City · Cherokee County, Alabama

Centre, Alabama

Centre is a city in Cherokee County, Alabama. It has 3,700 residents. Centre, Alabama has a quality-of-life score of 7 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,619 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Alabama it ranks #238 of 319 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), homicide rate (low) and child care cost burden (low). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), dentists (low) and preventable hospital stays (high).

7Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,619 of 15,651 cities and towns
Alabama: #238 of 319 in AL
Population: 3,700 (2020-2024)
Land area: 12 mi²
Density: 316.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 0113648

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety31#10,800/15,637
Economy6#14,768/15,631
Housing74#3,828/14,977
Health19#12,569/15,609
Healthcare9#14,304/15,650
Environment32#10,445/15,453
Education2#15,273/15,649
Infrastructure11#13,868/15,650
Community6#14,781/15,651
Leisure & amenities24#11,945/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Centre, Alabama ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Cherokee County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Effective property tax rate · low0.38%
94/100Alabama 0.37%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Alabama 9.8 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCherokee County value
Child care cost burden · low21.3%
91/100Alabama 25.5%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low123 min
86/100Alabama 155 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCherokee County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Alabama 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
New homes permitted · high4.9 /1k
76/100Alabama 4.2 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low30.0%
2/100Alabama 61.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
Dentists · low16 /100k
3/100Alabama 49 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,640 /100k
3/100Alabama 3,481 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
Math scores · low2.50
3/100Alabama 2.65United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCherokee County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Alabama 3.3 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyCherokee County value
Traffic deaths · high33.8 /100k
5/100Alabama 19.0 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataCherokee County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
34.2% (2015-2019) → 14.2% (2020-2024)
−20 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
66.8% (2015-2019) → 83.8% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
80.6% (2015-2019) → 68.3% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$36,263 (2015-2019) → $44,664 (2020-2024)
+23%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
New homes permittedWorsening
5.7 /1k (2021) → 4.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−15%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
26.4% (2015-2019) → 28.5% (2020-2024)
+2.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Centre, Alabama improved on 1 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+17 points66.8% → 83.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Centre, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.1 min2015-2019	23.8 min2020-2024	−0.3 min	Within the margin of error	52%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.3%2015-2019	13.3%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Broadband subscriptions	66.8%2015-2019	83.8%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	85%
Effective property tax rate	0.30%2015-2019	0.39%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	7%
High school diploma or higher	80.6%2015-2019	68.3%2020-2024	−12 points	Within the margin of error	1%
Home price to income ratio	3.9×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	90%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4842015-2019	0.5082020-2024	+0.024	Within the margin of error	31%
Median household income	$36,2632015-2019	$44,6642020-2024	+23%	Within the margin of error	40%
Poverty rate	20.3%2015-2019	21.1%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.4%2015-2019	28.5%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Rent-burdened households	43.4%2015-2019	43.3%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.7%2015-2019	10.3%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	63%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Centre, Alabama five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Centre, Alabama in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Centre, Alabama itself moved −0.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,700 residents (±16)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,715 households (±270)

Centre, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $25k27%†457
$25k–50k29%†503
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,715 households (±270)

Centre, Alabama
Alabama share

Own70%1,206
Rent30%†509

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+16.9 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,116 workers (±224)

Centre, Alabama
Alabama share

Drive alone76%848
Carpool6.8%†76
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Cherokee County, the county holding most of Centre's residents.

Cherokee County has 391 employer establishments, 152 for every 10,000 residents (0.61× the US rate of 248; 0.74× Alabama's), with 4,338 paid employees at an average annual pay of $38,677. The Census Bureau also counts 1,991 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 391; 1,991 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 152; US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees: 4,338
Average annual pay: $38,677; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Cherokee County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	46	17.9	0.86×About typical	433	$56,349	61
Offices of physicians	34	13.3	2.05×More than typical	376	$55,968	6
Restaurants and other eating places	30	11.7	0.64×Fewer than typical	558	$16,013	19
Religious organizations	20	7.8	1.41×More than typical	76	$17,737	—
Specialty trade contractors	20	7.8	0.50×Fewer than typical	123	$56,707	269
Truck transportation	18	7	1.39×More than typical	93	$38,376	64
Gasoline stations	17	6.6	2.04×More than typical	95	$28,958	—
Limited-service restaurants	15	5.8	0.73×Fewer than typical	347	$17,383	4
Building equipment contractors	14	5.5	0.91×About typical	100	$60,060	58
Full-service restaurants	14	5.5	0.71×Fewer than typical	210	$13,657	10
General merchandise stores	13	5.1	2.87×More than typical	352	$27,526	21
Lessors of real estate	11	4.3	0.35×Fewer than typical	15	$73,267	122

Rank places for an industry Open Cherokee County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 25,650 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Centre, Alabama: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

439.2FY2017
-1KFY2018
360.2FY2019
68.1KFY2020
28.6KFY2021
354.6FY2022
0FY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Centre, Alabama, so they do not add up across cities.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Centre is mostly in Cherokee County.

See federal money in Cherokee County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Centre, Alabama is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mike RogersR-AL-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 3.1%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Cherokee County9100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Cherokee County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0113648

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends