35043Chelsea, Alabama

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 35043.

72out of 100
Area Score
Top 12% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 18% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured72
GrowthTop 21% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured66
Housing affordabilityTop 10% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured100
ClimateTop 34% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured74
Physical resilience4089th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured48
Access3667th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured92
Economic stabilityTop 17% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured77
The quick read

35043 ranks in the top 18% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $121,356.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 13% of median household income and the median home is 3.0 times it.

A major airport is 18 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
15,837
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$121,356
Top 9% nationally
Density
343/sq mi
46.2 sq mi of land
Median age
40.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Chelsea
Alabama
Metro area
Birmingham, AL
Nearest major airport
BHM
18 mi · Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Intl
Median home value
$366,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 93% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.6% over the past year, to 119,550 employed residents.

47% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 91% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$10,290$121,356Top 9%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,459$47,600Top 23%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.5%Bottom 17%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute34.7 minTop 18%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher46.6%Top 15%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment119,550Top 31%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.0%Top 50%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.6%Bottom 29%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force123,443Top 31%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation64.3%Top 35%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 11%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 7%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024121k95k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $121,356 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 Chelsea, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 17.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Chelsea High SchoolShelby County1,23517.2
Chelsea Park Elementary SchoolShelby County89116.2
Chelsea Middle SchoolShelby County83118.1
Forest Oaks Elementary SchoolShelby County60616.8

27.4% 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 $1,322 takes 13% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

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
13.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,322
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$366,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index91.8Bottom 16%of 6,0712023
Home price to income3.02Bottom 47%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate90.5%Top 17%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4335,485Top 26%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$306$1,322Top 29%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,085$366,200Top 24%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income13.1%Bottom 17%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.6%Bottom 15%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
66/ 100
Top 21% 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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 9.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
155
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
9.5
Top 13% nationally
Year over year
−11%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Chelsea, 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 36°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 56.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 40, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ALABASTER SHELBY CO AP, 11.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index50.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation56.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low36°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
40
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
50
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

48 / 100
Physical resilience

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

TornadoElevated
LandslideModerate
LightningModerate
Inland floodingElevated
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeElevated
DroughtModerate

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

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.

Shelby County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.4 per 100,000 residents in Shelby County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.3
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 Shelby 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 35043 rather than 35043 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 18 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM18 mi12,007 ft
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM72 mi9,020 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV92 mi10,001 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
72
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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.

35043 vs Chelsea

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

35043
Chelsea
Median household income
$121,356
vs
$115,337
Per capita income
$47,600
vs
$49,712
Population density
343/sq mi
vs
498/sq mi
Median home value
$366,200
vs
$360,000
Median gross rent
$1,322
vs
$1,414
Homeownership rate
90.5%
vs
90.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher
46.6%
vs
48.5%
Poverty rate
4.5%
vs
2.7%
Median age
40.4
vs
37.6

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.