Shelby County, Alabama

• White (non-Hispanic) 168,534 73.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 17,419 7.6%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 30,808 13.4%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 4,956 2.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 6,823 3.0%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 309 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 92 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 1,270 0.6%

• Under 18 52,379 22.8%
• 18–24 19,268 8.4%
• 25–44 59,108 25.7%
• 45–64 60,690 26.4%
• 65 and over 38,766 16.8%

Median household income

$102,861

90% interval $97,387–$108,335

+$36,157 vs AL · 1st of 67

Below poverty line

6.8%

90% interval 5.5%–8.1%

−8.4 pp vs AL · 67th of 67

Unemployment (12-mo)

2.4%

−0.48 pp vs. state

County GDP

$17.3B

5.33% of state

Avg. annual pay

$69,505

Establishments

7,650

• Trade, transportation & utilities 19,026 22.4%
• Education & health services 15,760 18.6%
• Professional & business services 12,902 15.2%
• Financial activities 10,107 11.9%
• Leisure & hospitality 8,962 10.6%
• Construction 5,528 6.5%
• Other services 2,823 3.3%
• Public administration 2,782 3.3%

The sectors listed cover 91.9% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

81.4%

+11.2 pp vs AL · 6th of 67

Median gross rent

$1,401

+$394 vs AL · 1st of 67

Owner-occupied

70,672

Renter-occupied

16,194

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 56% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $103,990/yr) pays 4.1× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $25,617/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 11 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 79,666 69.9%
• Democratic 33,087 29.0%
• Other / third-party 1,290 1.1%

• Spanish 11,994 5.5%
• Chinese 971 0.4%
• Arabic 884 0.4%
• Vietnamese 779 0.4%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 354 0.2%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 237 0.1%
• Korean 198 0.1%
• Tagalog 142 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 121 0.1%

Households

86,866

Family households

63,167

72.7% of households

Married couples w/ children

20,480

32.4% of families

Single-mother families

3,925

6.2% of families

Veterans

11,229

6.3% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 67,349 30.2%
• Mainline Protestant 14,460 6.5%
• Catholic 7,744 3.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 4,477 2.0%
• Black Protestant 4,232 1.9%

Health insured

93.6%

±0.6 pp

Uninsured

6.4%

±0.6 pp

66th of 67

With a disability

12.2%

±0.7 pp

67th of 67

Bachelor's or higher

46.8%

±1.2 pp

+18.4 pp vs AL · 1st of 67

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.1%

90% interval 6.5%–7.7% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

18th 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

Columbiana

Traffic fatalities

12

6.75 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

9

Contract, ejectment and seizure was the largest civil litigation category, at 25.7% of 1,302 filings. Motor-vehicle negligence ranked #3 at 17.4%.

• Contract, ejectment and seizure 334 25.7%
• Account collection 275 21.1%
• Motor-vehicle negligence 226 17.4%
• Other civil 160 12.3%
• Negligence, general 70 5.4%
• Administrative appeal 66 5.1%

A further 456 filings in this division were protective orders, forfeitures or other non-litigation matters, and are excluded from these shares.