35968 — Fort Payne, Alabama
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 35968. Its median home value runs 22% below Fort Payne as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 13 sourcesEmployment conditions sit below most comparable ZIP areas measured: unemployment is 3.3% and the Opportunity signal places 35968 in the bottom 20%. The unemployment rate is published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
In the public schools here, 40% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.5 students for every teacher. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
24 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, essentially level with the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
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
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment across Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, is 3.3%, lower than in 86% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment across Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, fell 4.1% over the past year, to 31,485 employed residents.
Median household income of $43,539 is lower than in 92% of measured US ZIP areas.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsDeKalb County, AL’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $50,466 | 10th percentileof 2,996 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftDeKalb County, AL’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $42,666 | 1st percentileof 2,996 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$5,9332024 ACS 5-Year | $43,539 | Bottom 8%of 31,049 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,8632024 ACS 5-Year | $23,798 | Bottom 11%of 32,822 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate ±10%2024 ACS 5-Year | 27.1% | Bottom 8%of 32,846 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±6.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 29.1 min | Bottom 43%of 32,887 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 12.0% | Bottom 17%of 33,193 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year | 88.7% | 89th percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentFort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | 31,485 | Bottom 35%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)Fort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | +0.4% | Top 41%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)Fort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | −4.1% | Bottom 4%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceFort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | 32,545 | 34th percentileof 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year | 56.9% | Bottom 8%of 32,883 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Public transit to work ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.0% | 1st percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)Fort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | +0.7% | Bottom 11%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateFort Payne, AL’s figureJuly 2026 | 3.3% | Top 14%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year | 4.4% | 22nd percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Median household income, successive ACS releases
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Fort Payne, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.
40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 44% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Fort Payne, AL: too few schools in 35968 reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly.
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.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →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 $507 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.41% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $776, some 11% above the $698 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $776 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $31,000 a year, about 71% of the median household income here of $43,539.
The typical renter household here spends 23% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $698 a month.
A median home at $122,400 costs 2.5 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $48,542, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
The figures above are measured against 35968’s median household income of $43,539, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2 | +5.2% | 82nd percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2 | +49.8% | 73rd percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2 | +89.5% | 41st percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±1.02024 ACS 5-Year | 2.5 | Top 43%of 29,275 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year | 84.7% | 67th percentileof 32,750 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±3162024 ACS 5-Year | 1,956 | 57th percentileof 33,460 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $591 | Top 1%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $992 | Top 1%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $776 | Top 1%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$1302024 ACS 5-Year | $698 | Top 13%of 26,396 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$23,0682024 ACS 5-Year | $122,400 | 18th percentileof 30,812 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$572024 ACS 5-Year | $507 | 4th percentileof 28,935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$16,6072024 ACS 5-Year | $48,542 | Bottom 7%of 29,802 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.41% | 7th percentileof 24,099 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±15%2024 ACS 5-Year | 22.5% | Top 21%of 26,247 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±1162024 ACS 5-Year | 118 | 78th percentileof 33,772 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 6.0% | 75th percentileof 32,961 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 10.2% | 68th percentileof 32,788 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±1582024 ACS 5-Year | 318 | 64th percentileof 33,772 | 2024 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.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
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: of 24 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
At 1.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Fort Payne, AL, which contains 35968, rather than for 35968 alone.
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Marshall County, AL 510 people · 18% of arrivals
- Jackson County, AL 390 people · 14% of arrivals
- Cherokee County, AL 160 people · 5.6% of arrivals
- Etowah County, AL 156 people · 5.5% of arrivals
- Hamilton County, TN 89 people · 3.1% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Jackson County, AL 478 people · 20% of departures
- Marshall County, AL 444 people · 18% of departures
- Etowah County, AL 180 people · 7.4% of departures
- Cherokee County, AL 161 people · 6.6% of departures
- Madison County, AL 97 people · 4.0% 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. This is the figure for DeKalb County, AL. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Fort Payne, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.
Weather & climate
7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 30°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 56.2 inches.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year | 57 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 56.2" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 30°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 87°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year | 0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index2024 calendar year | 43 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 37°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Air quality
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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 50% of it. Tornado is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, tornado, drought, winter weather, wildfire, ice storm, hail, avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity.
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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
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 the county around 35968 (DeKalb County) rather than 35968 itself. 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. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Fort Payne carries the figure where its 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.
- 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 Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld at 57 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±10%2024 ACS 5-Year | 89.8% | Top 48%of 32,663 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 57 mi | Bottom 10%of 3,127 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 3 | Bottom 21%of 3,127 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 9.0% | Bottom 44%of 32,663 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld | HSV | 57 mi | 10,001 ft |
| Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Intl | BHM | 84 mi | 12,007 ft |
| Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl | ATL | 97 mi | 12,390 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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Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyData & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Safety | U.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 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA 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.
35968 vs Fort Payne
How this ZIP area compares with Fort Payne as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.
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.