Pike County, AL

County Profile

32,987 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pike 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.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 33% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1168th of 1,255 counties27
Growth955th of 1,226 counties35
Housing affordability719th of 1,255 counties90
ClimateTop 2% of 1,254 counties87
Physical resilienceTop 37% of 1,255 counties70
Access756th of 1,255 counties77
Economic stability1201st of 1,255 counties21
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.6% and the Opportunity signal places Pike County in the bottom 7%.

Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.2 times that income.

A typical July reaches 90°F and a typical January falls to 37°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
32,987
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$48,677
Bottom 12% nationally
Density
49/sq mi
672.1 sq mi of land
Median age
31.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pike County
Alabama
Metro area
Troy, AL
Nearest major airport
MGM
44 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$157,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.6% is lower than 34% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 3.2% over the past year, to 14,424 employed residents.

28% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US locations.

Median household income of $48,677 is below 88% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,631$48,677Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,896$28,534Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate23.3%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.4 minBottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.0%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment14,424Bottom 11%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.1%Bottom 20%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.2%Bottom 6%June 2026
Labor force15,122Bottom 12%June 2026
Labor force participation56.0%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.1%Top 4%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.6%Top 34%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.62.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.6% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202449k40k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $48,677 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.

There are 17.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Troy Elementary SchoolTroy City1,01818.9
Charles Henderson High SchoolTroy City54618.2
Pike County High SchoolPike County48416.7
Pike County Elementary SchoolPike County45416.8
Goshen Elementary SchoolPike County44617.2
Banks SchoolPike County38415.4
Goshen High SchoolPike County35614.2
Charles Henderson MiddleTroy City26317.5
TroyPike Regional Center For TechnologyTroy City0
TroyPike Center For TechnologyPike County0
Pike County Alternative Learning CenterPike County0
Alternative Learning CenterTroy City0

68.3% 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 →

Median rent of $856 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$856
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$157,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.24Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate61.3%Bottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3816,238Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$53$856Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,549$157,600Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.1%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate23.1%Top 19%2024 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
35/ 100
Ranks 955 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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 1% since 2020, reaching 33,124 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

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

At 1.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
36
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.1
Bottom 17% nationally
Year over year
+50%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202433k33k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420255826
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−55%).

Weather & climate

9 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 54.6 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station TROY 2 W, 3.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation54.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing32°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

70 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneElevated
Heat waveElevated
LightningModerate
LandslideModerate
TornadoModerate
Strong windElevated
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: earthquake, drought, inland flooding, wildfire, hail, ice storm, winter weather.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Pike County records 9.6 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 27.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.5 per 100,000 residents in Pike County.

Homicide
9.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
27.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.3
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 Pike 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 Pike County rather than Pike County 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 44 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM44 mi9,020 ft
Dothan RgnlDHN44 mi8,500 ft
Bob SikesCEW78 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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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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
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

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.

Cities in Pike County, AL