Columbia vs Cottonwood

A side-by-side comparison of Columbia and Cottonwood: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cottonwood has the higher population (1,091 vs 769 in Columbia). Columbia has the higher median household income ($55,417 vs $35,417 in Cottonwood). Columbia has the higher median home value ($151,300 vs $110,300 in Cottonwood).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Cottonwood
Population	769	1,091
Median age	32.1 yrs	48.1 yrs
Median household income	$55,417	$35,417
Median home value	$151,300	$110,300
Median gross rent	$777	$335
Housing units	358	611
Homeownership rate	79.1%	65.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	5.7%	10.6%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Cottonwood
Population	678 → 769 (+13.4%)	1,294 → 1,091 (-15.7%)
Median household income	$35,417 → $55,417 (+56.5%)	$27,941 → $35,417 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$66,700 → $151,300 (+126.8%)	$83,200 → $110,300 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$768 → $777 (+1.2%)	$463 → $335 (-27.6%)

Columbia

Population

678769

Median household income

$35,417$55,417

Median home value

$66,700$151,300

Median gross rent

$768$777

Cottonwood

Population

1,2941,091

Median household income

$27,941$35,417

Median home value

$83,200$110,300

Median gross rent

$463$335

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Cottonwood
Under 5	3.4%	3.6%
5 to 17	31.7%	10.2%
18 to 24	3.5%	7.0%
25 to 34	18.5%	12.6%
35 to 44	7.2%	14.8%
45 to 54	5.5%	12.9%
55 to 64	12.2%	18.1%
65 to 74	7.4%	11.5%
75 and over	10.7%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Cottonwood
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	66.8%
Black or African American	6.4%	26.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	0.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Cottonwood
No high school diploma	16.3%	19.0%
High school graduate	53.8%	35.6%
Some college or associate's	24.2%	34.8%
Bachelor's degree	3.0%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	2.8%	1.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Cottonwood
Drove alone	88.2%	86.3%
Carpooled	7.5%	1.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.7%	10.1%
Other means	1.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Cottonwood
1-unit, detached	66.8%	65.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	11.2%	11.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	22.1%	23.4%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Cottonwood
Poverty rate	11.7%	26.2%
Average household size	2.55	2.13
Mean commute (minutes)	32	25
Median year structure built	1970	1972