Rainbow City vs Southside

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

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

Rainbow City has the higher population (10,213 vs 9,407 in Southside). Southside has the higher median household income ($73,695 vs $59,659 in Rainbow City). Rainbow City has the higher median home value ($203,600 vs $202,900 in Southside).

Population, income & housing

	Rainbow City	Southside
Population	10,213	9,407
Median age	40.2 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$59,659	$73,695
Median home value	$203,600	$202,900
Median gross rent	$998	$1,131
Housing units	4,565	3,441
Homeownership rate	64.1%	91.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%	23.3%
Unemployment rate	8.6%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rainbow City	Southside
Population	9,589 → 10,213 (+6.5%)	8,811 → 9,407 (+6.8%)
Median household income	$50,547 → $59,659 (+18.0%)	$72,687 → $73,695 (+1.4%)
Median home value	$166,100 → $203,600 (+22.6%)	$153,100 → $202,900 (+32.5%)
Median gross rent	$797 → $998 (+25.2%)	$942 → $1,131 (+20.1%)

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

Southside

Population

8,8119,407

Median household income

$72,687$73,695

Median home value

$153,100$202,900

Median gross rent

$942$1,131

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rainbow City	Southside
Under 5	4.7%	8.1%
5 to 17	18.1%	17.0%
18 to 24	7.7%	6.0%
25 to 34	12.9%	14.4%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.4%
45 to 54	14.4%	10.6%
55 to 64	12.9%	11.5%
65 to 74	10.0%	12.4%
75 and over	8.1%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rainbow City	Southside
White (non-Hispanic)	80.3%	89.3%
Black or African American	9.6%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.5%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.7%
Two or more races	3.6%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rainbow City	Southside
No high school diploma	15.1%	7.3%
High school graduate	32.4%	31.5%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	13.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rainbow City	Southside
Drove alone	77.3%	94.3%
Carpooled	11.1%	3.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	8.7%	1.4%
Other means	0.4%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rainbow City	Southside
1-unit, detached	63.5%	94.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	13.8%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	9.0%	5.7%

Poverty & households

	Rainbow City	Southside
Poverty rate	9.3%	5.6%
Average household size	2.62	2.89
Mean commute (minutes)	26	26
Median year structure built	1987	1985