Huntsville and Baldwin Continue Population Gains, Birmingham Remains in Top 50 of U.S. Metros

The Huntsville area and Baldwin County continue to add more new residents, while growth in Shelby County and St. Clair County helped the Birmingham Metro Area return to positive growth after two years of population loss. That’s according to new estimates of population change in U.S. counties and metro areas published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The new estimates identify population totals and components of population change as of July 1, 2023.

Printable PDF available here

In addition to the growth in Shelby and St. Clair, Birmingham’s metro population got a boost from an accounting change. In the 2022 estimates, the Birmingham-Hoover MSA ranked No. 50 in population among metropolitan areas and seemed destined to fall out of the top 50 metro areas.

However, in 2023, Walker County was re-added to the Birmingham metro, which boosted the Birmingham MSA population by almost 65,000 and allowed it to climb to the 47th most populous metropolitan area.

Metro areas are clusters of counties where a significant percentage of the population moves back and forth across county lines for work and commerce. According to the most recent data, about 26% of Walker County’s resident workforce commuted to work in Jefferson County or other counties in the MSA. That’s above the 25% threshold that triggers inclusion in the MSA. Walker was historically part of the MSA.

Consisting of 7 counties with a population of 1.2 million, Birmingham is the state’s largest metro area. Huntsville’s MSA, comprised of Limestone and Madison Counties, is second with 527,254.

Trends

As observed in the PARCA’s analysis of state-level estimates released earlier this year, the decline in deaths related to the Covid-19 pandemic improved baseline conditions for population growth. In the 2021 and 2022 estimates, deaths far outnumbered births. In 2023, the number of deaths in Alabama continued to drop, though, due to an aging population and lower birth rate, deaths still outnumbered births.

International immigration to Alabama remains low, but domestic immigration continues to accelerate, according to the estimates. Alabama netted 30,744 new residents through domestic in-migration in 2023, building on an upward trend.

Domestic in-migration is powering population growth in hot spots like Madison, Limestone County, and Baldwin, as well as in suburban counties around Birmingham and Montgomery. In the latter cases, the central county is losing population while suburban counties gain. Across Alabama, 38 of the 67 counties are seeing more people moving into the county than moving out.

Calhoun and Etowah counties, home to Anniston and Gadsden, respectively, are showing population growth after years of decline. Mobile County also grew, breaking a streak of decline. In fact, all of the state’s metro areas posted population gains except for the Columbus, GA—Metro Area, which includes Phenix City and Russell County.

Rural counties, particularly in Alabama’s Black Belt, continued to lose population. The biggest drop in percentage terms was Bullock County, where the population declined by 2.4%, or 246 residents, according to the estimates. Hale County was the exception to the Black Belt trend. Hale added 289 residents, which amounts to a 2% population increase in a year.

In numeric terms, Jefferson County lost the most people, with a decline of 2,186. That is less of a loss than in 2021 or 2022. Deaths were down, births were up, resulting in a positive natural change of 394. International migration added 818, a slight increase over the year before. However, domestic migration remained a drain, with 3,417 more people moving out of the county than moved in, according to estimates.

Montgomery County also continues to see significant domestic outmigration, but a slight rise in international migration and births and a drop in deaths helped offset the outmigration. Montgomery County’s population has decreased by 1,321. Autauga, Elmore, Chilton, and Lee counties grew.

Mobile County grew with a smaller net decline in domestic migration, a slight increase in international migration, and a return to positive natural change (more births than deaths). According to the estimates, Mobile County posted a net addition of 242 residents.

Next-door neighbor Baldwin County added 6,976 people, mostly because of people moving to the coastal county. In percentage terms, the Baldwin County metro area, officially the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley MSA, grew faster than any of the state’s other metro areas.

However, the Huntsville MSA netted the most new residents, with Madison County adding 8,995 and Limestone County adding 3,786. Adjacent North Alabama counties like Lauderdale, Morgan, Marshall, Jackson, Lawrence, and Cullman grew.

