Montgomery County vs Shelby County

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

Montgomery 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.

Montgomery County has the higher population (227,197 vs 226,955 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($93,543 vs $58,153 in Montgomery County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($298,700 vs $160,100 in Montgomery County).

Population, income & housing

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
Population	227,197	226,955
Median age	36.9 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$58,153	$93,543
Median home value	$160,100	$298,700
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,348
Housing units	105,799	90,805
Homeownership rate	57.7%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.3%	46.2%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
Population	226,941 → 227,197 (+0.1%)	213,432 → 226,955 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$50,124 → $58,153 (+16.0%)	$77,799 → $93,543 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$129,800 → $160,100 (+23.3%)	$211,900 → $298,700 (+41.0%)
Median gross rent	$884 → $1,061 (+20.0%)	$1,047 → $1,348 (+28.7%)

Montgomery County

Population

226,941227,197

Median household income

$50,124$58,153

Median home value

$129,800$160,100

Median gross rent

$884$1,061

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)

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
Under 5	6.8%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.3%	17.7%
18 to 24	9.6%	8.3%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	12.3%	12.7%
65 to 74	9.7%	10.0%
75 and over	6.1%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	30.6%	74.0%
Black or African American	58.6%	13.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	3.3%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	11.2%	6.0%
High school graduate	26.2%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.9%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	16.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
Drove alone	80.9%	76.7%
Carpooled	9.2%	6.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	1.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	15.2%
Other means	0.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	70.4%	76.4%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	6.6%
20 or more units	5.0%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	7.7%

Poverty & households

	Montgomery County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	19.3%	6.9%
Average household size	2.41	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	21	30
Median year structure built	1979	1997