Deaths Exceed Births but Surge in Domestic Migration Powers Alabama Population Growth
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate a growing number of people moving to Alabama prior to the Covid pandemic, which helped offset population loss due to a rising death rate and declining birth rate. The estimated number of net new domestic migrants was 13,115 in 2020, the largest inflow of the decade. That […]
ACT Scores Down for the Class of 2020
Average ACT scores for Alabama public high school graduates declined with the graduating class of 2020, with students now scoring lower than they did five years ago. The results mirror a national decline that cuts across gender, economic and demographic groups of students. The scores reported here would not have been affected by the Covid-19 […]
A Congressional Seat in Danger
The big count with major consequences for Alabama continues, and it looks like it will come down to a very tight margin. The decennial census for 2020, the official count of people living in the United States, is expected to be released in February. But in the meantime, in December, the Census Bureau released its […]
Jefferson County Mayors Study Municipal Cooperation on Jails
Taking population into consideration, Jefferson County may have more jails than any other major county in the U.S., and the county’s mayors are investigating options for decreasing the liability, expense, and inefficiency that comes with operating so many separate facilities. As part of ongoing regional cooperation efforts, the Jefferson County Mayors Association commissioned a new […]
Cooperating for Growth in the Wiregrass
Before the Coronavirus pandemic, economic developers in Southeast Alabama recognized the advantages of pulling together as a region rather than each city and county trying to recruit new industry independently. Wanting to take cooperation to a new level, they asked PARCA to investigate how other regional economic development organizations across the state and across the […]
How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2020 Edition
Alabama had the nation’s second-lowest tax collections per capita in 2018, the first time since the 1990s that any other state — in this case Tennessee — had lower state and local tax revenue per resident than Alabama. Economic growth in Alabama, including a significant gain in income tax collections, helped Alabama nudge past Tennessee. […]
Alabama Tax Revenues Remarkably Resilient in 2020
Tax revenue flowing into Alabama’s General Fund and Education Trust Fund held up surprisingly well in 2020 fiscal year in spite of the Coronavirus pandemic, thanks to an extremely strong state economy preceding the pandemic and a flood of federal aid that followed the pandemic’s arrival. Remarkably, both Alabama’s General Fund and its ETF grew […]
COVID-19: Data and Resources
In support of the work of the government and health care professionals involved in the Coronavirus containment effort, PARCA is gathering information and resources as the situation unfolds. Check back PARCA’s Coronavirus Resource page for updates. PARCA’s evolving list of information, resources, and data.
COVID-19: The Alabama Legislature’s Response
The Alabama Legislature’s two-week recess is over, but the session will not resume on March 31. No date has been set to reconvene either house. The Legislature is constitutionally mandated to enact General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets and end the session by May 18. Enacted Legislation Before the recess, the Legislature […]
2019 Alabama County and MSA Population Trends
The latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show a more broadly distributed pattern of population growth in 2019 with continued and accelerating strength in north Alabama counties and a surge across south and Southeast Alabama. Published last week, the figures estimate the populations of counties and metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) on July 1, 2019. […]