The Dothan-area Wiregrass counties also saw population growth, as did counties on the Alabama-Georgia Border like Cleburne, Randolph, and Cherokee.  

Most counties bordering Mississippi lost population. The median age in rural counties tends to be higher, which correlates with higher death rates.

Those counties also tend to experience more people moving out than moving in.

Use the tabs and menus to explore the estimates for counties and metros you are interested in. If you want to see how Alabama compares with the rest of the United States, visualizations of the population estimates and change are available for counties and metros across the country.

Similar stats are available for metro areas as well. Use the controls to zoom in on areas of interest.


Revisiting PARCA’s Annual Forum

Housing inventory continues to fall, and prices continue to rise. Pressures on the housing market ripple across the economy but may have the most significant impact on middle-income workers – those earning between 80% and 120% of the median income. As housing prices increase, middle-income workers often struggle to live where they work. The shortage of affordable housing complicates hiring and threatens our economic health and community vitality. 

See links to Forum resources below

For example, while median income in Alabama is $60,000. The median home sale price in January was $263,000, one of the largest gaps in our history. Likewise, the Alabama median income supports rent of $1,240, but average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Alabama is $1,500.

These challenges were the focus of PARCA’s 2024 Annual Forum: Housing Alabama’s Workforce.

The March 7 event welcomed over 300 state and local leaders gathered at the Harbert Center on March 8 to consider these issues and hear an address from Governor Kay Ivey.

Guiding the discussion were Lisa McCarroll of Navigate Housing Partners, Amanda Loper of David Baker Architects, Terry Harbin of Affordable Homes Gulf Coast, Mary Ellen Judah of Neighborhood Concepts, Cory Stallworth of the City of Birmingham, and James Stockard from the Harvard University School of Design.

The speakers explored the housing challenges facing the state’s middle-income workers—those vital to the economy and well-functioning communities, such as teachers, nurses, and first responders.

Lisa McCarroll made the point well, noting that some 40% of Alabamians may qualify for some type of subsidized housing. Another 44% do not qualify, but earn far less than necessary to afford market rate housing.

Amanda Loper offered examples of creative housing around the county that is both affordable and builds community.

Terry Harbin, a for profit developer Mobile, Mary Ellen Judah, Executive Director of the Huntsville-based nonprofit, Neighborhood Concepts, Cory Stallworth of the City of Birmingham, shared their differing approaches to addressing the shortage of workforce housing.

They highlighted the fact that federal tax credits for developing affordable housing in Alabama are restricted to one per county. And currently, Alabama has no state credit, though one has been introduced in the Legislature this session.

Jim Stockard challenged the audience with a series of questions to consider, including:

What are the types of publicly owned sites that might lend themselves to housing construction in Alabama cities?

Where are the existing market rate apartment buildings in your cities that might be re-purposed as mixed income complexes that could serve the workforce in their cities

What should the state allow or even  mandate in terms of local zoning ordinances?

What level of assistance might cities or the state be willing to provide to assist households in becoming homeowners? 

Encouraged

Attendees noted they were encouraged to know there are people in Alabama working to address these concerns and that there are actually new things that the state can do.

More than 80% of surveyed attendees reported no, slight, or only moderate knowledge of housing policy before the event–and 90% of those same attendees reported the event improved their knowledge of the topic.

Governor Albert Brewer Memorial Lunch

Governor Ivey addressed the audience as part of the Governor Albert Brewer Memorial Lunch

Forum Resources

Annual Forum Program, including housing policy glossary, resources, and data

Why Housing? Ryan Hankins

What is Workforce Housing? Lisa McCarroll

Innovations Around the Country Amanda Loper

Opportunities in Alabama Panel

What is Possible? James Stockard


Alabama Public Opinion Survey

PARCA’s most recent public opinion survey finds, once again, aversion to certain taxes, support for public education, and mistrust in state government. At the same time, the survey finds a lack of consensus on how the state should respond to other critical issues.

