Foley vs Gulf Shores

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

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

Foley has the higher population (22,330 vs 15,785 in Gulf Shores). Gulf Shores has the higher median household income ($73,873 vs $67,346 in Foley). Gulf Shores has the higher median home value ($367,000 vs $260,100 in Foley).

Population, income & housing

	Foley	Gulf Shores
Population	22,330	15,785
Median age	53.3 yrs	50.4 yrs
Median household income	$67,346	$73,873
Median home value	$260,100	$367,000
Median gross rent	$1,169	$1,363
Housing units	11,569	14,668
Homeownership rate	74.9%	66.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.3%	38.0%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Foley	Gulf Shores
Population	18,533 → 22,330 (+20.5%)	12,267 → 15,785 (+28.7%)
Median household income	$43,614 → $67,346 (+54.4%)	$53,476 → $73,873 (+38.1%)
Median home value	$177,600 → $260,100 (+46.5%)	$243,100 → $367,000 (+51.0%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $1,169 (+36.7%)	$1,086 → $1,363 (+25.5%)

Foley

Population

18,53322,330

Median household income

$43,614$67,346

Median home value

$177,600$260,100

Median gross rent

$855$1,169

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)

	Foley	Gulf Shores
Under 5	2.5%	1.7%
5 to 17	13.1%	13.0%
18 to 24	6.0%	6.6%
25 to 34	10.2%	10.8%
35 to 44	10.0%	11.0%
45 to 54	10.3%	16.2%
55 to 64	15.5%	14.7%
65 to 74	17.7%	17.6%
75 and over	14.8%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Foley	Gulf Shores
White (non-Hispanic)	77.0%	87.1%
Black or African American	4.6%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	2.3%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.2%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	10.6%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Foley	Gulf Shores
No high school diploma	10.6%	4.7%
High school graduate	35.2%	20.7%
Some college or associate's	27.8%	36.7%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	14.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Foley	Gulf Shores
Drove alone	80.6%	76.0%
Carpooled	7.5%	5.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.6%	16.4%
Other means	1.2%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Foley	Gulf Shores
1-unit, detached	74.7%	41.6%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	18.1%
20 or more units	1.1%	29.6%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Foley	Gulf Shores
Poverty rate	11.8%	11.4%
Average household size	2.14	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	25	22
Median year structure built	2004	1998