Cherokee vs Muscle Shoals

A side-by-side comparison of Cherokee and Muscle Shoals: population, income, housing, and more.

Cherokee and Muscle Shoals are places in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Muscle Shoals has the higher population (16,670 vs 1,059 in Cherokee). Muscle Shoals has the higher median household income ($70,927 vs $54,107 in Cherokee). Muscle Shoals has the higher median home value ($198,300 vs $107,200 in Cherokee).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
Population	1,059	16,670
Median age	42.5 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$54,107	$70,927
Median home value	$107,200	$198,300
Median gross rent	$914	$939
Housing units	454	7,118
Homeownership rate	73.8%	68.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
Population	863 → 1,059 (+22.7%)	14,103 → 16,670 (+18.2%)
Median household income	$29,674 → $54,107 (+82.3%)	$60,629 → $70,927 (+17.0%)
Median home value	$69,400 → $107,200 (+54.5%)	$147,100 → $198,300 (+34.8%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $914 (+35.4%)	$831 → $939 (+13.0%)

Cherokee

Population

8631,059

Median household income

$29,674$54,107

Median home value

$69,400$107,200

Median gross rent

$675$914

Muscle Shoals

Population

14,10316,670

Median household income

$60,629$70,927

Median home value

$147,100$198,300

Median gross rent

$831$939

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
Under 5	5.1%	6.2%
5 to 17	18.3%	17.6%
18 to 24	8.6%	6.8%
25 to 34	11.6%	14.2%
35 to 44	8.0%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.9%	13.6%
55 to 64	16.3%	10.8%
65 to 74	14.6%	9.3%
75 and over	6.5%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
White (non-Hispanic)	73.9%	77.1%
Black or African American	16.8%	13.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
No high school diploma	8.9%	9.2%
High school graduate	46.8%	30.4%
Some college or associate's	28.5%	36.0%
Bachelor's degree	7.2%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.6%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
Drove alone	88.0%	79.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	6.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.0%	13.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
1-unit, detached	91.2%	76.2%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	11.4%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	5.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee	Muscle Shoals
Poverty rate	20.7%	10.4%
Average household size	2.55	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1966	1990