Sweet home Alabama, I’m coming home to you — with bags full of cash.
That is if I live in one of the ten richest places in the Heart of Dixie.
If you already live in one of the wealthiest cities in Alabama, then kudos on your success. But if you’re looking to break into the big league in this southern gem, look no further than our list of top ten richest places in Alabama.
So how did we come to a final tally on the state’s havens of wealth? We poured over the Census data from the American Community Survey for 135 Alabama cities with 3,000 people. We then looked at home prices according to Zillow and median incomes from the Census. There was a good amount of overlap between Alabama’s richest cities and its best and safest cities.
If you want to live in a spot that ticks all the boxes, then you’ll want to check out the Birmingham ‘burbs of Mountain Brook or Vestavia Hills.
$201,479 median income · 3.2% poverty · #1 income in Alabama
Located in
Jefferson County, Alabama
Mountain Brook is a town in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States and an upper-middle-class suburb of Birmingham. Its estimated 2015 population is 20,691. It is one of the state’s most affluent places.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$134,369 median income · 10.0% poverty · #3 income in Alabama
Located in
Shelby County, Alabama
Vestavia Hills is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the State of Alabama. It is a suburb of the city of Birmingham. As of the 2010 census, its population was 34,033, up from 24,476 in 2000. It moved up from the fifth largest city in Jefferson County in 2000 to the third largest in 2010, behind Birmingham and Hoover.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$97,736 median income · 2.6% poverty · #11 income in Alabama
Located in
Baldwin County, Alabama
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$123,275 median income · 1.1% poverty · #4 income in Alabama
Located in
St. Clair County, Alabama
Trussville is a city in Jefferson and St. Clair counties in the State of Alabama. It is a suburb of Birmingham and part of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its estimated 2015 population was 21,023.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$109,253 median income · 5.1% poverty · #7 income in Alabama
Located in
Shelby County, Alabama
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. The largest suburb around Birmingham, the population of the city was 84,848 as of the 2015 US Census estimate. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area and is also included in the Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL Combined Statistical Area. Hoover-s neighborhoods and planned communities are located along the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$134,655 median income · 4.3% poverty · #2 income in Alabama
Located in
Madison County, Alabama
Madison is a city located primarily in Madison County, near the northern border of the State of Alabama. Madison extends west into neighboring Limestone County. The city is included in the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the second-largest in the state, and is also included in the merged Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 42,938. Madison is bordered by Huntsville on all sides.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$115,337 median income · 2.7% poverty · #5 income in Alabama
Located in
Shelby County, Alabama
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$94,485 median income · 8.9% poverty · #13 income in Alabama
Located in
Jefferson County, Alabama
Homewood is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham, located on the other side of Red Mountain due south of the city center. Its estimated 2015 population is 25,708.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$115,139 median income · 3.2% poverty · #6 income in Alabama
Located in
Shelby County, Alabama
Helena is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in the state of Alabama. Helena is considered a suburb of Birmingham and part of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,793. Helena is highly regarded as a place to live and raise children; Business Week named Helena the 13th “Best Place to Raise Your Kids” in 2007. It has the eighth-lowest crime rate per population in the U.S., and the city was ranked in Money magazine’s 2007 list of “Best Places to Live: Top 100” in the U.S., placing at number 91. The Alabama League of Municipalities awarded Helena the 2008 Municipal Achievement Award.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$94,274 median income · 8.2% poverty · #14 income in Alabama
Located in
Baldwin County, Alabama
Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, on a sloping plateau, along the cliffs and shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2010 census lists the population of the city as 15,326. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley micropolitan area, which includes all of Baldwin County. In 2016, Fairhope was named the best small town in the South by Southern Living magazine.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Alabama’s statewide median.
Alabama statewide median: $63,999
Alabama statewide median: $236,453
Alabama statewide median: 15.6%
Alabama statewide median: 4.7%
On the map
Where the money lives in Alabama
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the richest places in Alabama for 2026
The first thing most people reach for is personal income. After all, rich people have really high salaries. But one statistic doesn’t capture what it means to be one of the “richest places,” so we applied Saturday Night Science to two measures from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Median household income
- Median home value
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place is, and home values are a measure of accumulated wealth. The two combine to define a “Rich City.”
