ZIP code 35222

ZIP 35222 is a mid-size town in Jefferson County, Alabama, with 8,184 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #215 of 656 ranked by population — larger than 67% of them. The median age here is 34.2 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 35222 earn a median of $91,964 a year, 17.1% above the national figure of $78,538. 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 18.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 35222 is valued at $374,600, 23.5% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,086 a month, 22.8% below the national figure, or roughly $13,032 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 14.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 59.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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 35222 is tabulated inside Jefferson County, Alabama, one of 54 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 656 across Alabama. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. 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 35222 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 35222 reports a median household income of $91,964, 45% above the $63,333 county median, and 66% above the $55,313 typical AL ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $374,600, 103% above the county figure and 153% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,086 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 35222 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 35222 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 35222 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.