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.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 26% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1053rd of 1,255 counties measured37
GrowthTop 37% of 1,226 counties measured57
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
ClimateTop 30% of 1,254 counties measured73
Physical resilience1016th of 1,255 counties measured33
Access888th of 1,255 counties measured70
Economic stability1171st of 1,255 counties measured26
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places Tallapoosa County in the bottom 16%.

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

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, tornado and hurricane.

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
Metro area
Alexander City, AL
Nearest major airport
MGM
52 mi · Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 50% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 2.9% over the past year, to 15,754 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,275$59,356Bottom 34%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,918$33,762Bottom 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$52,576Bottom 34%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate16.3%Top 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.6 minTop 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher20.3%Bottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,754Bottom 14%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.2%Top 50%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.9%Bottom 9%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force16,449Bottom 14%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation53.8%Bottom 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.0%Top 5%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Top 50%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.22.3
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% 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
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.

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

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Benjamin Russell High SchoolAlexander City85215.5
Horseshoe Bend High SchoolTallapoosa County77617.6
Jim Pearson Elementary SchoolAlexander City70417.2
Dadeville Elementary SchoolTallapoosa County57117.3
Dadeville High SchoolTallapoosa County53421.4
Reeltown High SchoolTallapoosa County49519.8
Reeltown Elementary SchoolTallapoosa County44617.2
Nathaniel H Stephens Elementary SchoolAlexander City43621.8
Alexander City Middle SchoolAlexander City43017.2
William L Radney Elementary SchoolAlexander City41418.0
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 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 $765 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
15.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$765
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.67Bottom 36%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.1%Top 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3723,161Top 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$765Bottom 26%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,093$158,500Bottom 36%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.5%Bottom 32%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate26.3%Top 14%of 3,2222024 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
57/ 100
Top 37% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 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 fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 40,699 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

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

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

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.
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 low29°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing36°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

33 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate
TornadoModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, wildfire, cold wave, strong wind, drought, 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 — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Tallapoosa County records 7.2 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 27.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.3 per 100,000 residents in Tallapoosa County.

Homicide
7.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
27.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
11.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
17.3
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 Tallapoosa 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 Tallapoosa County rather than Tallapoosa 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
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 52 miles away.

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
55
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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)
IncomeU.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
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
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 Tallapoosa County, AL