Athens vs Lester

A side-by-side comparison of Athens and Lester: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Athens has the higher population (27,474 vs 130 in Lester). Lester has the higher median household income ($77,679 vs $65,000 in Athens). Athens has the higher median home value ($253,700 vs $168,800 in Lester).

Population, income & housing

	Athens	Lester
Population	27,474	130
Median age	41.6 yrs	28.5 yrs
Median household income	$65,000	$77,679
Median home value	$253,700	$168,800
Median gross rent	$834	—
Housing units	12,192	42
Homeownership rate	63.3%	74.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.8%	16.7%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	9.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athens	Lester
Population	25,922 → 27,474 (+6.0%)	157 → 130 (-17.2%)
Median household income	$53,165 → $65,000 (+22.3%)	$42,083 → $77,679 (+84.6%)
Median home value	$161,400 → $253,700 (+57.2%)	$100,000 → $168,800 (+68.8%)
Median gross rent	$664 → $834 (+25.6%)	$775 → $743 (-4.1%)

Athens

Population

25,92227,474

Median household income

$53,165$65,000

Median home value

$161,400$253,700

Median gross rent

$664$834

Lester

Population

157130

Median household income

$42,083$77,679

Median home value

$100,000$168,800

Median gross rent

$775$743

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athens	Lester
Under 5	5.6%	1.5%
5 to 17	14.4%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.1%	22.3%
25 to 34	14.1%	11.5%
35 to 44	12.6%	5.4%
45 to 54	11.6%	22.3%
55 to 64	15.0%	8.5%
65 to 74	10.4%	10.0%
75 and over	8.2%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athens	Lester
White (non-Hispanic)	68.4%	100.0%
Black or African American	17.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athens	Lester
No high school diploma	11.2%	7.7%
High school graduate	23.4%	43.6%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	3.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.3%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athens	Lester
Drove alone	82.5%	91.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	8.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	0.0%
Other means	1.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athens	Lester
1-unit, detached	72.8%	71.4%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	14.3%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	11.8%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	14.3%

Poverty & households

	Athens	Lester
Poverty rate	13.5%	14.6%
Average household size	2.40	3.33
Mean commute (minutes)	25	43
Median year structure built	1986	1985