City · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Vance, Alabama

Vance is a city in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, part of the Tuscaloosa, AL metro area. It has 2,105 residents. Vance, Alabama has a quality-of-life score of 30 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,926 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Alabama it ranks #71 of 319 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and new homes permitted (high). It ranks worst on primary care shortage (high), voter turnout (low) and public libraries (low).

30Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,926 of 15,651 cities and towns
Alabama: #71 of 319 in AL
Population: 2,105 (2020-2024)
Land area: 10 mi²
Density: 206.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 0178264

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.

Safety19#12,647/15,637
Economy73#4,255/15,631
Housing100#23/14,977
Health42#9,006/15,609
Healthcare19#12,725/15,650
Environment58#6,486/15,453
Education12#13,832/15,649
Infrastructure32#10,643/15,650
Community6#14,689/15,651
Leisure & amenities25#11,747/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Vance, Alabama ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Tuscaloosa 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 · low0.24%
99/100Alabama 0.37%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.312
99/100Alabama 0.479United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
New homes permitted · high25.2 /1k
97/100Alabama 4.2 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Rent as share of income · low23.3%
94/100Alabama 29.5%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Unemployment rate · low1.3%
89/100Alabama 2.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Rent-burdened households · low20.0%
88/100Alabama 48.8%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Primary care shortage · high20.0
1/100Alabama 11.8United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationTuscaloosa County value
Voter turnout · low46.8%
2/100Alabama 59.1%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionTuscaloosa County value
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
3/100Alabama 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesTuscaloosa County value
Math scores · low2.53
5/100Alabama 2.65United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTuscaloosa County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,325 /100k
6/100Alabama 3,481 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteTuscaloosa County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high237 min
6/100Alabama 155 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesTuscaloosa County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,519 (2015-2019) → 2,105 (2020-2024)
+39%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
3.8 /1k (2021) → 25.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+566%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
47.1% (2015-2019) → 20.0% (2020-2024)
−27 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$72,031 (2015-2019) → $94,545 (2020-2024)
+31%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent as share of incomeImproving
28.6% (2015-2019) → 23.3% (2020-2024)
−5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.9× (2015-2019) → 2.4× (2020-2024)
+26%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, Vance, Alabama improved on 1 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved1

Household income+31%$72,031 → $94,545

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Vance, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	31.9 min2015-2019	32.7 min2020-2024	+0.8 min	Within the margin of error	39%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%2015-2019	22.7%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Broadband subscriptions	88.0%2015-2019	92.4%2020-2024	+4.5 points	Within the margin of error	28%
Effective property tax rate	0.36%2015-2019	0.24%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	40%
High school diploma or higher	90.7%2015-2019	95.1%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	2.4×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	48%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3172015-2019	0.3122020-2024	−0.005	Within the margin of error	55%
Median household income	$72,0312015-2019	$94,5452020-2024	+31%	Improved	58%
Poverty rate	10.0%2015-2019	7.3%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%

“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 Vance, Alabama five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Vance, 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, Vance, Alabama itself moved −0.8 points in standing on average over the same 8 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

2,105 residents (±356)

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

726 households (±118)

Vance, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $25k8.4%†61
$25k–50k15%†109
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

726 households (±118)

Vance, Alabama
Alabama share

Own83%600
Rent17%†126

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.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,148 workers (±191)

Vance, Alabama
Alabama share

Drive alone85%979
Carpool6.4%†74
Public transit0.0%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 Tuscaloosa, 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 Tuscaloosa County, the county holding most of Vance's residents.

Tuscaloosa County has 4,189 employer establishments, 175 for every 10,000 residents (0.71× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Alabama's), with 84,004 paid employees at an average annual pay of $58,303. The Census Bureau also counts 16,181 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,189; 16,181 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 175; US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees: 84,004
Average annual pay: $58,303; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	361	15.1	0.82×About typical	7,977	$19,852	78
Ambulatory health care services	320	13.4	0.64×Fewer than typical	4,115	$63,818	677
Specialty trade contractors	268	11.2	0.72×Fewer than typical	3,347	$62,870	947
Limited-service restaurants	205	8.6	1.07×About typical	4,293	$18,368	32
Lessors of real estate	199	8.3	0.68×Fewer than typical	1,520	$44,435	1,781
Religious organizations	156	6.5	1.18×About typical	1,415	$21,847	—
Offices of physicians	121	5.1	0.78×Fewer than typical	1,625	$78,273	127
Full-service restaurants	119	5	0.65×Fewer than typical	3,129	$22,581	27
Services to buildings and dwellings	115	4.8	0.71×Fewer than typical	1,131	$39,888	1,628
Gasoline stations	110	4.6	1.42×More than typical	843	$28,312	5
Construction of buildings	106	4.4	0.59×Fewer than typical	837	$64,793	311
Building equipment contractors	104	4.4	0.72×Fewer than typical	1,267	$55,245	218

Rank places for an industry Open Tuscaloosa County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 238,819 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 $365 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Vance, Alabama: $0.17 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $365
Per resident: $0.17; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$365100%

Top recipients

TENNESSEE VALLEY ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH INC$365100%

Spending by fiscal year

126.2FY2017
36.4KFY2023
-34.3KFY2025
365FY2026

What was bought

Professional services$365100%

Top industries (NAICS)

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$365100%

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

Vance, Alabama's figures are part of those of Tuscaloosa County, AL and Bibb County, AL ($66.6M 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: Vance is mostly in Tuscaloosa County.

See federal money in Tuscaloosa 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.

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

House

Senate

Tommy Tuberville

County

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

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Tuscaloosa, AL22

Other cities and towns in Tuscaloosa 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/0178264

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends