Madison County vs Shelby County

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

Madison 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.

Madison County has the higher population (397,135 vs 226,955 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($93,543 vs $83,528 in Madison County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($298,700 vs $267,800 in Madison County).

Population, income & housing

	Madison County	Shelby County
Population	397,135	226,955
Median age	38.2 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$83,528	$93,543
Median home value	$267,800	$298,700
Median gross rent	$1,116	$1,348
Housing units	174,709	90,805
Homeownership rate	68.8%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.7%	46.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Madison County	Shelby County
Population	362,276 → 397,135 (+9.6%)	213,432 → 226,955 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$65,449 → $83,528 (+27.6%)	$77,799 → $93,543 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$186,100 → $267,800 (+43.9%)	$211,900 → $298,700 (+41.0%)
Median gross rent	$857 → $1,116 (+30.2%)	$1,047 → $1,348 (+28.7%)

Madison County

Population

362,276397,135

Median household income

$65,449$83,528

Median home value

$186,100$267,800

Median gross rent

$857$1,116

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)

	Madison County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.7%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.0%	17.7%
18 to 24	9.6%	8.3%
25 to 34	14.2%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.6%
45 to 54	12.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.7%
65 to 74	9.2%	10.0%
75 and over	6.3%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Madison County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	62.3%	74.0%
Black or African American	24.0%	13.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.2%
Asian	2.5%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Madison County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	7.4%	6.0%
High school graduate	19.2%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	27.1%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	18.6%	16.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Madison County	Shelby County
Drove alone	77.2%	76.7%
Carpooled	7.0%	6.8%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	0.8%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.6%	15.2%
Other means	1.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Madison County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	71.7%	76.4%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	6.6%
20 or more units	5.8%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	7.7%

Poverty & households

	Madison County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	10.5%	6.9%
Average household size	2.37	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	22	30
Median year structure built	1991	1997