Scores by category

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

Safety45#8,562/15,637
Economy2#15,287/15,631
Housing55#6,788/14,977
Health14#13,488/15,609
Healthcare14#13,451/15,650
Environment66#5,322/15,453
Education15#13,305/15,649
Infrastructure3#15,108/15,650
Community16#13,086/15,651
Leisure & amenities38#9,673/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Drug overdose deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Alabama 16.1 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataLamar County value
Job growth · high5.1%
98/100Alabama 0.7%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataLamar County value
Public libraries · high3.0 /10k
96/100Alabama 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesLamar County value
Property crime rate · low368 /100k
94/100Alabama 1,462 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationLamar County value
Grocery stores · high2.9 /10k
94/100Alabama 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLamar County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Alabama 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLamar County value

Weaknesses

Median household income · low$27,967
1/100Alabama $66,704United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Mental health providers · low22 /100k
1/100Alabama 156 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLamar County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low23.2%
1/100Alabama 61.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLamar County value
Poverty rate · high34.8%
3/100Alabama 15.2%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Alabama 3.3 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyLamar County value
Distance to an emergency room · high17.6 mi
5/100Alabama 7.7 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLamar County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
1,961 (2015-2019) → 1,714 (2020-2024)
−13%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
23.8% (2015-2019) → 5.4% (2020-2024)
−18 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
58.2% (2015-2019) → 75.8% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateWorsening
26.2% (2015-2019) → 34.8% (2020-2024)
+8.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
84.0% (2015-2019) → 90.8% (2020-2024)
+6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
31.1% (2015-2019) → 24.4% (2020-2024)
−6.7 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, Vernon, Alabama improved on 0 of 12 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.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Vernon, Alabama between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.3 min2015-2019	22.8 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Within the margin of error	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.0%2015-2019	9.6%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Broadband subscriptions	58.2%2015-2019	75.8%2020-2024	+18 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Child poverty rate	43.5%2015-2019	45.5%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	31%
High school diploma or higher	84.0%2015-2019	90.8%2020-2024	+6.8 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Home price to income ratio	3.5×2015-2019	3.7×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	68%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4912015-2019	0.5032020-2024	+0.013	Within the margin of error	39%
Median household income	$28,8852015-2019	$27,9672020-2024	−3.2%	Within the margin of error	5%
Poverty rate	26.2%2015-2019	34.8%2020-2024	+8.6 points	Within the margin of error	6%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	31.1%2015-2019	24.4%2020-2024	−6.7 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Rent-burdened households	51.0%2015-2019	46.9%2020-2024	−4.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%

“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 Vernon, Alabama five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Vernon, 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, Vernon, Alabama itself moved +7.4 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,714 residents (±352)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 50–59 men (−7.9 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

1,714 residents (±352)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

White77%1,312
Black19%†324
Hispanic or Latino2.6%†44

Education

1,223 residents (±249)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

No high school diploma9.2%†113
High school or GED37%†456
Some college38%†

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

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

Household income

814 households (±177)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $25k47%†379
$25k–50k21%†170
$50k–75k15%†126
$75k–100k6.6%†54
$100k–150k8.5%†69
$150k–200k1.2%†10
$200k or more0.7%†6

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

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

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

Owners and renters

814 households (±177)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Own47%379
Rent53%†435

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−10.5 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

358 households (±139)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $75091%†327
$750–1,0003.9%†14
$1,000–1,5004.7%†17

Home values

379 homes (±106)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Under $150k76%†288
$150k–250k22%†83
$250k–400k2.1%†8

Age of homes

1,011 homes (±192)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

2010 or later2.0%†20
2000–20090.6%†6
1980–199932%†322

Size of homes

1,011 homes (±192)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Studio16%†165
1 bedroom2.2%†22
2 bedrooms28%†279

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

561 workers (±175)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Drive alone83%†467
Carpool10%†57
Public transit0.0%0
Walk3.4%†19
Bike0.0%0
Work from home3.2%†18
Other0.0%0

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

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

543 workers (±170)

Vernon, Alabama
Alabama share

Under 15 min40%†219
15–29 min14%†78
30–44 min35%†190

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

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 Lamar County, the county holding most of Vernon's residents.

Lamar County has 243 employer establishments, 178 for every 10,000 residents (0.72× the US rate of 248; 0.86× Alabama's), with 3,201 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,754. The Census Bureau also counts 909 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 243; 909 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 178; US 248 · Alabama 207
Paid employees: 3,201
Average annual pay: $46,754; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	17	12.5	0.68×Fewer than typical	153	$15,203	10
Truck transportation	16	11.7	2.32×More than typical	178	$50,354	73
Specialty trade contractors	14	10.3	0.66×Fewer than typical	55	$48,982	115
Ambulatory health care services	13	9.5	0.46×Fewer than typical	77	$40,571	26
Religious organizations	12	8.8	1.59×More than typical	34	$22,618	—
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	9	6.6	1.62×Too few to compare	28	$26,393	8
Automotive repair and maintenance	9	6.6	1.31×Too few to compare	11	$37,545	33
Building equipment contractors	9	6.6	1.10×Too few to compare	28	$50,893	18
General merchandise stores	9	6.6	3.74×Too few to compare	54	$23,870	6
Gasoline stations	8	5.9	1.81×Too few to compare	28	$46,250	7
Full-service restaurants	7	5.1	0.67×Too few to compare	23	$27,957	3
Banks and credit unions	6	4.4	1.36×Too few to compare	78	$44,000	—

Rank places for an industry Open Lamar County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 13,622 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 Vernon, 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

75.2KFY2017
2.3KFY2018

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

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

See federal money in Lamar 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.

Vernon, 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.

Lamar County22100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Lamar 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/0178480