Etowah County, Alabama

• White (non-Hispanic) 78,534 76.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 5,393 5.2%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 15,165 14.7%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 675 0.7%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 2,837 2.8%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 116 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 13 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 372 0.4%

• Under 18 22,582 21.9%
• 18–24 8,042 7.8%
• 25–44 24,629 23.9%
• 45–64 27,512 26.7%
• 65 and over 20,340 19.7%

Median household income

$57,284

90% interval $52,628–$61,940

−$9,420 vs AL · 32nd of 67

Below poverty line

17.2%

90% interval 14.9%–19.5%

+2.0 pp vs AL · 38th of 67

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.1%

+0.29 pp vs. state

County GDP

$4.0B

1.24% of state

Avg. annual pay

$47,937

Establishments

2,541

• Education & health services 10,155 30.7%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 6,830 20.6%
• Manufacturing 4,198 12.7%
• Leisure & hospitality 4,185 12.6%
• Professional & business services 2,515 7.6%
• Public administration 1,893 5.7%
• Financial activities 1,242 3.8%
• Other services 686 2.1%

The sectors listed cover 95.8% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

73.9%

+3.7 pp vs AL · 37th of 67

Median gross rent

$847

−$160 vs AL · 23rd of 67

Owner-occupied

29,128

Renter-occupied

10,283

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 64% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $65,099/yr) pays 3.2× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $20,344/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 13 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 35,653 77.5%
• Democratic 10,027 21.8%
• Other / third-party 343 0.7%

• Spanish 3,249 3.3%
• Vietnamese 133 0.1%
• Tagalog 124 0.1%
• Arabic 122 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 91 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 87 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 60 0.1%
• Korean 28 0.0%
• Chinese 5 0.0%

Households

39,411

Family households

26,115

66.3% of households

Married couples w/ children

5,952

22.8% of families

Single-mother families

2,653

10.2% of families

Veterans

5,102

6.3% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 66,739 64.5%
• Black Protestant 5,599 5.4%
• Catholic 5,020 4.9%
• Mainline Protestant 4,213 4.1%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 2,279 2.2%

Health insured

88.6%

±1 pp

Uninsured

11.4%

±1 pp

8th of 67

With a disability

18.9%

±1 pp

36th of 67

Bachelor's or higher

18.1%

±1.4 pp

−10.3 pp vs AL · 31st of 67

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

10.9%

90% interval 9.9%–11.9% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

16th Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

4 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); District Court judges (limited jurisdiction) separate. Vintage 2026 alacourt.gov; counts for the 34th, 36th, and 41st circuits are approximate (single-county rural circuits typically carry 1 judge per Ala. Code § 12-17-23).)

Court seats

Gadsden

Traffic fatalities

22

27.32 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

19

Contract, ejectment and seizure was the largest civil litigation category, at 20.0% of 756 filings. Motor-vehicle negligence ranked #2 at 19.3%.

• Contract, ejectment and seizure 151 20.0%
• Motor-vehicle negligence 146 19.3%
• Account collection 127 16.8%
• Other civil 73 9.7%
• Equity, non-damage 60 7.9%
• Administrative appeal 33 4.4%

A further 39 filings in this division were protective orders, forfeitures or other non-litigation matters, and are excluded from these shares.