Most Densely Populated Cities in Alabama: Ranked by People per Square Mile

The densest city in Alabama in our data is Grayson Valley, AL, with about 3,168 people per square mile, followed by Fairfield, AL (3,043) and Homewood, AL (3,041). This list ranks the top 50 places among the 118 Alabama communities with at least 5,000 residents.

What are the top 50 in Alabama?

How dense are the cities in Alabama?

The densest place is about 5 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 699 people per square mile. At the other end, Hamilton, AL has about 174. Under our scale, 0 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 33 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Jefferson County contributes 13 of the top 50.

Which counties do the top 50 belong to?

The 50 places on this list are spread across 20 counties of Alabama. Jefferson County has 13 (Grayson Valley, Fairfield, Homewood, Center Point, Midfield, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mount); Mobile County has 6 (Chickasaw, Tillmans Corner, Mobile, Prichard, Satsuma, Theodore); Shelby County has 5 (Brook Highland, Meadowbrook, Highland Lakes, Alabaster, Helena). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.

How does Alabama compare with the rest of the country?

The median Alabama place with a page has about 12,292 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is about the same size as the national typical place. The state has 581 communities in total, of which 118 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.

Quick answers about Alabama cities

• Which is the densest city in Alabama? Grayson Valley (3,168 per square mile).
• How many Alabama cities have more than 100,000 people? 5 in our data.
• How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 21.
• What is the typical size? About 12,292 residents for a place with a page.

How is this ranking made?

The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.

Where to go next

Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.