Cottondale vs Tuscaloosa

A side-by-side comparison of Cottondale and Tuscaloosa: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Tuscaloosa has the higher population (107,699 vs 2,850 in Cottondale). Tuscaloosa has the higher median household income ($48,536 vs $44,250 in Cottondale). Tuscaloosa has the higher median home value ($236,600 vs $118,600 in Cottondale).

Population, income & housing

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
Population	2,850	107,699
Median age	45.2 yrs	28.2 yrs
Median household income	$44,250	$48,536
Median home value	$118,600	$236,600
Median gross rent	$904	$1,005
Housing units	1,634	51,197
Homeownership rate	79.4%	45.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.6%	38.1%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
Population	3,136 → 2,850 (-9.1%)	99,390 → 107,699 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$55,603 → $44,250 (-20.4%)	$45,268 → $48,536 (+7.2%)
Median home value	$117,000 → $118,600 (+1.4%)	$178,900 → $236,600 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$823 → $904 (+9.8%)	$844 → $1,005 (+19.1%)

Cottondale

Population

3,1362,850

Median household income

$55,603$44,250

Median home value

$117,000$118,600

Median gross rent

$823$904

Tuscaloosa

Population

99,390107,699

Median household income

$45,268$48,536

Median home value

$178,900$236,600

Median gross rent

$844$1,005

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
Under 5	0.6%	5.2%
5 to 17	13.4%	12.5%
18 to 24	9.3%	27.8%
25 to 34	11.7%	13.4%
35 to 44	14.5%	10.9%
45 to 54	21.1%	8.3%
55 to 64	14.8%	8.7%
65 to 74	10.0%	8.5%
75 and over	4.7%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
White (non-Hispanic)	46.3%	47.7%
Black or African American	46.6%	42.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.7%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	5.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
No high school diploma	16.0%	8.7%
High school graduate	36.9%	25.4%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.1%	21.3%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	16.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
Drove alone	89.5%	76.2%
Carpooled	3.2%	9.8%
Public transit	0.0%	1.6%
Walked	0.0%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	4.3%	7.6%
Other means	3.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
1-unit, detached	46.3%	49.6%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	12.8%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	20.5%
20 or more units	15.4%	17.4%
Mobile home & other	20.0%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Cottondale	Tuscaloosa
Poverty rate	27.3%	23.8%
Average household size	2.18	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1982	1988