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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-SCOTTSBORO-AL · Scottsboro, AL 15,641 pop · income 24th pct · 16 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 Scottsboro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Scottsboro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Opelousas · lowest
36,260
Opelousas · lowest
36,260 median HH income
22.8% of the leader · rank #1
Hollister · near
52,946
Hollister · near
52,946 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #2
Lafayette · near
52,946
Lafayette · near
52,946 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #3
Saluda · near
52,946
Saluda · near
52,946 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #4
Angustura · near
52,948
Angustura · near
52,948 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #5
Scottsboro · this city
52,949
Scottsboro · this city
52,949 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #6
Bellmore · highest
159,158
Bellmore · highest
159,158 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 Scottsboro 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: 15,641.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Scottsboro - the verdict
Scottsboro ranks in the 24th percentile for household income and the 33rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
24th
percentile, household income
35th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
33rd
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: Scottsboro, AL
Alabama's Scottsboro is a small town, with 15,641 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $52,949 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.9%. Home values in Scottsboro run a median of $175,700, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. Educational attainment runs 25.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 49.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 45 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 114% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1973.7 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 55.1 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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $936 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $245 across Alabama, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Scottsboro'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Scottsboro, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Scottsboro 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 +546 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 45 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 Scottsboro?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.9%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Scottsboro?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Hartselle (15,586 residents, $67,863 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 Mitchell, SD (15,637 residents); Summerfield, MD (15,635 residents); Palmview, TX (15,650 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.
What can 16 Census tracts reveal inside Scottsboro?
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 16 Census tracts to this city.
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 Scottsboro?
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 87.0%. 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
5.3%
Drive alone
87.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 6,094 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Scottsboro?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 25.0% 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
6
Bachelor's degree+
25.0%
Poverty estimate
15.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Scottsboro?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.9°F, with 55.1 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
55.1 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Scottsboro?
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 1973.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 13% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1773.2
Violent rate
200.5
Total reported rate
1973.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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
25.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
201 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$52,949
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Scottsboro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 49/100 (D) · 25.0%
Violent crime: 48/100 (D) · 201 /100k
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,949
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 15.9%
Where Scottsboro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Scottsboro'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 - Scottsboro highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Scottsboro, AL (this city): home $175,700, crime 1,974/100k
Mitchell, SD : home $182,000, crime 2,230/100k
Palmview, TX : home $109,400, crime 1,939/100k
Opelousas, LA : home $113,000, crime 6,388/100k
Hartselle, AL : home $192,200, crime 2,911/100k
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 Scottsboro compare to other US cities?
Scottsboro measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income24% higher than other cities
Home value35% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety33% 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, Scottsboro ranks #114 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 Scottsboro 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 Scottsboro near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Scottsboro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Scottsboro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#264 of 530
50th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#174 of 517
66th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#194 of 556
65th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#122 of 556
78th 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
24th percentile nationally for median household income · 33rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Scottsboro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Scottsboro'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 Scottsboro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$175,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 65% 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
Scottsboro's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,207 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,308 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.3×, Scottsboro sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,207 of 15,516 and #1,308 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
$52,949Scottsboro, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Scottsboro, 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 Scottsboro, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
15,641
Median Income
$52,949
Median Home Value
$175,700
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
15.9%
Labor force participation
49.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1973.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
200.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1773.2
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
55.1"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Scottsboro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
15,577 residents
2021
15,641 residents
2022
15,670 residents
2023
15,866 residents
2024
16,004 residents
2025
16,123 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
45
housing units authorized
Single-Family
45
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
21
21
0
$3.8M
2020
45
45
0
$11.5M
2021
39
39
0
$13.1M
2022
46
46
0
$14.1M
2023
42
42
0
$13.2M
2024
45
45
0
$14.0M
Permit volume increased 114% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.0%
Carpool
6.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
5.3%
Based on 6,094 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 Scottsboro. 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 Scottsboro 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 Scottsboro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Scottsboro 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.