Fairfield vs Forestdale

A side-by-side comparison of Fairfield and Forestdale: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fairfield has the higher population (9,846 vs 9,149 in Forestdale). Forestdale has the higher median household income ($57,145 vs $48,492 in Fairfield). Forestdale has the higher median home value ($150,700 vs $120,100 in Fairfield).

Population, income & housing

	Fairfield	Forestdale
Population	9,846	9,149
Median age	30.3 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$48,492	$57,145
Median home value	$120,100	$150,700
Median gross rent	$997	$1,094
Housing units	4,732	4,378
Homeownership rate	58.8%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.5%	27.5%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairfield	Forestdale
Population	10,720 → 9,846 (-8.2%)	8,924 → 9,149 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$40,652 → $48,492 (+19.3%)	$59,041 → $57,145 (-3.2%)
Median home value	$99,100 → $120,100 (+21.2%)	$122,800 → $150,700 (+22.7%)
Median gross rent	$754 → $997 (+32.2%)	$791 → $1,094 (+38.3%)

Fairfield

Population

10,7209,846

Median household income

$40,652$48,492

Median home value

$99,100$120,100

Median gross rent

$754$997

Forestdale

Population

8,9249,149

Median household income

$59,041$57,145

Median home value

$122,800$150,700

Median gross rent

$791$1,094

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairfield	Forestdale
Under 5	5.6%	4.9%
5 to 17	19.8%	16.5%
18 to 24	13.5%	7.5%
25 to 34	18.0%	11.1%
35 to 44	6.9%	13.2%
45 to 54	7.7%	11.2%
55 to 64	11.4%	13.1%
65 to 74	12.5%	14.8%
75 and over	4.6%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairfield	Forestdale
White (non-Hispanic)	6.9%	18.9%
Black or African American	90.5%	78.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.9%	0.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.4%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairfield	Forestdale
No high school diploma	4.9%	5.4%
High school graduate	35.1%	29.4%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	37.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.9%	12.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairfield	Forestdale
Drove alone	64.6%	87.5%
Carpooled	18.3%	6.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	5.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.0%	5.9%
Other means	0.7%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairfield	Forestdale
1-unit, detached	77.2%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	7.7%
20 or more units	4.1%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Fairfield	Forestdale
Poverty rate	30.3%	18.5%
Average household size	2.40	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1960	1970