Alabama
State-to-state migration of people and income, 2022–2023 filing years
At a glance (2023)
The cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. The median home is valued at $195,100 (nominal). Home prices have risen about 50% over the five years to 2023. Median rent is about $963 a month. Unemployment averaged 2.5% in 2023 (national 3.6%). Median household income is $62,027. These figures describe all residents, not just tax filers, come from separate sources than the migration data on this page, and do not indicate why anyone moved.
Between the 2022 and 2023 filing years, Alabama saw a net gain of 6,124 tax-filing households and a net gain of 16,421 individuals. Against a population of about 5,108,468, that is a net inflow of about 3.2 per 1,000 residents. On net, the area gained $545.3M in associated adjusted gross income (AGI, nominal dollars). The largest inflow, about 9,224 households, came from Georgia; the largest outflow, about 8,527 households, went to Georgia. In the prior (2022) filing year, the area saw a net gain of 22,706 individuals. These figures cover federal income tax filers only and do not indicate why people moved.
+3.2 net people per 1,000 residents (population 5,108,468)
Income (AGI) in and out
Alabama counties
Net migration by county. Hover for figures; click a county to open it.
Top origin states
- 1Georgia9,224$563.2M
- 2Florida8,410$514M
- 3Tennessee4,905$324.1M
- 4Texas3,748$269.2M
- 5Mississippi3,287$182.2M
- 6California2,342$173.8M
- 7North Carolina1,692$111.2M
- 8Virginia1,548$140.7M
- 9Louisiana1,375$93.4M
- 10Illinois1,301$92.3M
Top destination states
- 1Georgia8,527$466.8M
- 2Florida7,060$524.9M
- 3Tennessee4,554$292.2M
- 4Texas4,359$296.6M
- 5Mississippi2,588$151.3M
- 6North Carolina1,904$125.4M
- 7California1,589$111M
- 8Virginia1,388$106.1M
- 9South Carolina1,189$89.5M
- 10Colorado1,135$75.8M
Churn by state · both directions at once
The biggest two-way exchanges of filing households, 2022–2023. Moved in and moved out are gross one-way counts; net is the difference. Click a column to sort.
| Georgia | 9,224 | 8,527 | +697 | +$96.3M |
| Florida | 8,410 | 7,060 | +1,350 | -$10.8M |
| Tennessee | 4,905 | 4,554 | +351 | +$32M |
| Texas | 3,748 | 4,359 | -611 | -$27.5M |
| Mississippi | 3,287 | 2,588 | +699 | +$31M |
| California | 2,342 | 1,589 | +753 | +$62.8M |
| North Carolina | 1,692 | 1,904 | -212 | -$14.2M |
| Virginia | 1,548 | 1,388 | +160 | +$34.5M |
| Louisiana | 1,375 | 1,101 | +274 | +$26.5M |
| Colorado | 1,261 | 1,135 | +126 | +$22.7M |
| South Carolina | 1,114 | 1,189 | -75 | -$16.1M |
| Illinois | 1,301 | 940 | +361 | +$38.7M |
Counts are filing households (IRS returns), matching the lists above; income is nominal AGI. A dash means the IRS published only one direction of that exchange (small flows are suppressed), so no net is computed.
Net migration by year
| Year | Net AGI | Net people |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | +$58.6M | -4,198 |
| 2013 | +$75.4M | +1,586 |
| 2014 | -$32.5M | -3,881 |
| 2015 | -$82.5M | -1,631 |
| 2016 | -$158.8M | +2,257 |
| 2017 | +$489.7M | +11,864 |
| 2018 | +$280.8M | +8,385 |
| 2019 | +$252.8M | +8,820 |
| 2020 | +$520.1M | +17,532 |
| 2021 | +$743.1M | +21,532 |
| 2022 | +$799M | +22,706 |
| 2023 | +$545.3M | +16,421 |
How big is this move, relative to the state?
