Birmingham vs Vestavia Hills

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

Birmingham and Vestavia Hills 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 38,704 in Vestavia Hills). Vestavia Hills has the higher median household income ($129,171 vs $44,376 in Birmingham). Vestavia Hills has the higher median home value ($494,500 vs $138,600 in Birmingham).

Population, income & housing

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
Population	199,322	38,704
Median age	35.9 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$44,376	$129,171
Median home value	$138,600	$494,500
Median gross rent	$1,047	$1,455
Housing units	108,903	15,275
Homeownership rate	45.1%	75.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.7%	62.2%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
Population	212,297 → 199,322 (-6.1%)	34,307 → 38,704 (+12.8%)
Median household income	$37,375 → $44,376 (+18.7%)	$109,485 → $129,171 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$91,100 → $138,600 (+52.1%)	$376,200 → $494,500 (+31.4%)
Median gross rent	$837 → $1,047 (+25.1%)	$1,218 → $1,455 (+19.5%)

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

Vestavia Hills

Population

34,30738,704

Median household income

$109,485$129,171

Median home value

$376,200$494,500

Median gross rent

$1,218$1,455

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
Under 5	4.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.1%	17.9%
18 to 24	11.9%	6.3%
25 to 34	18.0%	10.1%
35 to 44	11.8%	14.0%
45 to 54	10.5%	14.3%
55 to 64	12.7%	12.8%
65 to 74	10.4%	9.8%
75 and over	5.9%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
White (non-Hispanic)	24.2%	83.2%
Black or African American	66.9%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.0%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
No high school diploma	11.3%	6.1%
High school graduate	28.2%	14.1%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	17.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.4%	33.6%
Graduate or professional degree	12.3%	28.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
Drove alone	74.4%	76.3%
Carpooled	9.7%	6.1%
Public transit	1.3%	0.1%
Walked	3.4%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	15.6%
Other means	2.3%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
1-unit, detached	57.4%	70.0%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	18.6%	12.1%
20 or more units	14.0%	8.0%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Birmingham	Vestavia Hills
Poverty rate	25.2%	9.0%
Average household size	2.14	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1965	1978