Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, AL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Birmingham, AL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Birmingham ranks 132nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 158th for income. A household earns $74,954 a year while median rent runs $1,262/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (81st of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (283rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 154th and home prices 104th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Birmingham, your take-home is worth about $63,019 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 158th of 300↑28.4%$74,954
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 81st of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,788
- Per-capita income
- $40,270
- Full-time pay
- $46,976
Housing
- Median rent
- 154th of 300↑38.2%$1,262/mo
- Home value
- 104th of 300↑48.6%$263,900
- Property tax
- $1,334/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 92nd of 3003.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 120th of 30035.9%
- Avg commute
- 234th of 30027.3 min
People
- Population
- 1,192,583
- Population change
- +9.4%
- Median age
- 39.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.1%
- Broadband
- 93.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 283rd of 30057
- Natural-hazard loss
- 178th of 300$14/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 193rd of 30019.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Job market
Watch-outs
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — birmingham ap.
What jobs pay in Birmingham
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Lawyers
- $170,230
- Financial managers
- $153,930
- IT managers
- $140,230
- Pharmacists
- $138,800
- Software developers
- $125,410
- General & operations managers
- $123,560
- Family medicine physicians
- $119,990
- Civil engineers
- $97,420
- Registered nurses
- $78,680
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,660
- Web developers
- $66,640
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,650
- Elementary school teachers
- $62,630
- Police officers
- $60,590
- Plumbers
- $60,090
- Electricians
- $56,630
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,460
- Carpenters
- $50,400
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,360
- Customer service reps
- $40,530
- Construction laborers
- $38,370
- Janitors
- $33,370
- Retail salespersons
- $31,450
- Cashiers
- $29,310
- Waiters & waitresses
- $27,670
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Birmingham metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Alabama are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida2,601
- Tennessee2,231
- Georgia2,222
- Texas1,516
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Birmingham
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Birmingham metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Birmingham metro?
- Median gross rent across the Birmingham, AL Metro Area is $1,262 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Birmingham.
- What is the median household income in the Birmingham metro?
- A typical household in the Birmingham, AL Metro Area earns $74,954 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Birmingham expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Birmingham, AL Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Birmingham metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,788 (versus its face value of $74,954). CityLedger rates the Birmingham, AL Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Birmingham metro?
- The median home value across the Birmingham, AL Metro Area is $263,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Birmingham metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Birmingham, AL Metro Area is 3.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).