In the 2022–2023 filing year, about 16,421 more people moved into Alabama than left (counting tax filers and their dependents) — a net gain of about $545.3M in income (nominal) — in a state of 5,117,850 people.
The rate lets you compare Alabama with a stateof any size: it’s the net flow divided by population. The IRS counts tax filers; population counts all residents, so read the rate as a scale indicator, not a literal share of people.
Components of population change · 2023 (Census)
Where the state’s overall change came from. Census counts all residents; the IRS migration above is one slice of the domestic-migration component.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program. Figures are people, not tax filers.
What a dollar is worth here
Prices around Alabama run about 11% below the national average. In plain terms: $100 spent here buys about what $112 buys in the average American community. The figures below apply that to income, each compared to the U.S. average of $70,002 per person.
Price parity shown at the state level (BEA does not publish a single figure below the metro level).
Where the cost comes from · price parity by category
Index where 100 = U.S. average for that category. Housing is usually what separates one place from another.
Housing is measured from rents (including an estimated rental value for owner-occupied homes), so a run-up in purchase prices shows here only as it reaches rents. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer income above. How the data works.
The people of Alabama
American Community Survey, 2019–2023 (a 5-year average of all residents, not just tax filers).
White, Black, and Asian counts are people who are not Hispanic or Latino; Hispanic or Latino can be of any race. Shares are rounded and may not total 100.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer data. A 5-year estimate is an average over 2019–2023; compare years at least five apart, since consecutive windows overlap. How the data works.
Housing · what it costs to live here (ACS 2019–2023)
A repeat-sales index (how much the same homes changed in price), so it tracks the market over time rather than the current level. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, annual all-transactions HPI; the county series is FHFA’s developmental index.
Units authorized by residential building permits (new supply), summed from counties for the state and U.S. Permits are authorizations, not completions. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Home value is what owners estimate their homes are worth, not recent sale prices. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2019–2023), nominal dollars. How the data works.
Jobs and natural hazards
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS) and FEMA. A disaster declaration marks federal assistance eligibility, not damage severity, and says nothing about why anyone moved. How the data works.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS). Monthly unemployment for this state, not seasonally adjusted. Updated every month, so it moves faster than the annual average above. How the data works.
Net migration by income bracket
Tax-filing households that moved into Alabama minus those that left, by the adjusted gross income they reported, 2022–2023. Positive means more arrived than left at that income level.
Among the highest earners ($200k+), Alabama ranks #15 of 51 states for net household migration (+578).
Source: IRS Statistics of Income, state-level gross migration file (returns with negative AGI are excluded, so this won’t exactly match the totals above). Income is what filers reported, not a reason anyone moved. Compare all states by income bracket. How the data works.
What Alabama ships and receives
Physical goods shipped between Alabama and other states, 2022. This is freight, not the migration of people or income shown above.
Top goods shipped out
Top goods received
Biggest trading partners (both ways)
Goods trade runs in both directions: states swap different goods, so a partner is often near the top of both columns. Net is ships minus receives (positive means Alabama ships more to that partner than it gets back).
| Partner | Ships to | Receives | Net | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | $37.3B | $22.1B | +$15.2B | $59.4B |
| California | $17.8B | $14.8B | +$3.0B | $32.6B |
| Florida | $17.7B | $12.0B | +$5.7B | $29.7B |
| Tennessee | $15.9B | $12.6B | +$3.3B | $28.5B |
| Texas | $14.6B | $12.4B | +$2.2B | $27.0B |
| Mississippi | $11.1B | $9.8B | +$1.3B | $20.9B |
| Ohio | $6.6B | $7.4B | -$795M | $14.0B |
| Illinois | $7.0B | $6.0B | +$956M | $13.0B |
Goods shipped every five years by the Census Commodity Flow Survey (a sample, so figures are estimates and the smallest flows are withheld). Value is nominal. The totals and partner table above count trade between Alabama and other states; the goods lists count everything the state ships or receives, including within-state shipments. Compare all states. How the data works.
