City · Colbert County, Alabama

Tuscumbia, Alabama

Tuscumbia is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, part of the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL metro area. It has 9,115 residents. Tuscumbia, Alabama has a quality-of-life score of 18 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,838 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Alabama it ranks #125 of 319 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), pharmacies (high) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), broadband subscriptions (low) and drug overdose deaths (high).

18Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,838 of 15,651 cities and towns
Alabama: #125 of 319 in AL
Population: 9,115 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 989.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 0177280

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety34#10,362/15,637
Economy33#10,451/15,631
Housing71#4,325/14,977
Health12#13,750/15,609
Healthcare34#10,382/15,650
Environment37#9,670/15,453
Education19#12,712/15,649
Infrastructure10#14,123/15,650
Community24#11,822/15,651
Leisure & amenities37#9,902/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Tuscumbia, Alabama ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Colbert 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 · low0.34%
96/100Alabama 0.37%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Pharmacies · high2.9 /10k
95/100Alabama 2.3 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsColbert County value
Social associations · high14.9 /10k
91/100Alabama 11.6 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteColbert County value
Job growth · high2.0%
88/100Alabama 0.7%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataColbert County value
Unemployment rate · low1.7%
86/100Alabama 2.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Dental care shortage · low0.0
84/100Alabama 6.0United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationColbert County value

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high32.6 /100k
2/100Alabama 17.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataColbert County value
Broadband subscriptions · low81.3%
4/100Alabama 87.5%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Drug overdose deaths · high36.0 /100k
5/100Alabama 16.1 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataColbert County value
Child poverty rate · high39.6%
6/100Alabama 20.4%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Alabama 2.8United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesColbert County value
Primary care shortage · high17.0
9/100Alabama 11.8United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationColbert County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
8,444 (2015-2019) → 9,115 (2020-2024)
+7.9%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
21.9% (2015-2019) → 39.6% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
16.8% (2015-2019) → 26.0% (2020-2024)
+9.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
72.2% (2015-2019) → 81.3% (2020-2024)
+9.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$44,088 (2015-2019) → $59,143 (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.5× (2015-2019) → 3.3× (2020-2024)
+33%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

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, Tuscumbia, Alabama improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 7 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

Bachelor's++9.2 points16.8% → 26.0%
Household income+34%$44,088 → $59,143
Broadband+9.1 points72.2% → 81.3%

Declined3

Child poverty+18 points21.9% → 39.6%
Inequality+0.1100.408 → 0.517
Price / income+0.8×2.5× → 3.3×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Tuscumbia, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.3 min2015-2019	23.2 min2020-2024	+4.0 min	Within the margin of error	14%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%2015-2019	26.0%2020-2024	+9.2 points	Improved	88%
Broadband subscriptions	72.2%2015-2019	81.3%2020-2024	+9.1 points	Improved	55%
Child poverty rate	21.9%2015-2019	39.6%2020-2024	+18 points	Declined	6%
Effective property tax rate	0.35%2015-2019	0.34%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	17%
High school diploma or higher	82.7%2015-2019	85.1%2020-2024	+2.4 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Home price to income ratio	2.5×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	29%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4082015-2019	0.5172020-2024	+0.110	Declined	4%
Median household income	$44,0882015-2019	$59,1432020-2024	+34%	Improved	64%
Poverty rate	17.3%2015-2019	18.6%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Rent as share of income	30.0%2015-2019	27.4%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Rent-burdened households	49.9%2015-2019	47.6%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.0%2015-2019	5.6%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	72%

“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 Tuscumbia, Alabama five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Tuscumbia, 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, Tuscumbia, Alabama itself moved −3.8 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

9,115 residents (±29)

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

3,640 households (±323)

Tuscumbia, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $25k20%†711
$25k–50k22%†813
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,640 households (±323)

Tuscumbia, Alabama
Alabama share

Own65%2,377
Rent35%1,263

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+7.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,792 workers (±403)

Tuscumbia, Alabama
Alabama share

Drive alone83%3,149
Carpool8.6%†327
Public transit0.1%†2

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 Florence-Muscle Shoals, 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 Colbert County, the county holding most of Tuscumbia's residents.

Colbert County has 1,268 employer establishments, 217 for every 10,000 residents (0.87× the US rate of 248; 1.05× Alabama's), with 23,237 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,946. The Census Bureau also counts 4,157 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,268; 4,157 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 217; US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees: 23,237
Average annual pay: $48,946; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	110	18.8	0.90×About typical	1,191	$57,960	164
Restaurants and other eating places	97	16.6	0.90×About typical	2,116	$15,289	42
Specialty trade contractors	71	12.1	0.78×Fewer than typical	1,288	$63,186	392
Religious organizations	61	10.4	1.88×More than typical	436	$23,002	—
Limited-service restaurants	59	10.1	1.26×More than typical	1,545	$14,288	21
Gasoline stations	45	7.7	2.37×More than typical	293	$31,645	5
Lessors of real estate	38	6.5	0.53×Fewer than typical	70	$41,629	403
Offices of other health practitioners	35	6	0.99×About typical	227	$31,806	54
Offices of physicians	34	5.8	0.90×About typical	514	$65,757	45
Automotive repair and maintenance	33	5.6	1.12×About typical	150	$41,880	77
Building equipment contractors	33	5.6	0.94×About typical	903	$66,300	62
Banks and credit unions	31	5.3	1.64×More than typical	494	$64,132	—

Rank places for an industry Open Colbert County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 58,459 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 Tuscumbia, Alabama: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
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

TOOL MASTERS INC$00.0%
HART MACHINE TOOL INC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

42.5KFY2017
26KFY2018
54KFY2019
105.7KFY2020
140.8KFY2021
11.3KFY2022
234.3FY2023
158.6KFY2024

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

Tuscumbia, Alabama's figures are part of those of Colbert County, AL ($180.2K 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: Tuscumbia is mostly in Colbert County.

See federal money in Colbert 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.

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

House

Robert B. AderholtR-AL-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 3.0%

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.

Colbert County32100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL37

Other cities and towns in Colbert 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/0177280

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends