Tallapoosa County, AL

County Profile

40,938 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Tallapoosa 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.

51out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 22% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,116th of 1,463 counties measured42
Schools1,099th of 1,377 counties measured26
GrowthTop 36% of 1,453 counties measured58
Housing affordabilityTop 7% of 1,462 counties measured86
ClimateTop 31% of 1,463 counties measured73
Physical resilience1,178th of 1,463 counties measured33
Access1,026th of 1,463 counties measured70
Economic stability1,238th of 1,463 counties measured31
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 3.9% and the Opportunity signal places Tallapoosa County in the bottom 24%.

In the public schools here, 40% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.8 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 250 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 20% on the prior year.

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
40,938
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$59,356
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
57/sq mi
716.5 sq mi of land
Median age
45.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Tallapoosa County
Alabama
Nearest major airport
MGM
52 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9%, lower than in 57% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 2.0% over the past year, to 15,761 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$84,25986th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$66,85771st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$4,2752024 ACS 5-Year$59,356Bottom 34%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,9182024 ACS 5-Year$33,762Bottom 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$52,576Bottom 35%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year16.4%Bottom 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.3 min2024 ACS 5-Year26.6 minBottom 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year20.3%Bottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year84.4%91st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202615,761Bottom 22%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+0.3%Top 47%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−2.0%Bottom 21%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202616,40822nd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year71.6%Bottom 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%62nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.8%Bottom 7%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.9%Top 43%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year5.3%19th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.02.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.9% in July 2026. It has been falling, 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

202120222023202459k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $59,356 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.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 39% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.8 students for every full-time teacher across 10 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.8
across 10 of them
Math proficiency
39.6%
Bottom 25% in Alabama
Reading proficiency
38.7%
Bottom 35% in Alabama
All 11 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Benjamin Russell High SchoolAlexander City85215.540%46%
Horseshoe Bend High SchoolTallapoosa County77617.641%43%
Jim Pearson Elementary SchoolAlexander City70417.2——
Dadeville Elementary SchoolTallapoosa County57117.325%29%
Dadeville High SchoolTallapoosa County53421.436%37%
Reeltown High SchoolTallapoosa County49519.837%32%
Reeltown Elementary SchoolTallapoosa County44617.252%45%
Nathaniel H Stephens Elementary SchoolAlexander City43621.838%36%
Alexander City Middle SchoolAlexander City43017.247%38%
William L Radney Elementary SchoolAlexander City41418.045%36%
Edward Bell Career Technical CenterTallapoosa County0———

60.0% 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 $481 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.30% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $857, some 12% above the $765 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $857 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $34,300 a year, about 58% of the median household income here of $59,356.

The typical renter household here spends 24% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $765 a month.

A median home at $158,500 costs 2.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $67,365, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
24.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$857
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$765
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Tallapoosa County’s median household income of $59,356, 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%76th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+49.8%68th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+89.5%42nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year2.4Top 41%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year76.1%58th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±372024 ACS 5-Year23,16169th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$663Top 3%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,030Top 3%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$857Top 4%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$332024 ACS 5-Year$765Top 26%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,0932024 ACS 5-Year$158,50036th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$442024 ACS 5-Year$4814th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,2392024 ACS 5-Year$67,365Bottom 29%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year0.30%2nd percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year24.2%Top 21%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±3602024 ACS 5-Year3,43391st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year14.8%88th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year11.5%66th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4582024 ACS 5-Year6,08584th 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.

Development Momentum

58/ 100
Top 36% of 1,453 published county 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 fallen 1% since 2020, to 40,699 in 2024.

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

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 250 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Tallapoosa County lost about 0.3% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $84,259, above the $66,857 of households that moved out.

At 6.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
250
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.1
Top 22% nationally
Year over year
+20%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202441k41k
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 holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
28%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$84,259
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$66,857
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Lee County, AL 301 people · 17% of arrivals
  2. Elmore County, AL 244 people · 14% of arrivals
  3. Coosa County, AL 118 people · 6.7% of arrivals
  4. Montgomery County, AL 111 people · 6.3% of arrivals
  5. Talladega County, AL 84 people · 4.7% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Lee County, AL 317 people · 17% of departures
  2. Elmore County, AL 254 people · 14% of departures
  3. Coosa County, AL 156 people · 8.3% of departures
  4. Talladega County, AL 99 people · 5.3% of departures
  5. Jefferson County, AL 80 people · 4.3% 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

2022202320242025227200
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+14%).

Weather & climate

7 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 29°F.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CAMP HILL 2NW, 8.8 miles from this location.

Precipitation

MetricValueSource period
Average January low1991-2020 Normals29°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals91°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

33 / 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 67% of it. Heat wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Inland floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate
TornadoModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate

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

Tallapoosa County has a modeled homicide rate of about 10.1 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 27.0 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 9.2 per 100,000 residents in Tallapoosa County.

Homicide
10.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
27.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
9.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
17.6
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 Tallapoosa 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.
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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld) at 52 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year83.9%Bottom 29%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle52 miBottom 28%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 35%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year11.2%Bottom 43%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM52 mi9,020 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM73 mi12,007 ft
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL96 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
51
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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
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.

Cities in Tallapoosa County, AL