Among the findings:

  • Alabamians continue to rank education as the most important state government activity.
  • Large majorities of Alabamians say the state spends too little on education and healthcare.
  • Alabamians have an aversion to taxes but say upper-income residents pay too little.
  • Alabamians are willing to pay more taxes to support education but do not agree on which taxes should be increased.
  • A plurality (48%) of Alabamians would prefer to educate their children in public schools.
  • A majority of Alabamians support school choice options.
  • A large majority believe private schools receiving state funds should meet all standards required of public schools.

PARCA’s annual public opinion survey was conducted between October 24 and December 26, 2023. The mixed-mode sample includes a mix of respondents from a statewide random digit dialed (RDD) sample of cell and landline numbers and an Internet panel provided by Qualtrics. The poll of over 500 Alabama residents was conducted by Dr. Randolph Horn, Samford University, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Research and Professor of Political Science. 

Results of the survey indicate many opportunities for officials to demonstrate responsiveness to public concerns and leadership in crafting public policy solutions.

Download the full report here.


More Students Workforce Ready in the Class of 2023

The number and percentage of high school seniors graduating workforce-ready rose with the Class of 2023, according to the results of ACT’s WorkKeys Assessment, a test of skills given to public high school seniors. The results are another sign that student performance is recovering from post-pandemic lows, though the recovery is not complete.

Printable PDF available here.

The WorkKeys test measures practical math, reading, and graphical literacy skills as they are employed in the workplace. That’s different than the ACT, which tests for knowledge and skills needed in a college classroom. In 2023, 72% of seniors took the test statewide, and 62% of those tested scored at or above the silver level of workforce readiness.

Figure 1. WorkKeys Results, Statewide Trends

WorkKeys is optional, and school systems vary in the percentage of students tested. WorkKeys was given to all seniors through 2019, but the State Department of Education stopped mandating the test. Some systems still test all seniors. Some systems make the test an option for students who haven’t demonstrated college and career readiness by another measure. WorkKeys is one of seven options for demonstrating college and career readiness.

Figure 2. Numbers and percentages of participation and passing the workforce-ready benchmark

In addition, a student’s score on WorkKeys can be a recognized credential in the job market. Some businesses, particularly industrial employers, build WorkKeys into their hiring practices. Working with ACT, those employers have determined what level of proficiency, as measured by WorkKeys, is needed in particular jobs. Depending on their test performance, students earn a platinum, gold, silver, or bronze National Career Readiness Certificate. A student scoring Silver or above has the foundational skills for 67% of jobs that ACT has profiled, and that student is considered college and career-ready by the Alabama Board of Education.

Figure 3. Percentage of all students workforce ready (scoring Silver or Above), by system, 2023 (Pictured are systems in which 90% of students were tested. Adjust filter to see other systems)

In Figure 3, the school systems are shaded by the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in each system. In general, systems with higher poverty percentages tend to have lower percentages of students scoring workforce ready. However, on WorkKeys, the correlation is not nearly as strong as it is with other measures, like the ACT college readiness test. WorkKeys seems to provide a more even playing field for comparative performance.

However, the 2023 WorkKeys test results do show a pattern similar to other assessments in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. After dropping in 2020, 2021, and 2022, WorkKeys results rebounded more strongly among nonpoverty students in 2023. In contrast, students from low-income backgrounds have been slower to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 4. Percentage Workforce Ready by School, 2023

The visualization below presents the results in a more detailed fashion. Each color represents the percentage of tested students scoring at each level: platinum, gold, silver, bronze, and no certificate earned. Use the menus to adjust the comparison and use the various tabs, to explore different aspects of the data.

Figure 5. WorkKeys Results, by level of certification, by system, 2023

Alabama ACT Scores Climb

ACT Scores for Alabama public high school students improved in 2023, bucking a downward trend nationally and providing another clue that Alabama schools began recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic more quickly than schools nationally. Students in the graduating class of 2023 were in ninth grade when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S.

