Boaz, Alabama

Area Profile

10,814 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Boaz, in Marshall County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 12 sources
Opportunity2,159th of 4,199 cities measured56
Schools3,233rd of 4,162 cities measured28
GrowthTop 28% of 4,224 cities measured61
Housing affordabilityTop 14% of 4,218 cities measured79
ClimateTop 20% of 4,225 cities measured78
Physical resilience2,574th of 4,226 cities measured47
Access3,706th of 4,226 cities measured71
Economic stability3,599th of 4,226 cities measured35
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.1% and median household income $49,846, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for Marshall County, AL, which contains Boaz, rather than for Boaz alone.

In the public schools here, 45% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 18.0 students for every teacher.

24 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 4% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
10,814
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$49,846
Bottom 23% nationally
Density
743/sq mi
14.6 sq mi of land
Median age
32.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Alabama
Micro area
Nearest major airport
HSV
47 mi · Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld
Median home value
$199,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Marshall County, AL, which contains Boaz, is 3.1%, lower than in 91% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Marshall County, AL, which contains Boaz, fell 1.5% over the past year, to 43,739 employed residents.

Median household income of $49,846 is lower than in 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$10,3462024 ACS 5-Year$49,846Bottom 23%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,0582024 ACS 5-Year$24,915Bottom 20%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year17.4%Bottom 28%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.8 minTop 34%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year15.9%Bottom 37%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year83.8%72nd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentMarshall County, AL’s figureJuly 202643,739Bottom 44%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Marshall County, AL’s figureJuly 2026+1.5%Top 25%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Marshall County, AL’s figureJuly 2026−1.5%Bottom 35%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceMarshall County, AL’s figureJuly 202645,15044th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year75.9%Bottom 42%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Marshall County, AL’s figureJuly 2026+0.5%Bottom 19%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateMarshall County, AL’s figureJuly 20263.1%Top 9%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year4.8%36th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202450k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $49,846 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Marshall County, AL, which contains this city.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 36% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.0 students for every full-time teacher across 5 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
44.8%
Bottom 36% in Alabama
Reading proficiency
36.4%
Bottom 17% in Alabama
All 5 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Boaz High SchoolBoaz City72118.042%27%
Boaz Middle SchoolBoaz City58318.235%38%
Boaz Elementary SchoolBoaz City51317.1——
Corley Elementary SchoolBoaz City42918.762%47%
Boaz Intermediate SchoolBoaz City36118.146%40%

66.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Alabama’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama is up 50% over five years, and up 5.2% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $758 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.38% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,020, some 54% above the $663 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,020 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $40,800 a year, about 82% of the median household income here of $49,846.

The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $663 a month.

A median home at $199,200 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $76,617, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
27.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,020
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$663
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$199,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Boaz’s median household income of $49,846, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+5.2%80th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+49.8%77th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+89.5%45th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.62024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 46%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year66.7%31st percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3802024 ACS 5-Year3,91386th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$900Top 15%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,280Top 7%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,020Top 9%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$502024 ACS 5-Year$663Top 12%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,6772024 ACS 5-Year$199,20053rd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$792024 ACS 5-Year$75815th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$12,2752024 ACS 5-Year$76,617Bottom 47%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.07%2024 ACS 5-Year0.38%4th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year27.0%Top 42%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±212024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year10.2%65th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1762024 ACS 5-Year39987th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

61/ 100
Top 28% of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 3 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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.

Population has grown 4% since 2020, reaching 10,473 in 2024.

Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 10,473 residents in 2024, up 0.8% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 24 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
24
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
−4%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202410k10k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420253111
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+182%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 31°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 57.6 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GADSDEN 19 N, 12.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals57.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals36°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

47 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 43% of it.

TornadoModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
Cold waveModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, landslide, hurricane, ice storm, wildfire, winter weather, drought, hail, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
95
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,032
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Boaz's police department reported 95 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,032.

Marshall County has a modeled homicide rate of about 6.1 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.9 per 100,000 residents in Marshall County.

Homicide
6.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.9
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
17.9
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
15.9
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Boaz’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Boaz (Marshall County) rather than Boaz itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld at 47 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year86.1%Bottom 35%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle47 miBottom 14%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 8%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year11.1%Bottom 33%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV47 mi10,001 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM56 mi12,007 ft
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL106 mi12,390 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
57
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Other cities in Albertville, AL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AlbertvilleMarshall County22,81359Albertville vs Boaz

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Boaz side by side with a similar place.

Boaz vs AthensBoaz vs Manchester

Moving to Boaz from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Boaz

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Boaz with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
3595716,737$51,406$162,60057