Bessemer vs Birmingham

A side-by-side comparison of Bessemer and Birmingham: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Birmingham has the higher population (199,322 vs 25,655 in Bessemer). Birmingham has the higher median household income ($44,376 vs $37,844 in Bessemer). Birmingham has the higher median home value ($138,600 vs $129,800 in Bessemer).

Population, income & housing

	Bessemer	Birmingham
Population	25,655	199,322
Median age	42.8 yrs	35.9 yrs
Median household income	$37,844	$44,376
Median home value	$129,800	$138,600
Median gross rent	$922	$1,047
Housing units	12,612	108,903
Homeownership rate	55.1%	45.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.4%	30.7%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bessemer	Birmingham
Population	26,680 → 25,655 (-3.8%)	212,297 → 199,322 (-6.1%)
Median household income	$32,301 → $37,844 (+17.2%)	$37,375 → $44,376 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$86,500 → $129,800 (+50.1%)	$91,100 → $138,600 (+52.1%)
Median gross rent	$743 → $922 (+24.1%)	$837 → $1,047 (+25.1%)

Bessemer

Population

26,68025,655

Median household income

$32,301$37,844

Median home value

$86,500$129,800

Median gross rent

$743$922

Birmingham

Population

212,297199,322

Median household income

$37,375$44,376

Median home value

$91,100$138,600

Median gross rent

$837$1,047

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bessemer	Birmingham
Under 5	7.0%	4.9%
5 to 17	13.8%	14.1%
18 to 24	9.1%	11.9%
25 to 34	11.1%	18.0%
35 to 44	10.6%	11.8%
45 to 54	11.6%	10.5%
55 to 64	15.2%	12.7%
65 to 74	12.8%	10.4%
75 and over	8.9%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bessemer	Birmingham
White (non-Hispanic)	18.5%	24.2%
Black or African American	70.6%	66.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bessemer	Birmingham
No high school diploma	13.1%	11.3%
High school graduate	40.0%	28.2%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.3%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	12.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bessemer	Birmingham
Drove alone	76.5%	74.4%
Carpooled	9.5%	9.7%
Public transit	1.3%	1.3%
Walked	2.2%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	9.6%	8.5%
Other means	1.0%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bessemer	Birmingham
1-unit, detached	72.7%	57.4%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	6.9%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	18.6%
20 or more units	4.4%	14.0%
Mobile home & other	2.5%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Bessemer	Birmingham
Poverty rate	30.7%	25.2%
Average household size	2.36	2.14
Mean commute (minutes)	26	21
Median year structure built	1963	1965