Gulf Shores vs Orange Beach

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

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

Gulf Shores has the higher population (15,785 vs 8,244 in Orange Beach). Orange Beach has the higher median household income ($89,034 vs $73,873 in Gulf Shores). Orange Beach has the higher median home value ($476,000 vs $367,000 in Gulf Shores).

Population, income & housing

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
Population	15,785	8,244
Median age	50.4 yrs	51.1 yrs
Median household income	$73,873	$89,034
Median home value	$367,000	$476,000
Median gross rent	$1,363	$1,339
Housing units	14,668	15,075
Homeownership rate	66.8%	63.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.0%	37.7%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
Population	12,267 → 15,785 (+28.7%)	6,019 → 8,244 (+37.0%)
Median household income	$53,476 → $73,873 (+38.1%)	$81,883 → $89,034 (+8.7%)
Median home value	$243,100 → $367,000 (+51.0%)	$297,800 → $476,000 (+59.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,086 → $1,363 (+25.5%)	$1,117 → $1,339 (+19.9%)

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

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)

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
Under 5	1.7%	2.7%
5 to 17	13.0%	12.5%
18 to 24	6.6%	4.3%
25 to 34	10.8%	12.3%
35 to 44	11.0%	8.5%
45 to 54	16.2%	16.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	15.5%
65 to 74	17.6%	18.7%
75 and over	8.3%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	87.1%	88.1%
Black or African American	2.7%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	1.3%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.3%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.0%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
No high school diploma	4.7%	2.7%
High school graduate	20.7%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	23.3%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	14.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
Drove alone	76.0%	70.9%
Carpooled	5.4%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.4%	19.6%
Other means	1.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
1-unit, detached	41.6%	23.7%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	18.1%	8.0%
20 or more units	29.6%	60.8%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Gulf Shores	Orange Beach
Poverty rate	11.4%	5.5%
Average household size	2.17	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1998	2000