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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-PELHAM-AL · Pelham, AL 24,510 pop · income 72nd 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 Pelham
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pelham on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bessemer · lowest
37,844
Bessemer · lowest
37,844 median HH income
19.8% of the leader · rank #1
Parkside · near
91,902
Parkside · near
91,902 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #2
Pelham · this city
91,904
Pelham · this city
91,904 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #3
Andrews AFB · near
91,905
Andrews AFB · near
91,905 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #4
Chatfield · near
91,912
Chatfield · near
91,912 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #5
Cazenovia · near
91,923
Cazenovia · near
91,923 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #6
Mountain Brook · highest
191,128
Mountain Brook · highest
191,128 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 Pelham 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: 24,510.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pelham - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Pelham lands in the 72nd percentile for household income and the 68th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
72nd
percentile, household income
61st
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
68th
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: Pelham, AL
Alabama's Pelham is a small city, with 24,510 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Pelham brings in $91,904 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.8%. Home values in Pelham run a median of $278,900, and the median resident age is 41.2 years. About 48.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 113 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Growing), up 10% from five years earlier. Pelham reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 893.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures 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. 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. 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 Pelham'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pelham, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
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.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Pelham?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pelham?
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.
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Bessemer (25,655 residents, $37,844 income); Fairhope (23,360 residents, $86,509 income); Trussville (26,182 residents, $120,794 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Belvidere, IL (24,510 residents); Melrose Park, IL (24,513 residents); Homer Glen, IL (24,516 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Pelham?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 48.8% 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Pelham?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 893.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 61% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
893.0
Violent rate
165.2
Property rate
727.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,422 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 113 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
24,242
2025 estimate
25,664
Period change
+5.9%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 3.8% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
B
City profile score · Pelham, AL
74/100
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 A-
48.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B
$91,904
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime C
165 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Pelham profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 48.8%
Poverty rate: 73/100 (B) · 3.8%
Household income: 71/100 (B) · $91,904
Violent crime: 55/100 (C) · 165 /100k
Where Pelham sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pelham'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 - Pelham highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Pelham, AL (this city): home $278,900, crime 893/100k
Belvidere, IL : home $153,100, crime 589/100k
Melrose Park, IL : home $265,000, crime 2,075/100k
Homer Glen, IL : home $400,000, crime 293/100k
Herndon, VA : home $568,700, crime 2,035/100k
Kerrville, TX : home $272,700, crime 728/100k
Bessemer, AL : home $129,800, crime 8,867/100k
Fairhope, AL : home $406,500, crime 1,261/100k
Trussville, AL : home $351,500, crime 2,110/100k
Albertville, AL : home $158,900, crime 1,996/100k
Foley, AL : home $260,100, crime 1,722/100k
Mountain Brook, AL : home $891,300, crime 838/100k
How does Pelham compare to other US cities?
Pelham measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Home value61% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety68% 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, Pelham ranks #44 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 Pelham 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 Pelham near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pelham ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pelham only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#48 of 530
91st percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#38 of 517
93rd percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#450 of 556
19th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#22 of 556
96th 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
72nd percentile nationally for median household income · 68th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pelham's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pelham'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 Pelham's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$278,90039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Pelham's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,882 of 15,516
More affordable than 56% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#959 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.0×, Pelham sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,882 of 15,516 and #959 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
$91,904Pelham, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pelham, 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 Pelham, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)48.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,510
Median Income
$91,904
Median Home Value
$278,900
Median Age
41.2
Poverty Rate
3.8%
Labor force participation
68.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
48.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
893.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
165.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
727.8
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
Pelham's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
24,242 residents
2021
24,511 residents
2022
24,762 residents
2023
25,175 residents
2024
25,408 residents
2025
25,664 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
113
housing units authorized
Single-Family
113
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
103
103
0
$32.6M
2020
125
125
0
$36.9M
2021
130
130
0
$47.3M
2022
138
136
2
$41.5M
2023
108
108
0
$32.4M
2024
113
113
0
$31.2M
Permit volume increased 10% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.8%
Carpool
5.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
17.8%
Based on 13,360 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 Pelham. 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 Pelham 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 Pelham sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pelham 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.