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Alabama

A silhouette of the state of Alabama

Basic Statistics

Alabama's Appalachian counties have a population of 3,302,235 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2024)

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37 of Alabama's 67 counties lie within the Appalachian Region

Alabama is home to the southernmost county in Appalachia—Macon County

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Alabama is the 7th-most impoverished state in the U.S., with 16.2% of residents earning 100% or less of the Federal Poverty Level. Similarly, 16.2% of residents living Appalachian counties live in extreme poverty.

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More than 1 out of every 7 adults (15.6%) in Alabama's Appalachian counties has not graduated from high school.

Looking for More Data?

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Check out APPLI's Infographics database for state- and county-level data and downloadable graphics.

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A weathered wooden house sits nestled amongst a grove of trees. A beam of sunlight pierces through the foliage, casting a dramatic spotlight on the house and the dirt path leading up to it. The scene is framed by a hazy, white vignette.
Literacy
The image is a graphic shaped like the outline of the state of Alabama, filled with a dark red color. At the top of this shape, there are five simplistic, human figure icons aligned horizontally. The first three figures on the left are white, while the two figures on the right are gray. Below these icons, large white text reads, "Nearly 2 out of 3." Below this, in smaller white text, it states, "adults living in Alabama’s Appalachian counties read at or below an 8th Grade level."

Literacy in Alabama

The image is a vertical bar divided into three equal sections. The top section is bright red with "26.3%" written in white text. The middle section is orange with "39.4%" in black text. The bottom section is green with "34.4%" in black text. Each section occupies approximately one-third of the bar's height, and the text in each section represents a percentage value.

26.3% of adults living in Alabama's Appalachian counties read below a 3rd Grade level

39.4% of adults read between a 3rd and 8th Grade level

34.4% of Alabama adults are proficient in reading texts above an 8th Grade level

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A weathered, abandoned wooden train station partially obscured by a white haze. The visible portion shows peeling paint, boarded-up windows, and overgrown grass surrounding the structure. Railroad tracks stretch into the distance in the foreground.
Numeracy
The image is a silhouette of the state of Alabama filled with a dark blue color. At the top, there are five simplified figures representing people, aligned horizontally. Three of these figures are white, and two are orange. Below the figures, a bold, white statement reads "Nearly 3 out of 4." Further below, smaller white text states, "adults living in Alabama’s Appalachian counties struggle with basic math."

Numeracy in Alabama

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39.6% of adults living in Alabama's Appalachian counties struggle to solve math problems that require more than 1 step

34.4% of Alabama adults struggle to solve math problems that require more than 3 steps

26% of adults are proficient in math taught above an 8th Grade level

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Education Data

Alabama Education Data by County

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Resources

Alabama Adult Education Resources

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Health Data

Alabama Public Health Data

Here are a couple of tips to help users access and utilize the information they'll find:​​

 

  • If a data point reads "Suppressed," this means that there were fewer than 10 cases in a jurisdiction. Because of this, the exact numbers have been hidden to protect the patients' identities.
     

  • Incidence and mortality rates are rates per 100,000 residents (e.g., HIV Diagnosis Rate)
     

  • Numbers that are expressed as percentages represent the percentage of the population living with a given health issue
     

  • The Pearson Correlation Coefficient shows the correlation between low literacy proficiency and a given health condition. Numbers range from -1.0 (a Perfect Negative correlation) to 1.0 (a Perfect Positive correlation). The closer the number is to -1.0 or 1.0, the higher the correlation between low literacy skills and the health condition.
     

  • Our sources for these data may be found on our Resources page in the Citations section.

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Regional Rate (Per 100k)
(or)
Prevalence
Statewide Rate
(or)
Prevalence
National Rate
(or)
Prevalence

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Pearson Correlation Coefficient

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The image presents a horizontal correlation scale ranging from -1.0 to 1.0. On the left end, -1.0 is labeled "Perfect Negative Correlation" and on the right end, 1.0 is labeled "Perfect Positive Correlation." The center, marked as 0, is labeled "No Correlation." The scale is segmented into different correlation strengths: "Strong Negative Correlation" (-1.0 to -0.7), "Moderate Negative Correlation" (-0.6 to -0.4), "Weak Negative Correlation" (-0.3 to -0.1), "Weak Positive Correlation" (0.1 to 0.3), "Moderate Positive Correlation" (0.4 to 0.6), and "Strong Positive Correlation" (0.7 to 1.0).
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Social Determinants Data

Alabama Social Determinants Data

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes, and include the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, as well as the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life (World Health Organization, 2025).

 

Similarly, the Social Determinants of Learning (SDOL)™ framework defines SDOLs as "social and structural factors outside the individual learner, often beyond the traditional reach of teachers and schools, that can affect learning” (Levinson & Cohen, 2023). These include healthcare access and quality, economic stability, neighborhood and built environments, social inclusion and non-discrimination, educational access and quality, and family group and structural conflicts.

In both frameworks, social determinants can be predictive or correlated to both health and educational outcomes—people without access to a vehicle may be unable to access high-quality healthcare and educational services; people living with disabilities may face structural and discrimination-related barriers to accessing equitable healthcare and education services compared to able-bodied peers.

The infographics in this section highlight over 20 different social determinants, including measures of poverty, energy burden (the percentage of one's annual income spent on energy costs), housing burden (spending 50% or more of one's annual income on housing), and the prevalence of disabilities.

Please find below some tips to help users access and utilize the information they'll find:

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  • Numbers that are expressed as percentages represent the percentage of the population experiencing a given social determinant.
     

  • The counties highlighted generally represent the lowest and highest values of a given measure.
     

  • The Pearson Correlation Coefficient shows the correlation between low literacy proficiency and a given health condition. Numbers range from -1.0 (a Perfect Negative correlation) to 1.0 (a Perfect Positive correlation). The closer the number is to -1.0 or 1.0, the higher the correlation between low literacy skills and the social determinant.
     

  • Our sources for these data may be found on our Resources page in the Citations section.

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Regional Prevalence
Statewide Prevalence
National Prevalence

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Pearson Correlation Coefficient

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The image presents a horizontal correlation scale ranging from -1.0 to 1.0. On the left end, -1.0 is labeled "Perfect Negative Correlation" and on the right end, 1.0 is labeled "Perfect Positive Correlation." The center, marked as 0, is labeled "No Correlation." The scale is segmented into different correlation strengths: "Strong Negative Correlation" (-1.0 to -0.7), "Moderate Negative Correlation" (-0.6 to -0.4), "Weak Negative Correlation" (-0.3 to -0.1), "Weak Positive Correlation" (0.1 to 0.3), "Moderate Positive Correlation" (0.4 to 0.6), and "Strong Positive Correlation" (0.7 to 1.0).
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Federal Officials

Federal Elected Officials in Alabama

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