Printable PDF Document Available Here

Figure 1. Alabama Public High School Average Composite Scores, 2015-2023

Alabama’s Class of 2023 still trailed the score levels of classes tested prior to the academic disruptions wrought by COVID-19. The average composite score in 2023 was 17.72 on the ACT’s 36-point scale, up from 17.69 in 2022 but down from 18.58 in 2021.

The percentage of test-takers who achieved ACT’s college-ready benchmark in all four tested subjects – English, reading, science, and math – climbed to 12.8%. According to ACT, students scoring at or above the benchmark on a subject test have a 50% chance of earning a B in an introductory college course in the subject and a 75% chance of earning a C.

Figure 2. Percentage of students scoring at or above the college-ready benchmark in 2023, by subject

The scores of students from low-income households fell further during the pandemic and have not recovered to the same extent as students from non-poverty households.

The percentage of non-poverty students who were college-ready in reading was higher in 2023 than in the graduating Class of 2020. In English and science, the non-poverty students in the Class of 2023 had nearly closed the gap. In math, non-poverty students still have some catching up to do.

In comparison, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students who scored college-ready in 2023 remains significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 3. Comparing Poverty and Non-poverty Students’ College Ready Percentage, by subject, by selected years

Compared to other states

Nationally, a shrinking percentage of students of students were college-ready in 2023. In all four subject areas, the percentage of students scoring at or above the college-ready benchmark was the lowest in recent history. The average Composite score declined by 0.3 points, from 19.8 in 2022 to 19.5. Immediately before the pandemic, the U.S. average ACT composite score was 20.7 in 2019. While Covid led to sharp drops in scores, the national average score on the ACT has been trending down for several years. In 2017 and before, the national average composite was 21.

Comparing Alabama’s average composite score to the national average isn’t appropriate because of the difference in the universe of test-takers in different states. All Alabama public high school students take the ACT. In many states, only college-bound students take the test. Other states focus on the SAT instead, leaving only a small portion of students to take the ACT.

Looking strictly at the states where 100% of students took the test, the average composite score was 18.3, compared to Alabama’s 18 (When it comes to state-to-state comparisons, ACT provides a different state average than the data strictly focused on Alabama public school students).

Data provided by ACT and accessible through ACT’s online dashboard indicates that White students in Alabama have caught up to and scored at the same average as White students in other 100% states. However, Black and Hispanic students in Alabama haven’t regained as much ground. There also appears to have been a steep jump in the percentage of students scoring in the lowest ranges of the test. The percentage of Alabama students who scored 15 or below jumped from 34% to 41% during the pandemic.

Figure 4. Trends in the percentage of ACT test-takers in score ranges US vs. Alabama

Focus on Alabama Scores

Alabama students’ average scores improved in reading, English, and science but not math.

Figure 5. Trends in scale scores by subject

System Level Results

At the school system level, systems with a higher proportion of non-poverty students post higher average scores. Systems with a higher concentration of poverty post lower average scores.

Using the menu options on the right of the visualization, you can adjust variables to see the data through different lenses. Figure 6 presents the average scale score of non-poverty students in each system. Applying this different lens helps identify high-performing systems where higher poverty percentages might affect overall performance. More than half of the students in systems like Brewton, Huntsville, Haleyville, Jasper, and Demopolis are economically disadvantaged. But the Non-poverty students in those systems post average scores that rank them in the top 20 of school systems,

Figure 6. Non-poverty student’s average scores, by system

Meanwhile, Figure 7 compares the average scale score of economically disadvantaged students attending the various systems. Again, this different lens reveals a different set of high-performing schools. More than 40% of students in Satsuma, Saraland, Arab, and Oneonta are economically disadvantaged, and yet economically disadvantaged students there score higher than the all-students average statewide. Economically disadvantaged students make up more than half the student body in Brewton and Winfield, but despite that concentration, the system average for students in poverty ties or beats the state all-student average.

Figure 7. Economically Disadvantaged Students’ Average scores, by system

Examining results at the school level is also important for identifying high performance. Figure 8 presents the average scores of Black students by school. The highest average scores are found in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville magnet schools.