After collecting the data for all 135 places in Alabama with more than 3,000 people, we ranked each place from 1 to 135 on both criteria, then averaged the two ranks into a “Rich Score.” The place with the lowest Rich Score, Mountain Brook, is crowned the richest city in Alabama for 2026.
The full plate
All 100 richest cities in Alabama, ranked
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Rich Score | Population | Median income | Median home value | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mountain Brook | 1.00 | 22,029 | $201,479 | $1,028,341 | 3.2% | 1.2% |
| 2 | Vestavia Hills | 3.00 | 38,616 | $134,369 | $561,213 | 10.0% | 1.9% |
| 3 | Orange Beach | 6.50 | 8,407 | $97,736 | $678,809 | 2.6% | 3.8% |
| 4 | Trussville | 6.50 | 26,673 | $123,275 | $394,833 | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| 5 | Hoover | 7.00 | 92,642 | $109,253 | $437,228 | 5.1% | 3.5% |
| 6 | Madison | 7.00 | 60,106 | $134,655 | $374,497 | 4.3% | 2.2% |
| 7 | Chelsea | 7.50 | 16,260 | $115,337 | $384,778 | 2.7% | 3.2% |
| 8 | Homewood | 8.50 | 27,829 | $94,485 | $558,046 | 8.9% | 2.3% |
| 9 | Helena | 9.50 | 21,769 | $115,139 | $363,042 | 3.2% | 2.0% |
| 10 | Fairhope | 9.50 | 24,190 | $94,274 | $459,930 | 8.2% | 3.5% |
| 11 | Spanish Fort | 10.50 | 10,662 | $99,346 | $379,955 | 5.8% | 4.4% |
| 12 | Pelham | 11.50 | 24,827 | $101,094 | $323,686 | 6.7% | 2.0% |
| 13 | Daphne | 15.00 | 29,453 | $87,250 | $326,736 | 7.2% | 2.3% |
| 14 | Kimberly | 15.00 | 4,439 | $97,429 | $306,419 | 3.4% | 2.8% |
| 15 | Gulf Shores | 16.00 | 16,401 | $78,188 | $450,266 | 11.5% | 2.4% |
| 16 | Springville | 17.50 | 5,081 | $84,231 | $321,266 | 4.1% | 3.2% |
| 17 | Alabaster | 18.00 | 33,917 | $91,357 | $303,750 | 7.1% | 2.5% |
| 18 | Columbiana | 21.50 | 4,725 | $80,546 | $305,059 | 9.8% | 5.0% |
| 19 | Gardendale | 26.00 | 16,534 | $82,192 | $266,523 | 4.3% | 3.4% |
| 20 | Northport | 27.00 | 31,218 | $80,913 | $266,846 | 12.3% | 5.7% |
| 21 | Calera | 27.00 | 17,714 | $87,194 | $254,701 | 7.3% | 2.7% |
| 22 | Moody | 27.00 | 13,488 | $86,627 | $259,875 | 7.7% | 5.7% |
| 23 | Satsuma | 27.00 | 6,822 | $101,042 | $237,699 | 5.2% | 5.0% |
| 24 | Prattville | 27.50 | 39,482 | $81,337 | $262,195 | 10.7% | 1.8% |
| 25 | Southside | 28.00 | 9,483 | $76,487 | $269,901 | 4.4% | 2.9% |
| 26 | Huntsville | 28.50 | 222,791 | $74,714 | $287,569 | 12.6% | 4.1% |
| 27 | Athens | 29.00 | 29,002 | $69,922 | $307,881 | 12.2% | 3.1% |
| 28 | Clay | 29.50 | 10,273 | $81,920 | $250,060 | 17.3% | 4.6% |
| 29 | Auburn | 30.50 | 80,594 | $63,668 | $412,908 | 25.4% | 3.2% |
| 30 | Irondale | 31.00 | 13,464 | $72,343 | $289,627 | 15.2% | 8.5% |
| 31 | Muscle Shoals | 32.50 | 16,951 | $75,894 | $260,072 | 12.8% | 2.3% |
| 32 | Guntersville | 33.50 | 8,916 | $67,929 | $301,985 | 18.1% | 3.1% |
