ZIP code 35209

ZIP 35209 is a small city in Jefferson County, Alabama, with 33,476 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #21 of 656 ranked by population — larger than 96% of them. The median age here is 33.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 35209 earn a median of $72,383 a year, 7.8% below the national figure of $78,538. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 17% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 35209 is valued at $465,600, 53.5% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,246 a month, 11.4% below the national figure, or roughly $14,952 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.7% 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 6.4×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 50% 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.

Home values sit at 6.4× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.

ZIP 35209 is tabulated inside Jefferson County, Alabama, one of 54 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 656 across Alabama. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 35209 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 35209 reports a median household income of $72,383, 14% above the $63,333 county median, and 31% above the $55,313 typical AL ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $465,600, 152% above the county figure and 214% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,246 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 35209 carries 10% at the register, assembled from the Birmingham jurisdiction stack: the Alabama state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 35209 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 35209 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.