Figure 8. Black students’ average scores, by school

Use the menus and tabs to explore data on your own, find your school or system, and make comparisons keeping in mind student body socioeconomic composition. Available data options include:


Proposed Statewide Amendment to the Alabama Constitution of 2022


Statewide Amendment 1

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, to amend Section 71.01 authorizing the Legislature to sign and transmit local laws or constitutional amendments before the transmission of basic appropriations.

Proposed by Act 2023-562 (Senate Bill 3, 2023 Second Special Session)
Bill Sponsor: Senator Chambliss

When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, March 5, they won’t just be voting in the Democratic or Republican primaries; they’ll also vote on an amendment to the Alabama Constitution of 2022.

Amendment 1 proposes simplifying the process of moving resolutions and local legislation through the Legislature before the state budgets are passed.

Printable PDF available here

If the amendment passes, a 3/5 vote of the Legislature would no longer be required before considering the passage of a resolution, local legislation, or a local constitutional amendment.

Proposed Amendment 1 is actually a tweak of the amendment championed by Gov. Fob James, which was ratified back in 1984. The amendment was aimed at focusing the Legislature on its most important job: passing the education and general fund budgets. It was designed to make it hard to bring up other legislation before the budgets passed.

Currently, until the budgets pass, every piece of Legislation requires two votes: one for what’s called a Budget Isolation Resolution, which requires three-fifths support to allow consideration, and a second vote on the piece of legislation itself.

While Amendment 1 will ease the process for resolutions and local legislation, the higher vote threshold (required prior to the passage of the budgets) remains in place for general laws, laws that apply statewide. Local constitutional amendments will still require a three-fifths vote to pass. They just won’t require two votes, one for a BIR and a second vote on the measure.

The original purpose of the 1984 amendment was to avoid last-minute scrambles to pass budgets. That didn’t happen. Budgets still tend to be worked on until the waning days of the session. Budgets are complicated and involve a lot of give and take. They are the culmination of a process, but they also are not all-consuming. Legislative action on other matters doesn’t necessarily get in the way of making progress on the budget.

In some circumstances, the BIR procedure does provide a mechanism for blocking or delaying consideration of controversial legislation. If more than one-third of members of either the House or Senate oppose a bill, they can band together and prevent consideration.

That blocking mechanism was more in play when the Legislature was more evenly divided along party or interest group lines. It is less relevant now that the Republicans hold a super-majority in both houses. The BIR can still come into play on bills that cut across party lines, but, for the most part, nowadays, it is simply an extra step in the legislative process.

The proposed amendment’s focus on local legislation stems, in part, from a series of lawsuits that questioned the validity of some local laws based on BIR-related votes. The Constitution requires “three-fifths of a quorum present” to vote on the BIRs. But Alabama House of Representatives rules and practice allowed BIRs to pass if three-fifths of those voting voted yes. Even though the legislative and constitutional fixes have reaffirmed previously passed legislation, proponents want to avoid future challenges by exempting local legislation.

The amendment doesn’t address the more fundamental issue of whether the state Legislature should be voting on local legislation at all. In other states, local governments have more power to conduct their own affairs. In those state the Legislature focuses on statewide policy. In Alabama, in 2023, 30% of the bills passed by the State Legislature applied to a specific county or locality, according to a PARCA analysis of legislative records. Further, the bulk of the Alabama Constitution is made up of amendments that apply to specific counties and localities. That inclusion of local matters in the state constitution helps make Alabama’s Constitution by far the longest state constitution in the U.S.

Another state constitutional amendment is on the ballot March 5, but only in Dale County. Voters there will decide whether mayors in the county are allowed to participate in the state’s retirement system.


The Alabama Constitution Reformed: Is There Still Work to Do?

In 2022, Alabama adopted a “new” constitution, an improved and reorganized version of the Alabama Constitution of 1901. The vote was the culmination of decades of advocacy and was rightly celebrated.

The new Constitution removed the racist and unconstitutional provisions that were relics of the White Supremacist 1901 Constitution.