| 33 | Opelika | 35.00 | 32,820 | $65,004 | $304,313 | 16.0% | 5.6% |
| 34 | Hartselle | 35.50 | 15,847 | $76,290 | $246,208 | 13.3% | 3.1% |
| 35 | Pell City | 35.50 | 13,587 | $68,638 | $276,450 | 20.8% | 7.4% |
| 36 | Foley | 35.50 | 24,026 | $66,336 | $301,570 | 11.0% | 3.5% |
| 37 | Smiths Station | 38.50 | 5,496 | $64,669 | $280,274 | 14.1% | 2.0% |
| 38 | Headland | 40.00 | 5,217 | $79,063 | $224,992 | 7.0% | 1.5% |
| 39 | Leeds | 40.50 | 12,028 | $69,737 | $249,223 | 12.8% | 2.6% |
| 40 | Fultondale | 42.50 | 9,384 | $73,575 | $228,868 | 12.5% | 3.3% |
| 41 | Rainsville | 43.00 | 5,702 | $74,046 | $227,373 | 7.0% | 1.0% |
| 42 | Pinson | 44.50 | 7,832 | $76,410 | $216,703 | 10.6% | 6.1% |
| 43 | Robertsdale | 45.00 | 7,194 | $59,152 | $267,052 | 11.1% | 0.3% |
| 44 | Semmes | 45.50 | 5,626 | $66,417 | $238,190 | 22.5% | 6.8% |
| 45 | Cullman | 46.00 | 19,319 | $61,224 | $261,636 | 19.9% | 2.9% |
| 46 | Wetumpka | 46.00 | 7,437 | $57,763 | $278,368 | 9.9% | 8.9% |
| 47 | Hokes Bluff | 46.50 | 4,547 | $74,968 | $214,575 | 4.0% | 6.2% |
| 48 | Pleasant Grove | 46.50 | 9,442 | $70,317 | $225,144 | 19.7% | 1.7% |
| 49 | Moundville | 47.00 | 3,754 | $73,036 | $221,426 | 17.6% | 2.2% |
| 50 | Arab | 47.50 | 8,679 | $64,333 | $241,411 | 13.3% | 3.2% |
| 51 | Millbrook | 49.50 | 17,189 | $70,313 | $218,705 | 7.8% | 6.6% |
| 52 | Saraland | 52.00 | 16,404 | $61,509 | $233,993 | 10.1% | 3.6% |
| 53 | Montevallo | 54.50 | 7,556 | $56,626 | $248,376 | 17.7% | 7.2% |
| 54 | Enterprise | 55.50 | 29,505 | $73,125 | $202,764 | 16.5% | 5.4% |
| 55 | Oxford | 55.50 | 22,063 | $74,268 | $195,937 | 15.8% | 5.5% |
| 56 | Decatur | 56.00 | 57,361 | $61,563 | $224,155 | 13.1% | 4.5% |
| 57 | Rainbow City | 56.00 | 10,284 | $56,398 | $247,414 | 10.0% | 10.3% |
| 58 | Warrior | 56.00 | 3,207 | $57,557 | $235,636 | 18.3% | 7.5% |
| 59 | Lincoln | 57.50 | 7,305 | $57,145 | $229,657 | 15.6% | 3.5% |
| 60 | Glencoe | 58.00 | 5,353 | $68,517 | $207,535 | 10.6% | 3.2% |
| 61 | Moulton | 58.50 | 3,401 | $57,813 | $226,015 | 13.0% | 4.6% |
| 62 | Tallassee | 63.00 | 5,134 | $66,752 | $192,630 | 11.0% | 8.1% |
| 63 | Tuscaloosa | 66.00 | 111,038 | $51,464 | $228,947 | 25.1% | 7.7% |
| 64 | Albertville | 67.50 | 22,813 | $56,099 | $214,034 | 18.2% | 6.0% |
| 65 | Tuscumbia | 69.00 | 9,115 | $59,143 | $196,275 | 18.6% | 1.7% |
| 66 | Oneonta | 70.00 | 6,971 | $53,980 | $213,540 | 18.2% | 1.8% |
| 67 | Jasper | 70.00 | 14,442 | $66,238 | $168,864 | 15.9% | 3.5% |
| 68 | Scottsboro | 70.00 | 15,712 | $53,929 | $213,721 | 18.6% | 3.5% |
| 69 | Valley Grande | 72.00 | 4,047 | $58,929 | $183,935 | 25.3% | 3.9% |
| 70 | Dothan | 73.00 | 71,514 | $55,792 | $203,928 | 19.3% | 4.3% |
| 71 | Russellville | 73.50 | 10,799 | $58,231 | $178,141 | 20.0% | 4.9% |
