Baldwin County vs Shelby County

A side-by-side comparison of Baldwin County and Shelby County: population, income, housing, and more.

Baldwin County and Shelby County are counties in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Baldwin County has the higher population (239,945 vs 226,955 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($93,543 vs $75,019 in Baldwin County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($298,700 vs $287,000 in Baldwin County).

Population, income & housing

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
Population	239,945	226,955
Median age	43.7 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$75,019	$93,543
Median home value	$287,000	$298,700
Median gross rent	$1,211	$1,348
Housing units	128,518	90,805
Homeownership rate	77.5%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.8%	46.2%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
Population	212,830 → 239,945 (+12.7%)	213,432 → 226,955 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$58,320 → $75,019 (+28.6%)	$77,799 → $93,543 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$197,900 → $287,000 (+45.0%)	$211,900 → $298,700 (+41.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,020 → $1,211 (+18.7%)	$1,047 → $1,348 (+28.7%)

Baldwin County

Population

212,830239,945

Median household income

$58,320$75,019

Median home value

$197,900$287,000

Median gross rent

$1,020$1,211

Shelby County

Population

213,432226,955

Median household income

$77,799$93,543

Median home value

$211,900$298,700

Median gross rent

$1,047$1,348

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.1%	17.7%
18 to 24	7.0%	8.3%
25 to 34	11.0%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.2%	13.6%
45 to 54	12.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	14.4%	12.7%
65 to 74	12.9%	10.0%
75 and over	8.5%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.4%	74.0%
Black or African American	7.9%	13.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	0.9%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	8.3%	6.0%
High school graduate	27.5%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.6%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	12.2%	16.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
Drove alone	80.3%	76.7%
Carpooled	6.9%	6.8%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	1.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.0%	15.2%
Other means	1.4%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	64.9%	76.4%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	6.6%
20 or more units	12.4%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	10.4%	7.7%

Poverty & households

	Baldwin County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	10.5%	6.9%
Average household size	2.50	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1998	1997