Gulf Shores vs Spanish Fort

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

Gulf Shores and Spanish Fort 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 10,377 in Spanish Fort). Spanish Fort has the higher median household income ($101,574 vs $73,873 in Gulf Shores). Gulf Shores has the higher median home value ($367,000 vs $314,000 in Spanish Fort).

Population, income & housing

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
Population	15,785	10,377
Median age	50.4 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	$73,873	$101,574
Median home value	$367,000	$314,000
Median gross rent	$1,363	$1,246
Housing units	14,668	4,338
Homeownership rate	66.8%	67.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.0%	44.5%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
Population	12,267 → 15,785 (+28.7%)	8,601 → 10,377 (+20.6%)
Median household income	$53,476 → $73,873 (+38.1%)	$83,913 → $101,574 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$243,100 → $367,000 (+51.0%)	$242,600 → $314,000 (+29.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,086 → $1,363 (+25.5%)	$1,172 → $1,246 (+6.3%)

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

Spanish Fort

Population

8,60110,377

Median household income

$83,913$101,574

Median home value

$242,600$314,000

Median gross rent

$1,172$1,246

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
Under 5	1.7%	11.1%
5 to 17	13.0%	17.8%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.8%
25 to 34	10.8%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.0%	10.9%
45 to 54	16.2%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.7%	10.6%
65 to 74	17.6%	11.2%
75 and over	8.3%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
White (non-Hispanic)	87.1%	78.2%
Black or African American	2.7%	6.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	1.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.3%	8.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.0%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
No high school diploma	4.7%	4.2%
High school graduate	20.7%	19.1%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	23.3%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	21.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
Drove alone	76.0%	83.6%
Carpooled	5.4%	3.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.4%	9.7%
Other means	1.6%	3.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
1-unit, detached	41.6%	64.9%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	18.1%	16.0%
20 or more units	29.6%	9.9%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Gulf Shores	Spanish Fort
Poverty rate	11.4%	6.3%
Average household size	2.17	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1998	1999