Fairhope vs Gulf Shores

A side-by-side comparison of Fairhope and Gulf Shores: population, income, housing, and more.

Fairhope and Gulf Shores are places in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fairhope has the higher population (23,360 vs 15,785 in Gulf Shores). Fairhope has the higher median household income ($86,509 vs $73,873 in Gulf Shores). Fairhope has the higher median home value ($406,500 vs $367,000 in Gulf Shores).

Population, income & housing

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
Population	23,360	15,785
Median age	47.1 yrs	50.4 yrs
Median household income	$86,509	$73,873
Median home value	$406,500	$367,000
Median gross rent	$1,637	$1,363
Housing units	10,360	14,668
Homeownership rate	81.6%	66.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.4%	38.0%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
Population	21,083 → 23,360 (+10.8%)	12,267 → 15,785 (+28.7%)
Median household income	$75,197 → $86,509 (+15.0%)	$53,476 → $73,873 (+38.1%)
Median home value	$299,200 → $406,500 (+35.9%)	$243,100 → $367,000 (+51.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,196 → $1,637 (+36.9%)	$1,086 → $1,363 (+25.5%)

Fairhope

Population

21,08323,360

Median household income

$75,197$86,509

Median home value

$299,200$406,500

Median gross rent

$1,196$1,637

Gulf Shores

Population

12,26715,785

Median household income

$53,476$73,873

Median home value

$243,100$367,000

Median gross rent

$1,086$1,363

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
Under 5	4.2%	1.7%
5 to 17	18.8%	13.0%
18 to 24	4.5%	6.6%
25 to 34	7.9%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.0%
45 to 54	12.1%	16.2%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.7%
65 to 74	12.3%	17.6%
75 and over	14.0%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
White (non-Hispanic)	87.1%	87.1%
Black or African American	3.0%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.5%
Asian	0.6%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
No high school diploma	5.4%	4.7%
High school graduate	13.5%	20.7%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	36.7%
Bachelor's degree	29.5%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	24.0%	14.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
Drove alone	80.9%	76.0%
Carpooled	3.7%	5.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.6%	16.4%
Other means	1.1%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
1-unit, detached	85.0%	41.6%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	18.1%
20 or more units	2.5%	29.6%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Fairhope	Gulf Shores
Poverty rate	9.6%	11.4%
Average household size	2.49	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1997	1998