Gadsden vs Rainbow City

A side-by-side comparison of Gadsden and Rainbow City: population, income, housing, and more.

Gadsden and Rainbow City are places in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Gadsden has the higher population (33,617 vs 10,213 in Rainbow City). Rainbow City has the higher median household income ($59,659 vs $38,699 in Gadsden). Rainbow City has the higher median home value ($203,600 vs $101,900 in Gadsden).

Population, income & housing

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
Population	33,617	10,213
Median age	39.6 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$38,699	$59,659
Median home value	$101,900	$203,600
Median gross rent	$787	$998
Housing units	16,378	4,565
Homeownership rate	54.4%	64.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.8%	21.8%
Unemployment rate	8.9%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
Population	35,486 → 33,617 (-5.3%)	9,589 → 10,213 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$32,642 → $38,699 (+18.6%)	$50,547 → $59,659 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$73,600 → $101,900 (+38.5%)	$166,100 → $203,600 (+22.6%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $787 (+22.0%)	$797 → $998 (+25.2%)

Gadsden

Population

35,48633,617

Median household income

$32,642$38,699

Median home value

$73,600$101,900

Median gross rent

$645$787

Rainbow City

Population

9,58910,213

Median household income

$50,547$59,659

Median home value

$166,100$203,600

Median gross rent

$797$998

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
Under 5	6.2%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.9%	18.1%
18 to 24	9.2%	7.7%
25 to 34	12.0%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.2%
45 to 54	12.2%	14.4%
55 to 64	12.7%	12.9%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.0%
75 and over	7.7%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
White (non-Hispanic)	49.8%	80.3%
Black or African American	36.8%	9.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	9.1%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
No high school diploma	17.6%	15.1%
High school graduate	35.5%	32.4%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	9.4%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
Drove alone	83.8%	77.3%
Carpooled	9.9%	11.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	8.7%
Other means	1.5%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
1-unit, detached	75.6%	63.5%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	9.6%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	13.8%
20 or more units	4.4%	4.1%
Mobile home & other	2.5%	9.0%

Poverty & households

	Gadsden	Rainbow City
Poverty rate	27.6%	9.3%
Average household size	2.52	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	19	26
Median year structure built	1959	1987