Mobile County vs Shelby County

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

Mobile 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.

Mobile County has the higher population (413,162 vs 226,955 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($93,543 vs $58,119 in Mobile County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($298,700 vs $176,600 in Mobile County).

Population, income & housing

	Mobile County	Shelby County
Population	413,162	226,955
Median age	38.4 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$58,119	$93,543
Median home value	$176,600	$298,700
Median gross rent	$1,021	$1,348
Housing units	185,413	90,805
Homeownership rate	64.9%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.2%	46.2%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mobile County	Shelby County
Population	414,114 → 413,162 (-0.2%)	213,432 → 226,955 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$47,583 → $58,119 (+22.1%)	$77,799 → $93,543 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$130,200 → $176,600 (+35.6%)	$211,900 → $298,700 (+41.0%)
Median gross rent	$853 → $1,021 (+19.7%)	$1,047 → $1,348 (+28.7%)

Mobile County

Population

414,114413,162

Median household income

$47,583$58,119

Median home value

$130,200$176,600

Median gross rent

$853$1,021

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)

	Mobile County	Shelby County
Under 5	6.4%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.0%	17.7%
18 to 24	8.8%	8.3%
25 to 34	13.8%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.4%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.0%	12.7%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.0%
75 and over	6.6%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mobile County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	55.3%	74.0%
Black or African American	35.9%	13.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	2.1%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mobile County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	11.0%	6.0%
High school graduate	33.8%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	30.0%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	16.2%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.9%	16.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mobile County	Shelby County
Drove alone	83.2%	76.7%
Carpooled	6.9%	6.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	1.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.5%	15.2%
Other means	0.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mobile County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	72.8%	76.4%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	9.8%	6.6%
20 or more units	5.1%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	7.5%	7.7%

Poverty & households

	Mobile County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	16.3%	6.9%
Average household size	2.53	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1979	1997