36854Valley, Alabama

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 36854.

67out of 100
Area Score
Top 26% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 37% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured61
GrowthTop 12% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured73
Housing affordabilityTop 34% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured89
ClimateTop 43% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured72
Physical resilienceTop 46% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured62
Access6496th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured53
Economic stability5646th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured37
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.2% and median household income $55,973, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 91 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 102% on the prior year.

Rent takes 23% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.9 times that income.

At a glance

Population
16,537
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$55,973
Bottom 23% nationally
Density
273/sq mi
60.5 sq mi of land
Median age
38.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Valley
Alabama
Metro area
LaGrange, GA-AL
Nearest major airport
ATL
75 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$160,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 93% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 17,888 employed residents.

Median household income of $55,973 is below 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,970$55,973Bottom 23%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,438$30,238Bottom 27%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.9%Top 35%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.9 minBottom 40%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.6%Bottom 33%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment17,888Bottom 16%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)6.9%Top 2%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 44%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force18,485Bottom 15%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation59.6%Bottom 46%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 34%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 7%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202460k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $55,973 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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Valley, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 17.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Beulah Elementary SchoolLee County69615.5
Valley High SchoolChambers County69218.2
Fairfax Elementary SchoolChambers County68919.7
W F Burns Middle SchoolChambers County54519.5
Beulah High SchoolLee County53514.1
Bob HardingShawmut ElementaryChambers County23217.8

56.8% 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 $1,060 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
22.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,060
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$160,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.86Bottom 42%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate73.2%Bottom 36%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3967,974Top 20%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$141$1,060Top 46%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,917$160,100Bottom 30%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.7%Top 22%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate18.9%Top 29%of 33,0282024 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
73/ 100
Top 12% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

62% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 8.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
91
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.9
Top 15% nationally
Year over year
+102%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
61.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Valley, AL, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 38°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.8 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COLUMBUS METRO AP, 21.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation48.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low38°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing35°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

62 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneModerate
LightningModerate
TornadoModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
DroughtModerate

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

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

Chambers County records 10.1 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 32.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.9 per 100,000 residents in Chambers County.

Homicide
10.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
32.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
19.5
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 Chambers 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 36854 rather than 36854 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 75 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL75 mi12,390 ft
Montgomery Rgnl (Dannelly Fld)MGM77 mi9,020 ft
Dothan RgnlDHN100 mi8,500 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
67
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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.

36854 vs Valley

How this ZIP area compares with Valley as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

36854
Valley
Median household income
$55,973
vs
$51,661
Per capita income
$30,238
vs
$26,070
Population density
273/sq mi
vs
797/sq mi
Median home value
$160,100
vs
$140,800
Median gross rent
$1,060
vs
$1,016
Homeownership rate
73.2%
vs
67.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
17.6%
vs
17.1%
Poverty rate
13.9%
vs
14.9%
Median age
38.8
vs
34.1

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.