What Alabama collects in taxes
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections. This is what the state government collected (not local taxes), not a measure of any individual’s tax burden. How the data works.
Elections
National maps →How Alabama has voted. Certified returns, popular vote only. This is a separate dataset from the migration figures on this page.
President, 1976–2024
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 772,412 | 1,462,616 | 29,944 | R +30.5 | 2,264,972 |
| 2020 | 849,624 | 1,441,170 | 32,488 | R +25.5 | 2,323,282 |
| 2016 | 729,547 | 1,318,250 | 75,570 | R +27.7 | 2,123,367 |
| 2012 | 795,696 | 1,255,925 | 18,732 | R +22.2 | 2,070,353 |
| 2008 | 813,479 | 1,266,546 | 19,794 | R +21.6 | 2,099,819 |
| 2004 | 693,933 | 1,176,394 | 13,088 | R +25.6 | 1,883,415 |
| 2000 | 695,602 | 944,409 | 32,540 | R +14.9 | 1,672,551 |
| 1996 | 662,165 | 769,044 | 103,140 | R +7.0 | 1,534,349 |
| 1992 | 690,080 | 804,283 | 193,697 | R +6.8 | 1,688,060 |
| 1988 | 549,506 | 815,576 | 13,394 | R +19.3 | 1,378,476 |
| 1984 | 551,899 | 872,849 | 16,965 | R +22.3 | 1,441,713 |
| 1980 | 636,730 | 654,192 | 51,007 | R +1.3 | 1,341,929 |
| 1976 | 659,170 | 504,070 | 19,610 | D +13.1 | 1,182,850 |
U.S. Senate races · all states →
| Year | Winner | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Katie Britt | 436,746 | 942,154 | 35,338 | R +35.7 |
| 2020 | Tommy Tuberville | 920,478 | 1,392,076 | — | R +20.4 |
| 2016 | Richard C. Shelby | 748,709 | 1,335,104 | — | R +28.1 |
| 2014 | Jeff Sessions | — | 795,606 | — | — |
| 2010 | Richard C. Shelby | 515,619 | 968,181 | — | R +30.5 |
| 2008 | Jeff Sessions | 752,391 | 1,305,383 | — | R +26.8 |
| 2004 | Richard C. Shelby | 595,018 | 1,242,200 | — | R +35.2 |
| 2002 | Jeff Sessions | 538,878 | 792,561 | 20,234 | R +18.7 |
U.S. House seats won · district maps →
2024 results by county
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab county returns (CC0). Margins are the popular-vote gap as a share of all votes cast.
Counties in Alabama (67)
- Autauga County
- Baldwin County
- Barbour County
- Bibb County
- Blount County
- Bullock County
- Butler County
- Calhoun County
- Chambers County
- Cherokee County
- Chilton County
- Choctaw County
- Clarke County
- Clay County
- Cleburne County
- Coffee County
- Colbert County
- Conecuh County
- Coosa County
- Covington County
- Crenshaw County
- Cullman County
- Dale County
- Dallas County
- DeKalb County
- Elmore County
- Escambia County
- Etowah County
- Fayette County
- Franklin County
- Geneva County
- Greene County
- Hale County
- Henry County
- Houston County
- Jackson County
- Jefferson County
- Lamar County
- Lauderdale County
- Lawrence County
- Lee County
- Limestone County
- Lowndes County
- Macon County
- Madison County
- Marengo County
- Marion County
- Marshall County
- Mobile County
- Monroe County
- Montgomery County
- Morgan County
- Perry County
- Pickens County
- Pike County
- Randolph County
- Russell County
- Shelby County
- St. Clair County
- Sumter County
- Talladega County
- Tallapoosa County
- Tuscaloosa County
- Walker County
- Washington County
- Wilcox County
- Winston County
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