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#341 of 556
38th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#93 of 556
83rd 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hartselle's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hartselle'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 Hartselle's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$192,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 60% 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
Hartselle's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,754 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#683 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.8×, Hartselle sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,754 of 15,516 and #683 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$67,863Hartselle, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hartselle, 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 Hartselle, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.1%
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
15,586
Median Income
$67,863
Median Home Value
$192,200
Median Age
38.6
Poverty Rate
9.1%
Labor force participation
58.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2910.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
224.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2685.7
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hartselle's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
15,584 residents
2021
15,651 residents
2022
15,775 residents
2023
16,037 residents
2024
16,232 residents
2025
16,312 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
60
housing units authorized
Single-Family
60
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
30
30
0
$3.7M
2020
56
56
0
$10.5M
2021
61
61
0
$12.7M
2022
98
98
0
$25.0M
2023
92
92
0
$25.8M
2024
60
60
0
$15.4M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.0 minutes
Drive Alone
86.4%
Carpool
7.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.9%
Other
1.6%
Based on 7,103 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 Hartselle. 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 Hartselle 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 Hartselle sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hartselle 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.