Macon County vs Pickens County

A side-by-side comparison of Macon County and Pickens County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Macon County has the higher population (18,951 vs 18,843 in Pickens County). Pickens County has the higher median household income ($47,014 vs $45,951 in Macon County). Pickens County has the higher median home value ($123,300 vs $95,700 in Macon County).

Population, income & housing

	Macon County	Pickens County
Population	18,951	18,843
Median age	37.8 yrs	42.5 yrs
Median household income	$45,951	$47,014
Median home value	$95,700	$123,300
Median gross rent	$709	$600
Housing units	9,664	8,726
Homeownership rate	64.8%	75.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	13.7%
Unemployment rate	10.7%	6.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Macon County	Pickens County
Population	18,708 → 18,951 (+1.3%)	20,243 → 18,843 (-6.9%)
Median household income	$33,370 → $45,951 (+37.7%)	$39,848 → $47,014 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$80,800 → $95,700 (+18.4%)	$96,000 → $123,300 (+28.4%)
Median gross rent	$641 → $709 (+10.6%)	$457 → $600 (+31.3%)

Macon County

Population

18,70818,951

Median household income

$33,370$45,951

Median home value

$80,800$95,700

Median gross rent

$641$709

Pickens County

Population

20,24318,843

Median household income

$39,848$47,014

Median home value

$96,000$123,300

Median gross rent

$457$600

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Macon County	Pickens County
Under 5	4.9%	5.0%
5 to 17	10.7%	14.3%
18 to 24	22.9%	8.4%
25 to 34	10.1%	12.4%
35 to 44	7.5%	13.7%
45 to 54	9.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	13.2%	14.7%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.4%
75 and over	8.2%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Macon County	Pickens County
White (non-Hispanic)	16.7%	53.2%
Black or African American	78.2%	39.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.8%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Macon County	Pickens County
No high school diploma	15.8%	16.1%
High school graduate	31.7%	43.0%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	27.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.2%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Macon County	Pickens County
Drove alone	74.1%	88.5%
Carpooled	8.6%	5.1%
Public transit	0.4%	1.1%
Walked	6.9%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.0%	5.0%
Other means	2.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Macon County	Pickens County
1-unit, detached	63.6%	63.4%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	8.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	1.8%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	19.1%	26.0%

Poverty & households

	Macon County	Pickens County
Poverty rate	22.1%	22.6%
Average household size	2.29	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	23	34
Median year structure built	1979	1981