Fairhope vs Orange Beach

A side-by-side comparison of Fairhope and Orange Beach: population, income, housing, and more.

Fairhope and Orange Beach 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 8,244 in Orange Beach). Orange Beach has the higher median household income ($89,034 vs $86,509 in Fairhope). Orange Beach has the higher median home value ($476,000 vs $406,500 in Fairhope).

Population, income & housing

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
Population	23,360	8,244
Median age	47.1 yrs	51.1 yrs
Median household income	$86,509	$89,034
Median home value	$406,500	$476,000
Median gross rent	$1,637	$1,339
Housing units	10,360	15,075
Homeownership rate	81.6%	63.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.4%	37.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
Population	21,083 → 23,360 (+10.8%)	6,019 → 8,244 (+37.0%)
Median household income	$75,197 → $86,509 (+15.0%)	$81,883 → $89,034 (+8.7%)
Median home value	$299,200 → $406,500 (+35.9%)	$297,800 → $476,000 (+59.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,196 → $1,637 (+36.9%)	$1,117 → $1,339 (+19.9%)

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

Orange Beach

Population

6,0198,244

Median household income

$81,883$89,034

Median home value

$297,800$476,000

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,339

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
Under 5	4.2%	2.7%
5 to 17	18.8%	12.5%
18 to 24	4.5%	4.3%
25 to 34	7.9%	12.3%
35 to 44	12.3%	8.5%
45 to 54	12.1%	16.3%
55 to 64	14.0%	15.5%
65 to 74	12.3%	18.7%
75 and over	14.0%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	87.1%	88.1%
Black or African American	3.0%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
No high school diploma	5.4%	2.7%
High school graduate	13.5%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	29.5%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	24.0%	14.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
Drove alone	80.9%	70.9%
Carpooled	3.7%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.6%	19.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
1-unit, detached	85.0%	23.7%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	8.0%
20 or more units	2.5%	60.8%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Fairhope	Orange Beach
Poverty rate	9.6%	5.5%
Average household size	2.49	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1997	2000