Lowndes County, AL

County Profile

9,833 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lowndes County, AL.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

40out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 3% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,430th of 1,463 counties measured19
Schools1,348th of 1,377 counties measured7
Growth1,247th of 1,453 counties measured30
Housing affordability999th of 1,462 counties measured69
ClimateTop 42% of 1,463 counties measured71
Physical resilience973rd of 1,463 counties measured47
AccessTop 21% of 1,463 counties measured93
Economic stability1,366th of 1,463 counties measured20
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.6% and the Opportunity signal places Lowndes County in the bottom 2%.

In the public schools here, 21% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.1 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 32% of renter income here, above the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 1.9 times what its owners earn.

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
9,833
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$37,052
Bottom 4% nationally
Density
14/sq mi
716.1 sq mi of land
Median age
42.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lowndes County
Alabama
Metro area
Nearest major airport
MGM
18 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$86,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.6% — higher than in all but 11% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 3,541 employed residents.

Median household income of $37,052 is lower than in 96% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$48,02316th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$40,5502nd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$4,4652024 ACS 5-Year$37,052Bottom 4%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,9712024 ACS 5-Year$26,394Bottom 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$53,495Bottom 39%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year28.8%Bottom 4%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year33.4 minBottom 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year14.4%Bottom 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year83.6%89th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 20263,541Bottom 2%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−1.9%Bottom 27%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.8%Bottom 46%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 20263,7502nd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year63.5%Bottom 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%38th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.6%Bottom 13%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.6%Bottom 11%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year4.5%13th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/079.03.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.6% in July 2026. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202437k32k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $37,052 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 — Montgomery, AL

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators7,410$45,380
Retail Salespersons4,720$29,650
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive4,060$40,260
Registered Nurses3,990$79,570
Stockers and Order Fillers3,780$34,370
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand3,510$37,370

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

21% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 19% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher across 7 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.1
across 7 of them
Math proficiency
21.0%
Bottom 3% in Alabama
Reading proficiency
18.6%
Bottom 1% in Alabama
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Central Elementary SchoolLowndes County20025.037%22%
Fort Deposit Elementary SchoolLowndes County18615.522%22%
Calhoun High SchoolLowndes County18615.515%5%
Central High SchoolLowndes County17512.58%12%
Hayneville Middle SchoolLowndes County14418.012%22%
JacksonSteele Elementary SchoolLowndes County11416.337%32%
Lowndes County Middle SchoolLowndes County10413.017%22%
Project Success Learning CenterLowndes County0———
Lowndes County Career Technical CenterLowndes County0———

84.9% 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.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 89.9, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Montgomery, AL Metro Area is up 41% over five years, and up 6.0% 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 $337 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.39% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,016, some 43% above the $710 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,016 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $40,600 a year, about 110% of the median household income here of $37,052.

The typical renter household here spends 32% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $710 a month.

A median home at $86,300 costs 1.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $45,406, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
89.9

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Montgomery, AL Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
32.0%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,016
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$710
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$86,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Lowndes County’s median household income of $37,052, 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
Cost of living indexthe Montgomery, AL Metro Area’s figure202389.9Top 20%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Montgomery, AL Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+6.0%88th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Montgomery, AL Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+41.0%33rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Montgomery, AL Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+64.0%7th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year1.9Top 17%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year77.5%68th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±182024 ACS 5-Year4,84722nd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$870Top 37%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,304Top 26%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,016Top 29%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1602024 ACS 5-Year$710Top 16%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,9192024 ACS 5-Year$86,3003rd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$492024 ACS 5-Year$3371st percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,8982024 ACS 5-Year$45,406Bottom 4%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.08%2024 ACS 5-Year0.39%6th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year32.0%Bottom 14%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±872024 ACS 5-Year16831st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year3.5%56th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%43rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1592024 ACS 5-Year56315th percentileof 3,2222024 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

30/ 100
Ranks 1,247 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in 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 fallen 8% since 2020, to 9,485 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 3 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Lowndes County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $48,023, above the $40,550 of households that moved out.

At 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
3
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.3
Bottom 5% nationally
Year over year
+200%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202410k9k
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 falling for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
8%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$48,023
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$40,550
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Montgomery County, AL 266 people · 56% of arrivals
  2. Butler County, AL 50 people · 10% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Montgomery County, AL 262 people · 54% of departures
  2. Butler County, AL 57 people · 12% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420252.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 94°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.2 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MONTGOMERY AP, 17.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals51.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals94°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals35°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 heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 39% of it. Tornado is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Heat waveElevated
HurricaneElevated
Strong windElevated
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, drought, lightning, wildfire, ice storm, hail, winter weather, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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

Lowndes County has a modeled homicide rate of about 16.0 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 about 30.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 12.0 per 100,000 residents in Lowndes County.

Homicide
16.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
30.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
12.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
16.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

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.

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 Lowndes County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read 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.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
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. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld) at 18 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year72.5%Bottom 3%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle18 miTop 23%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Top 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year19.5%Bottom 7%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM18 mi9,020 ft
Dothan RgnlDHN91 mi8,500 ft
Bob SikesCEW95 mi8,006 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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40
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
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 areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.