Birmingham vs Hoover

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

Birmingham and Hoover 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 92,401 in Hoover). Hoover has the higher median household income ($107,822 vs $44,376 in Birmingham). Hoover has the higher median home value ($391,300 vs $138,600 in Birmingham).

Population, income & housing

	Birmingham	Hoover
Population	199,322	92,401
Median age	35.9 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$44,376	$107,822
Median home value	$138,600	$391,300
Median gross rent	$1,047	$1,404
Housing units	108,903	39,090
Homeownership rate	45.1%	71.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.7%	60.8%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Birmingham	Hoover
Population	212,297 → 199,322 (-6.1%)	85,175 → 92,401 (+8.5%)
Median household income	$37,375 → $44,376 (+18.7%)	$89,452 → $107,822 (+20.5%)
Median home value	$91,100 → $138,600 (+52.1%)	$291,000 → $391,300 (+34.5%)
Median gross rent	$837 → $1,047 (+25.1%)	$1,123 → $1,404 (+25.0%)

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

Hoover

Population

85,17592,401

Median household income

$89,452$107,822

Median home value

$291,000$391,300

Median gross rent

$1,123$1,404

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Birmingham	Hoover
Under 5	4.9%	7.2%
5 to 17	14.1%	17.0%
18 to 24	11.9%	7.0%
25 to 34	18.0%	13.8%
35 to 44	11.8%	14.4%
45 to 54	10.5%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.7%	11.8%
65 to 74	10.4%	9.0%
75 and over	5.9%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Birmingham	Hoover
White (non-Hispanic)	24.2%	67.3%
Black or African American	66.9%	19.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.4%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Birmingham	Hoover
No high school diploma	11.3%	3.6%
High school graduate	28.2%	11.4%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	24.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.4%	34.8%
Graduate or professional degree	12.3%	26.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Birmingham	Hoover
Drove alone	74.4%	78.0%
Carpooled	9.7%	6.6%
Public transit	1.3%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	13.9%
Other means	2.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Birmingham	Hoover
1-unit, detached	57.4%	67.1%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	4.1%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	18.6%	18.6%
20 or more units	14.0%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Birmingham	Hoover
Poverty rate	25.2%	5.3%
Average household size	2.14	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	21	25
Median year structure built	1965	1994