Printable PDF version available here

It reorganized the document, moving relevant statewide amendments into their proper place in the main body of the Constitution, removing duplicative and repealed provisions, and organizing local constitutional amendments by county to the end of the document.

But is the work finished?

Is Alabama free from the shackles of the anti-democratic and pre-modern Constitution of 1901? Or are fundamental flaws still embedded in our Constitutional DNA?

Despite the new Constitution, we remain governed by the basic operating system established by the 1901 Constitution. And that operating system was recognized as obsolete and an obstacle almost as soon as it was adopted.

Alabama Governor Emmet O’Neal, in a 1914 address, observed, “No real or permanent progress is possible in Alabama until the present fundamental law is thoroughly revised and adapted to meet present conditions.”

Have those revisions been made? In this election year, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) will examine that question.

PARCA was founded to provide objective, non-ideological research to citizens and leaders, supporting the improvement of state and local governments. PARCA research is intended to help governments function efficiently and effectively in hopes that those governments provide equal treatment and opportunity to the people of Alabama.

As the Constitution is fundamental to the functioning of state and local governments, it has been a central focus of PARCA’s work.

Over the next year, PARCA will issue a series of reports examining Alabama’s current constitutional framework, identifying remaining obstacles to a modern constitution and possible paths forward in areas such as education, economy, healthcare, democracy, liberty & justice, finances, and related areas.

The project is supported, in part, by the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR). Both ACCR and PARCA are nonpartisan organizations, and our members and supporters are Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Former Governor Albert Brewer and former Samford University President Thomas Corts, both deceased, were founding leaders in both organizations.

The mission of ACCR is to educate and advocate for an Alabama Constitution that protects and enhances life for all Alabama citizens. To that end, ACCR has two branches:

  1. A foundation that focuses on educating the public about the Alabama Constitution and underlying issues that affect our citizens.
  2. A nonprofit advocacy organization that works to improve the Constitution.

The foundation is providing support for PARCA’s re-examination of the Alabama Constitution. ACCR’s advocacy organization will use the research to recalibrate its ongoing work on Constitutional reform.

Alabama’s Constitution of 2022 is still, by far, the longest state constitution in the United States, three times as long as the next longest state constitution. Though now better organized, it is still complex and contradictory.

It is not a basic template and statement of principles, which should be the ideal. It more closely resembles a law code, with almost 500 pages worth of amendments that relate to localities rather than to the state as a whole.

Alabama voters have finally removed the most noxious provisions of the Constitution of 1901, which was explicitly formulated to strip the political rights of Black Alabamians, but which also disenfranchised poor whites. Gone are provisions that mandated segregated schools. Deleted are provisions allowing for involuntary servitude for those convicted of crimes. The Constitution now recognizes that females have a right to vote.

But other aspects of the Constitution remain unchanged. Power is still concentrated in the hands of the state Legislature in Montgomery. Should that power be more dispersed? Should citizens be able to initiate change and call for referendums, rights available to citizens in other states? Should more decisions be made by local communities rather than by legislators in Montgomery?

Alabama still collects less in state and local taxes than virtually any other state through a constitutionally-embedded tax system that falls disproportionately on poor Alabamians. At the same time, low taxes, particularly on property, reflect voters’ preferences. Are there changes voters would support that could increase adequacy and fairness?

Thanks to the Constitution, Alabama still earmarks more revenue than any other state. That limits legislators’ ability to shift revenue toward pressing priorities. On the other hand, voters like earmarks and don’t necessarily trust lawmakers. Is there a way to change the culture of distrust with changes that increase both flexibility and accountability? 

Does the Constitution inhibit economic development and mass transportation? Does it promote public safety and justice? Does it adequately promote the general welfare, health, and education?

Alabama’s Constitution should reflect our values. It should promote engagement in our democracy and free and fair elections. It should provide for equality of opportunity and equal treatment under the law. With the adoption of the Constitution of 2022, the people of the state took a step forward, removing obvious anti-democratic and discriminatory provisions left from a darker past.

