City · Jefferson County, Alabama

Gardendale, Alabama

Gardendale is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, part of the Birmingham, AL metro area. It has 16,534 residents. Gardendale, Alabama has a quality-of-life score of 42 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #9,074 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Alabama it ranks #44 of 319 cities and towns. It ranks best on child poverty rate (low), pharmacies (high) and effective property tax rate (low). It ranks worst on homicide rate (high), math scores (low) and property crime rate (high).

42Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #9,074 of 15,651 cities and towns
Alabama: #44 of 319 in AL
Population: 16,534 (2020-2024)
Land area: 23 mi²
Density: 716.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 0129056

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety2#15,331/15,637
Economy89#1,788/15,631
Housing64#5,390/14,977
Health39#9,588/15,609
Healthcare62#5,999/15,650
Environment10#13,870/15,453
Education20#12,561/15,649
Infrastructure83#2,642/15,650
Community25#11,661/15,651
Leisure & amenities70#4,744/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Gardendale, Alabama ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Jefferson 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

Child poverty rate · low2.3%
96/100Alabama 20.4%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Pharmacies · high2.7 /10k
93/100Alabama 2.3 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJefferson County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.46%
91/100Alabama 0.37%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Distance to an airport · low10 mi
90/100Alabama 46 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauJefferson County value
Primary care physicians · high112 /100k
89/100Alabama 65 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJefferson County value
Social associations · high14.1 /10k
87/100Alabama 11.6 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJefferson County value

Weaknesses

Homicide rate · high16.4 /100k
2/100Alabama 9.8 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataJefferson County value
Math scores · low2.49
3/100Alabama 2.65United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJefferson County value
Property crime rate · high2,544 /100k
4/100Alabama 1,462 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationJefferson County value
Violent crime rate · high603 /100k
5/100Alabama 348 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationJefferson County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.3 µg/m³
6/100Alabama 8.6 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyJefferson County value
Firearm deaths · high24.4 /100k
7/100Alabama 21.7 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataJefferson County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
14,016 (2015-2019) → 16,534 (2020-2024)
+18%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
86.0% (2015-2019) → 94.5% (2020-2024)
+8.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
8.4% (2015-2019) → 2.3% (2020-2024)
−6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.4× (2015-2019) → 3.1× (2020-2024)
+30%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateImproving
9.2% (2015-2019) → 4.3% (2020-2024)
−4.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedImproving
1.8 /1k (2021) → 2.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+24%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

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, Gardendale, Alabama improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 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.

Improved3

Poverty−4.9 points9.2% → 4.3%
Broadband+8.6 points86.0% → 94.5%
Household income+14%$72,351 → $82,192

Declined1

Price / income+0.7×2.4× → 3.1×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Gardendale, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.5 min2015-2019	26.2 min2020-2024	+1.7 min	Within the margin of error	29%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%2015-2019	31.2%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Broadband subscriptions	86.0%2015-2019	94.5%2020-2024	+8.6 points	Improved	52%
Effective property tax rate	0.34%2015-2019	0.46%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	6%
High school diploma or higher	93.2%2015-2019	92.0%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	3.1×2020-2024	+0.7×	Declined	36%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4162015-2019	0.3872020-2024	−0.029	Within the margin of error	73%
Median household income	$72,3512015-2019	$82,1922020-2024	+14%	Improved	21%
Poverty rate	9.2%2015-2019	4.3%2020-2024	−4.9 points	Improved	80%
Rent as share of income	29.1%2015-2019	30.8%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Rent-burdened households	49.2%2015-2019	52.5%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Unemployment rate	4.3%2015-2019	3.4%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.4%2015-2019	7.5%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	25%

“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 Gardendale, Alabama five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Gardendale, 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, Gardendale, Alabama itself moved −4.2 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

16,534 residents (±34)

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

6,592 households (±501)

Gardendale, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $25k7.2%†473
$25k–50k17%1,107
$50k–75k21%1,360

Homes

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

Owners and renters

6,592 households (±501)

Gardendale, Alabama
Alabama share

Own78%5,155
Rent22%1,437

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

7,896 workers (±606)

Gardendale, Alabama
Alabama share

Drive alone80%6,313
Carpool6.7%†530
Public transit0.0%†

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Birmingham, AL

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 Jefferson County, the county holding most of Gardendale's residents.

Jefferson County has 16,989 employer establishments, 256 for every 10,000 residents (1.03× the US rate of 248; 1.24× Alabama's), with 341,042 paid employees at an average annual pay of $66,634. The Census Bureau also counts 58,835 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 16,989; 58,835 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 256; US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees: 341,042
Average annual pay: $66,634; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	1,446	21.8	1.04×About typical	24,542	$87,637	3,575
Restaurants and other eating places	1,276	19.2	1.05×About typical	25,998	$23,108	302
Lessors of real estate	759	11.4	0.93×About typical	4,805	$78,469	6,220
Specialty trade contractors	751	11.3	0.73×Fewer than typical	11,397	$70,111	2,754
Limited-service restaurants	743	11.2	1.39×More than typical	13,702	$20,193	125
Religious organizations	672	10.1	1.82×More than typical	9,212	$27,978	—
Legal services	589	8.9	1.65×More than typical	4,901	$123,657	896
Offices of physicians	535	8.1	1.24×About typical	8,600	$100,834	883
Clothing and accessories stores	414	6.2	1.72×More than typical	4,679	$23,123	755
Insurance agencies and brokerages	406	6.1	1.39×More than typical	5,193	$106,145	833
Full-service restaurants	388	5.8	0.76×Fewer than typical	10,229	$27,329	104
Building equipment contractors	381	5.7	0.95×About typical	5,499	$65,816	675

Rank places for an industry Open Jefferson County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 664,419 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 Gardendale, 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

1.7MFY2017
1.6MFY2018
84.6KFY2019
1.3MFY2020
412.2KFY2021
-39.8KFY2022
6.6KFY2023
0FY2024
-4KFY2025

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 Gardendale, Alabama, so they do not add up across cities.

Gardendale, Alabama's figures are part of those of Jefferson County, AL ($916.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Jefferson 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.

Gardendale, Alabama is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Jefferson County42100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Birmingham, AL41

Other cities and towns in Jefferson 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/0129056

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends