35205Birmingham, Alabama

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 35205.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 32% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4950th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured40
Growth3354th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured43
Housing affordability5456th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured56
ClimateTop 34% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured74
Physical resilienceTop 49% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured59
AccessTop 32% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured97
Economic stability5207th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured43
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.6% and the Opportunity signal places 35205 in the bottom 20%.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.7 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 25% of it.

A major airport is 6 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
18,858
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$51,158
Bottom 16% nationally
Density
5,054/sq mi
3.7 sq mi of land
Median age
30.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Birmingham
Alabama
Metro area
Birmingham, AL
Nearest major airport
BHM
6 mi · Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Intl
Median home value
$293,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.6% is lower than 43% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 89,172 employed residents.

58% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 92% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $51,158 is below 84% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$3,134$51,158Bottom 16%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,001$45,277Top 27%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate16.4%Top 27%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute17.3 minBottom 7%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher58.0%Top 8%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment89,172Top 37%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.3%Bottom 28%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 28%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force93,472Top 37%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation65.4%Top 31%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,770Bottom 21%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,770Bottom 26%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 15%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.6%Top 43%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202451k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $51,158 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Birmingham, AL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses17,850$78,680
Retail Salespersons15,280$31,450
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive10,900$44,580
Stockers and Order Fillers10,890$35,660
Cashiers10,690$29,310
Fast Food and Counter Workers10,080$27,020

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Birmingham, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 18.5 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Glen Iris Elementary SchoolBirmingham City82721.8
Ramsay High SchoolBirmingham City76216.6
Washington K8Birmingham City61720.6
EPIC Alternative Elementary SchoolBirmingham City23212.9

61.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Alabama’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 8% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,084 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.7 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Cost of living
91.8

Prices here run about 8% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
25.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,084
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$293,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index91.8Bottom 16%of 6,0712023
Home price to income5.74Top 11%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate32.8%Bottom 4%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±72912,087Top 13%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$42$1,084Top 44%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$25,744$293,800Top 34%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.4%Top 13%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate17.9%Top 31%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
43/ 100
Ranks 3354 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

80% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 3.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
591
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.0
Top 48% nationally
Year over year
+33%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
79.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Birmingham, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 56.6 inches, including 1.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 57, in the Moderate band, and about 6 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BIRMINGHAM AP, 6.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index79.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation56.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10062024 calendar year
Median air quality index57.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing37°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
57
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
79
90th percentile index
Days above 100
6
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

59 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.

TornadoHigh
LightningModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, heat wave, strong wind, ice storm, winter weather, wildfire, hurricane, hail, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Jefferson County records 17.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 24.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 28.4 per 100,000 residents in Jefferson County.

Homicide
17.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
24.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
28.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Jefferson County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 35205 rather than 35205 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 6 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM6 mi12,007 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV79 mi10,001 ft
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM86 mi9,020 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

35205 vs Birmingham

How this ZIP area compares with Birmingham as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

35205
Birmingham
Median household income
$51,158
vs
$46,051
Per capita income
$45,277
vs
$32,216
Population density
5,054/sq mi
vs
1,347/sq mi
Median home value
$293,800
vs
$158,800
Median gross rent
$1,084
vs
$1,107
Homeownership rate
32.8%
vs
45.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
58.0%
vs
31.1%
Poverty rate
16.4%
vs
24.7%
Median age
30.1
vs
35.6

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.