But does the Constitution reflect the needs and aspirations of Alabamians today? Does it provide us with the outlines of a modern, efficient, effective, and responsive government? Is there still a need for Constitutional reform? We will explore those questions in the months to come. 


PARCA Annual Forum 2024: Housing Alabama’s Workforce

Join us for the 2024 PARCA Annual Forum!

We know about Alabama’s workforce challenges. We might not know how housing contributes to that challenge. As housing prices increase, middle-income workers—like firefighters, nurses, police officers, teachers, and others essential to our communities— often struggle to live where they work. The shortage of affordable housing complicates hiring and threatens our economic health and community vitality. PARCA’s 2024 Annual Forum will explore this issue. Engage with experts and leaders in the field as we define workforce housing and explore innovative solutions. We will learn what Alabama is doing and what Alabama could be doing to enable our workforce to live where they work and how that fosters vibrant, inclusive communities.

Speakers to date include:

If you need to purchase your tickets or table reservation by check, please reach out to
Sarah Dayhood at [email protected].


Shifts in Public School Enrollment Seen in the 2023-2024 Fall Attendance Data

Alabama’s public school enrollment is down slightly for the 2023-2024 school year, with a decline in the number of white students enrolled, partially offset by a growing enrollment of Hispanic students. Just over half of public school students, 51% are white, 32% Black, and 11% Hispanic. This year’s enrollment continues a long-term trend. In 2000, 62% of students were white, and the percentage of Hispanic students barely registered.

The percentage of students identified as economically disadvantaged is at an all-time high, with 60% of enrolled students directly qualifying for a free lunch under the National School Lunch program. Qualification is based on having a household income that qualifies for federal benefits like housing, food, or health care support. The percentage of children identified rose substantially after Alabama’s Medicaid program began working with the Department of Education to identify students who qualified for Medicaid and related benefits. Coming out of the Covid pandemic, the number of families and children is elevated. Federal law prohibits states from removing patients from Medicaid rolls during a public health emergency. With the public health emergency now over, Medicaid is reassessing which households remain eligible.

The school systems seeing enrollment gains are generally found in places where the population is growing: north Alabama systems in and around Huntsville and to the south in Baldwin County. Growth in enrollment is also occurring at public charter schools that are starting up or adding grades. School systems offering online or virtual school programs have also shown gains. Read Al.com’s reporting on trends in school populations.

Rural systems saw the largest declines in percentage terms. Large county and city systems in Mobile, Montgomery, Shelby County, and Birmingham accounted for the larger numeric declines in enrollment.

Use the tabs to explore data, for your local schools and systems.


Alabama’s Population Growth Accelerating

Alabama’s population increased by 34,000 last year to 5.1 million, driven by increased domestic migration and a decreasing number of deaths, according to the latest population estimates published by the U.S. Census Bureau, covering the period between July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023.

That’s the 15th fastest rate of growth among U.S. states and ranks 11th in terms of the number of people added. Still, Alabama’s growth rate trails other Sunbelt and Mountain West states, including Southeastern neighbors like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and South and North Carolina.

Alabama’s death rate fell from the third-highest in 2021 to the sixth-highest in 2023. Still, more people died in Alabama than were born here, according to the 2023 estimates. But the gap narrowed. Births were up by about 150, and the estimated number of deaths in 2023 was down by almost 10,000 from the 2021 peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of the population change resulted from people moving in from other states. The state received 30,744 domestic migrants, 2,000 more than moved in the year before. International migration into Alabama increased to 5,364 net new arrivals, or about 1,000 more than the year before.

In 2023, Alabama’s rate of domestic immigration was the 10th highest in the U.S. However, Alabama still has one of the lowest rates of international immigration among states, ranking No. 45.

Texas and Florida added the most people. New York, Illinois, and California saw the biggest declines. All the Southeastern states, with the exception of Louisiana and Mississippi, recorded population increases. That pattern has been consistent since 2020.

Census population and change estimates for counties, metro areas, and cities will be released later in the year. Use the tabs and menus in the visualizations to explore the data.