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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-TUSCALOOSA-AL · Tuscaloosa, AL 107,699 pop · income 17th pct · 59 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 Tuscaloosa
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Tuscaloosa on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Neodesha · lowest
48,532
Neodesha · lowest
48,532 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #1
Niagara Falls · near
48,535
Niagara Falls · near
48,535 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #2
Tuscaloosa · this city
48,536
Tuscaloosa · this city
48,536 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #3
Wilhoit · near
48,542
Wilhoit · near
48,542 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #4
Ila · near
48,542
Ila · near
48,542 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #5
Madison · highest
131,436
Madison · highest
131,436 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Tuscaloosa 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: 107,699.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Tuscaloosa - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Tuscaloosa lands in the 17th percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
53rd
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
13th
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: Tuscaloosa, AL
107,699 people live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Tuscaloosa households earn a median of $48,536 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.2%. Typical homes in Tuscaloosa are valued around $236,600, and the median resident age is 28.2 years. About 38.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 53.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 433 residential building permits were authorized in Tuscaloosa (Construction Slowdown), down 63% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Tuscaloosa's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3284.6 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).
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. 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 Tuscaloosa'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 comparison shortlist to within-city variation to reported crime to housing and income to population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Tuscaloosa, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Tuscaloosa?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Hoover (92,401 residents, $107,822 income); Auburn (78,738 residents, $56,123 income); Dothan (71,118 residents, $55,052 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Allen, TX (107,684 residents); Tyler, TX (107,718 residents); Riverview, FL (107,776 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 59 Census tracts reveal inside Tuscaloosa?
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 59 Census tracts to this city.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Tuscaloosa?
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 3284.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 44% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Tuscaloosa?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.2%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
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.
Population change
Is Tuscaloosa 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 +8,752 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +8.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 433 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
+8.3%
2025 estimate
114,316
2020 estimate
105,564
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Tuscaloosa?
The NCES join finds 23 public schools within the city match. 38.1% 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
23
Bachelor's degree+
38.1%
Poverty estimate
15.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Tuscaloosa?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
1.6%
Work from home
7.6%
Drive alone
76.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 47,746 workers age 16+.
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 B
38.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$48,536
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
553 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Tuscaloosa profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 72/100 (B) · 38.1%
Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.2%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,536
Violent crime: 13/100 (F) · 553 /100k
Where Tuscaloosa sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Tuscaloosa'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 - Tuscaloosa highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Tuscaloosa, AL (this city): home $236,600, crime 3,285/100k
Allen, TX : home $429,900, crime 985/100k
Tyler, TX : home $216,400, crime 2,305/100k
Dearborn, MI : home $205,900, crime 2,292/100k
West Covina, CA : home $712,300, crime 2,338/100k
Centennial, CO : home $626,700, crime 1,882/100k
Hoover, AL : home $391,300, crime 1,335/100k
Auburn, AL : home $342,400, crime 1,087/100k
Dothan, AL : home $186,600, crime 3,678/100k
Madison, AL : home $367,900, crime 1,538/100k
Decatur, AL : home $190,500, crime 2,916/100k
Florence, AL : home $174,100, crime 2,647/100k
How does Tuscaloosa compare to other US cities?
Tuscaloosa measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value53% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety13% 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, Tuscaloosa ranks #175 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Tuscaloosa ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Tuscaloosa only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#310 of 530
42nd percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#63 of 517
88th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#208 of 556
63rd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#40 of 556
93rd 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
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Tuscaloosa's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Tuscaloosa'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 Tuscaloosa's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$236,60047th percentilemore affordable than 47% 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
Tuscaloosa's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,673 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#440 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.9×, Tuscaloosa sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,673 of 15,516 and #440 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$48,536Tuscaloosa, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Tuscaloosa, 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 Tuscaloosa, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)38.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
107,699
Median Income
$48,536
Median Home Value
$236,600
Median Age
28.2
Poverty Rate
15.2%
Labor force participation
53.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
38.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3284.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
553.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2731.2
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.
Schools
Total Schools
23
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Tuscaloosa's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
105,564 residents
2021
110,565 residents
2022
112,018 residents
2023
112,920 residents
2024
114,211 residents
2025
114,316 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
433
housing units authorized
Single-Family
312
detached homes
Multifamily
121
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,165
321
844
$212.0M
2020
1,024
411
613
$192.8M
2021
1,126
401
725
$211.7M
2022
628
299
329
$147.0M
2023
457
337
120
$119.0M
2024
433
312
121
$108.2M
Permit volume decreased 63% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.2%
Carpool
9.8%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
1.7%
Based on 47,746 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 Tuscaloosa. 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 Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Tuscaloosa 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.