Tuscaloosa, AL population, income and ZIP codes

Tuscaloosa city is a mid-size city in Alabama, with 107,699 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #5 of 593 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 28.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Tuscaloosa city earn a median of $48,536 a year, 38.2% below the national figure of $78,538 and 13% below the $55,687 median for the 322 Alabama cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 23.8% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in Tuscaloosa city is valued at $236,600, 22% below the national figure and 50% above the $158,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,005 a month, 28.5% below the national figure, or roughly $12,060 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 45.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 28.2 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.