Russellville, Alabama

Area Profile

10,799 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Russellville, in Franklin County.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 34% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity2,668th of 4,199 cities measured50
Schools3,192nd of 4,162 cities measured29
Growth3,582nd of 4,224 cities measured30
Housing affordabilityTop 2% of 4,218 cities measured90
ClimateTop 21% of 4,225 cities measured78
Physical resilience2,273rd of 4,226 cities measured54
Access3,808th of 4,226 cities measured68
Economic stability3,755th of 4,226 cities measured32
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.5% and median household income $58,231, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for Franklin County, AL, which contains Russellville, rather than for Russellville alone.

In the public schools here, 42% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.2 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 8 units authorized over the past twelve months, against 11 the year before.

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
10,799
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$58,231
Bottom 36% nationally
Density
805/sq mi
13.4 sq mi of land
Median age
33.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Alabama
Nearest major airport
HSV
55 mi · Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld
Median home value
$123,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Franklin County, AL, which contains Russellville, is 3.5%, lower than in 81% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Franklin County, AL, which contains Russellville, fell 2.5% over the past year, to 13,287 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsFranklin County, AL’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$42,7522nd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftFranklin County, AL’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$47,6884th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$16,3072024 ACS 5-Year$58,231Bottom 36%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,2312024 ACS 5-Year$25,681Bottom 22%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year21.3%Bottom 20%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±3.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year28.2 minBottom 42%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year15.2%Bottom 35%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year87.4%81st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentFranklin County, AL’s figureJuly 202613,287Bottom 9%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Franklin County, AL’s figureJuly 2026+0.9%Top 31%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Franklin County, AL’s figureJuly 2026−2.5%Bottom 13%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceFranklin County, AL’s figureJuly 202613,7668th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year75.5%Bottom 41%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Franklin County, AL’s figureJuly 2026+0.6%Bottom 12%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateFranklin County, AL’s figureJuly 20263.5%Top 19%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year2.3%23rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202458k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $58,231 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Franklin County, AL, which contains this city.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 37% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.2 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
16.2
across 7 of them
Math proficiency
41.7%
Bottom 28% in Alabama
Reading proficiency
37.2%
Bottom 22% in Alabama
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Russellville High SchoolRussellville City75314.847%47%
West Elementary SchoolRussellville City68616.7——
Russellville Middle SchoolRussellville City60019.443%38%
Belgreen High SchoolFranklin County58815.941%37%
Russellville Elementary SchoolRussellville City57618.046%33%
Tharptown Elementary SchoolFranklin County54113.548%35%
Tharptown High SchoolFranklin County41017.117%27%
Franklin County Career Technical CenterFranklin County0———
Russellville City Career Tech CenterRussellville City0———

59.7% 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 $476 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.38% 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 13% above the $685 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 53% of the median household income here of $58,231.

The typical renter household here spends 22% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $685 a month.

A median home at $123,800 costs 1.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $65,824, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
22.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$776
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$685
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$123,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Russellville’s median household income of $58,231, 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%80th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+49.8%77th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Alabama’s figure2026 Q2+89.5%45th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year1.9Top 28%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year69.6%37th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2772024 ACS 5-Year4,14787th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$704Top 2%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$976Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$776Top 1%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$942024 ACS 5-Year$685Top 15%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,7272024 ACS 5-Year$123,80029th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$952024 ACS 5-Year$4765th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$9,6202024 ACS 5-Year$65,824Bottom 31%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.10%2024 ACS 5-Year0.38%5th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±11%2024 ACS 5-Year22.3%Top 21%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±212024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year9.7%63rd percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1772024 ACS 5-Year40387th percentileof 32,3302024 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

30/ 100
Ranks 3,582 of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was broadly flat, 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 1% since 2020, to 10,736 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 8 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Franklin County, which contains Russellville, lost about 0.6% 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 $42,752, below the $47,688 of households that moved out.

At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
8
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.7
Bottom 21% nationally
Year over year
−27%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202411k11k
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
−0.6%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
38%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$42,752
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$47,688
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Colbert County, AL 215 people · 20% of arrivals
  2. Marion County, AL 114 people · 11% of arrivals
  3. Lauderdale County, AL 103 people · 9.7% of arrivals
  4. Tishomingo County, MS 78 people · 7.3% of arrivals
  5. Winston County, AL 52 people · 4.9% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Colbert County, AL 289 people · 24% of departures
  2. Marion County, AL 149 people · 12% of departures
  3. Lauderdale County, AL 84 people · 7.0% of departures
  4. Tishomingo County, MS 64 people · 5.3% of departures
  5. Winston County, AL 58 people · 4.8% 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 Franklin County, AL. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420251311
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−15%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 58.7 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station RUSSELLVILLE 4 SSE, 3.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals58.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals37°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

54 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, inland flooding and cold wave, with tornado alone responsible for 31% of it.

TornadoModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Cold waveModerate
LandslideModerate
Heat waveModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, hurricane, ice storm, drought, hail, wildfire, 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). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
187
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,401
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Russellville's police department reported 187 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,401.

Franklin County has a modeled homicide rate of about 6.2 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 24.0 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 14.4 per 100,000 residents in Franklin County.

Homicide
6.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
24.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
14.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
31.4
per 100,000 residents

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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Russellville’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 Russellville (Franklin County) rather than Russellville itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

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 Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones Fld at 55 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year74.0%Bottom 11%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle55 miBottom 10%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year22.9%Bottom 10%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV55 mi10,001 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM86 mi12,007 ft
Golden Triangle RgnlGTR88 mi8,003 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
54
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
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
April 2025 to March 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 codes in Russellville

2 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Russellville with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Russellville closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
3565311,481$52,600$122,300—
356548,749$60,674$172,80053