Samson is a town in Geneva County, Alabama, part of the Dothan, AL metro area. It has 1,669 residents. Samson, Alabama has a quality-of-life score of 6 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,657 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Alabama it ranks #242 of 319 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), time spent in the emergency room (low) and violent crime rate (low). It ranks worst on dentists (low), poverty rate (high) and arts, entertainment and recreation (low).
6Very low
Quality-of-life score
#14,657 of 15,651 cities and towns
Alabama
#242 of 319 in AL
Population
1,669 (2020-2024)
Land area
4 mi²
Density
412.5 /mi²
FIPS code
0167800
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety51#7,699/15,637
Economy2#15,291/15,631
Housing79#3,219/14,977
Health6#14,723/15,609
Healthcare7#14,544/15,650
Environment22#12,128/15,453
Education14#13,439/15,649
Infrastructure2#15,343/15,650
Community10#14,044/15,651
Leisure & amenities17#12,916/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Samson, Alabama ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Geneva 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.
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.
Cities and towns like Samson, Alabama five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Samson, 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.
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).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
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.
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.
Federal contracts performed here
Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Samson is mostly in Geneva County.
Over about five years, Samson, Alabama improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 11 moved within the margin of error and 1 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.
Improved2
Broadband+17 points59.2% → 76.7%
Broadband subscriptions
59.2% → 76.7%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+17 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±10.1 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 5 → 5 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 86% of cities and towns
Household income+32%$25,250 → $33,424
Median household income
$25,250 → $33,4242015-2019 → 2020-2024
+32%Beyond the margin of error (±$7,198)
Standing among cities and towns: 2 → 2 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 60% of cities and towns
Declined1
Uninsured+14 points13.3% → 27.5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
13.3% → 27.5%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+14 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±7.8 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 30 → 4 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 99% of cities and towns
All 15 measures
Change of every measure of Samson, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
28.6 min2015-2019
29.1 min2020-2024
+0.4 min
Within the margin of error
42%
Bachelor's degree or higher
10.5%2015-2019
7.2%2020-2024
−3.2 points
Within the margin of error
12%
Broadband subscriptions
59.2%2015-2019
76.7%2020-2024
+17 points
Improved
86%
Child poverty rate
46.7%2015-2019
49.0%2020-2024
+2.3 points
Within the margin of error
29%
Effective property tax rate
0.33%2015-2019
0.17%2020-2024
−0.2 points
Little change
48%
High school diploma or higher
73.3%2015-2019
75.0%2020-2024
+1.7 points
Within the margin of error
55%
Home price to income ratio
2.4×2015-2019
2.7×2020-2024
+0.3×
Within the margin of error
58%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.5222015-2019
0.5132020-2024
−0.009
Within the margin of error
59%
Median household income
$25,2502015-2019
$33,4242020-2024
+32%
Improved
60%
Poverty rate
34.2%2015-2019
37.4%2020-2024
+3.2 points
Within the margin of error
19%
Public transit commuters
0.0%2015-2019
0.0%2020-2024
0 points
Within the margin of error
60%
Rent as share of income
28.7%2015-2019
27.0%2020-2024
−1.7 points
Within the margin of error
67%
Rent-burdened households
44.0%2015-2019
39.9%2020-2024
−4 points
Within the margin of error
69%
Unemployment rate
16.0%2015-2019
11.6%2020-2024
−4.5 points
Within the margin of error
94%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
13.3%2015-2019
27.5%2020-2024
+14 points
Declined
1%
“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.
For comparison, Samson, Alabama itself moved +2.6 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.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Geneva County, the county holding most of Samson's residents.
Geneva County has 424 employer establishments, 157 for every 10,000 residents (0.63× the US rate of 248; 0.76× Alabama's), with 4,098 paid employees at an average annual pay of $36,864. The Census Bureau also counts 1,783 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
424
1,783 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
157
US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees
4,098
Average annual pay
$36,864
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Geneva County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 27,045 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.
Household income
733 households (±116)
Samson, Alabama
Alabama share
Under $25k40%290
Under $25k
40%±9.2 points
290 households±82 (90% margin of error)
20%in Alabama
15%in United States
−10.0 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
$25k–50k26%†188
$25k–50k
26%±7.5 points
188 households±62 (90% margin of error)
20%in Alabama
17%in United States
−0.6 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k17%†124
$50k–75k
17%±7.0 points
124 households±55 (90% margin of error)
17%in Alabama
16%in United States
+6.4 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k4.5%†33
$75k–100k
4.5%±2.8 points
33 households±21 (90% margin of error)
13%in Alabama
13%in United States
−1.0 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k10.0%†73
$100k–150k
10.0%±6.4 points
73 households±49 (90% margin of error)
16%in Alabama
18%in United States
+4.9 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k2.0%†15
$150k–200k
2.0%±1.7 points
15 households±13 (90% margin of error)
7.4%in Alabama
9.6%in United States
+0.5 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more1.4%†10
$200k or more
1.4%±1.5 points
10 households±11 (90% margin of error)
7.8%in Alabama
13%in United States
−0.2 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.
† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.
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 Samson, Alabama, so they do not add up across cities.