| 72 | Florence | 74.50 | 41,701 | $52,174 | $210,214 | 17.9% | 6.3% |
| 73 | Jacksonville | 74.50 | 14,437 | $51,814 | $211,263 | 23.1% | 7.5% |
| 74 | Hueytown | 74.50 | 16,414 | $62,784 | $163,400 | 16.2% | 8.6% |
| 75 | Heflin | 75.00 | 3,467 | $46,711 | $228,416 | 17.9% | 6.3% |
| 76 | Clanton | 76.50 | 8,958 | $47,520 | $217,129 | 18.1% | 7.1% |
| 77 | Mobile | 78.00 | 203,416 | $53,558 | $194,564 | 18.4% | 5.6% |
| 78 | Phenix City | 78.50 | 38,499 | $50,053 | $207,716 | 24.5% | 5.4% |
| 79 | Boaz | 79.00 | 10,814 | $49,846 | $209,918 | 19.4% | 2.1% |
| 80 | Hamilton | 81.00 | 6,922 | $54,871 | $172,641 | 16.7% | 3.9% |
| 81 | Centre | 81.50 | 3,700 | $44,664 | $218,924 | 21.1% | 7.3% |
| 82 | Adamsville | 82.50 | 4,266 | $62,500 | $140,290 | 11.4% | 2.0% |
| 83 | Valley | 83.50 | 10,277 | $51,661 | $177,525 | 14.9% | 3.5% |
| 84 | Fort Payne | 84.00 | 14,927 | $47,479 | $203,035 | 32.5% | 5.0% |
| 85 | Troy | 84.00 | 17,716 | $50,717 | $181,784 | 25.0% | 2.7% |
| 86 | Attalla | 84.00 | 5,775 | $59,215 | $141,964 | 11.3% | 5.5% |
| 87 | Montgomery | 84.50 | 197,494 | $56,811 | $151,228 | 21.5% | 6.4% |
| 88 | Center Point | 84.50 | 15,914 | $56,417 | $152,329 | 14.3% | 8.1% |
| 89 | Bay Minette | 86.50 | 8,295 | $44,523 | $212,243 | 24.4% | 7.2% |
| 90 | Alexander City | 87.00 | 14,606 | $47,022 | $202,613 | 25.7% | 6.4% |
| 91 | Childersburg | 87.50 | 4,655 | $52,338 | $159,141 | 20.6% | 8.7% |
| 92 | Weaver | 88.00 | 3,324 | $49,435 | $175,410 | 15.7% | 2.6% |
| 93 | Winfield | 88.00 | 4,999 | $49,688 | $174,244 | 12.5% | 3.9% |
| 94 | Sylacauga | 89.50 | 12,309 | $50,017 | $166,281 | 21.0% | 6.7% |
| 95 | Hanceville | 90.00 | 3,270 | $41,791 | $212,552 | 16.6% | 0.0% |
| 96 | Brewton | 93.00 | 5,186 | $50,721 | $149,232 | 14.2% | 4.3% |
| 97 | Eufaula | 94.50 | 12,584 | $47,392 | $163,743 | 20.4% | 5.6% |
| 98 | Ozark | 98.50 | 14,327 | $48,944 | $143,766 | 28.1% | 9.1% |
| 99 | Citronelle | 99.00 | 3,913 | $43,870 | $169,360 | 22.5% | 10.0% |
| 100 | Andalusia | 99.50 | 8,766 | $42,611 | $170,025 | 25.4% | 6.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 135 cities with more than 3,000 residents.
Mountain Brook is the richest place in Alabama for 2026
When we set out to identify the richest places in Alabama, we weren’t sure what we’d find, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in the state. The richest cities in Alabama are Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, and Orange Beach, and when you look at the data they sit at the very top of the income ladder for everyone who lives there.
Breaking into the top ten takes a median household income of at least $94,274. If you’re curious about the other end of the ledger, the poorest places are listed to the right.
