States / Alabama

State rental intelligence

Alabama rental market data

A source-traced view across 21 metro markets and 67 counties. State figures below are labelled medians and totals—not a made-up statewide investment score.

19/21 metros scored67/67 counties with FEMA risk13 sources used in this analysis

Median scored metro47.0out of 100 · 19 measured metros

Alabama identity diorama showing regional landscape, cities, housing, and infrastructure

Median metro home value$212kmedian across published metro values

Median metro rent$1,352monthly · published metro values

Median gross yield7.3%annual rent ÷ price · before costs

Median job trend▲ 0.0%trailing 12-month metro employment

State research brief

At the median of measured Alabama metros, rents are rising 1.2 percentage points faster than home values even as employment is nearly flat and median resale time is 60.5 days.

Updated 2026-07-31 · evidence current to the releases listed below.

The central screening opportunity is improving rent momentum relative to entry value: measured metro rents rose 3.2% at the median, compared with 1.9% for home values. Enterprise makes the split especially clear, with rent up 5.0% while value fell 1.5%. Yet the median metro also had 3.9 months of supply, a 23.9% price-drop share and 60.5 days on market, so the same conditions that may support acquisition negotiation also indicate exit friction.

Demand evidence is mixed rather than absent. Net migration was positive by 6,212 people across the measured counties, while median metro employment growth was only 0.01%. Active permitting in Auburn, Daphne and Huntsville is another counter-signal to a simple rent-growth thesis. The packet supports local screening of rent-to-basis, liquidity, tenant burden and county risk; it does not establish achieved lease rents, property condition, insurance cost, parcel-level hazard exposure or net returns.

Median metro rent growth of 3.2% versus value growth of 1.9% → prioritize same-market lease and purchase-price checks where revenue is separating from basis.

Median resale time of 60.5 days, 3.9 months of supply and a 23.9% price-drop share → pair potential acquisition leverage with a slower-exit assumption.

Net migration of 6,212 but median employment growth of 0.01% → treat household movement as a positive counter-signal, not confirmation of broad demand strength.

Median gross yield of 7.3% alongside a 26.2% rent-to-income ratio and 1.27 rent-to-FMR ratio → include tenant affordability in the yield screen.

County climate-loss and property-tax measures vary on separate scales → review both rather than using either as a proxy for total property cost.

Price and rent momentum

Enterprise sharpens the median rent-value split

Median rent growth was 3.2% across 19 measured metros, while median home-value growth was 1.9% across 21, producing the supplied 1.2-percentage-point spread. Enterprise had the widest split among the named markets: rent rose 5.0% while value declined 1.5%, a calculated separation of 6.5 percentage points. In Ozark, rent growth of 6.5% exceeded value growth of 1.7% by a calculated 4.8 points.

The divergence is not universal. Anniston's rent rose 4.8% while its value rose 4.3%, a calculated gap of only 0.6 percentage points. That counter-signal makes the statewide median useful for routing attention, not for assuming every Alabama metro has improving rent-to-value economics. The different coverage counts for rent and value growth also mean the two medians are not distributions over an identical set of metros.

Evidence: Zillow ZHVI — metro home values · Zillow ZORI — metro market rents

Supply and resale conditions

Auburn builds quickly while Talladega resales slowly

Across measured metros, the median was 3.9 months of supply, 60.5 days on market, a 23.9% price-drop share and a 97.6% sale-to-list ratio. Talladega was slower, with 91 days on market, 5.7 months of supply and a 96.6% sale-to-list ratio. Dothan took 78 days and Albertville 71 days. These figures support screening for seller flexibility, but they also show that resale liquidity cannot be treated as immediate.

Permitting adds a different signal. Auburn recorded 15.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents while carrying 3.1 months of supply and 38 days on market. Daphne had 14.3 permits per 1,000, 4.4 months of supply and 64 days on market; Huntsville had 8.1 permits per 1,000, 3.9 months and 61 days. Permits identify an active pipeline but do not establish completions, timing, unit type or whether the additions compete with a specific rental property.

Evidence: Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units · Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts

Employment and household movement

Positive migration offsets a nearly flat employment median

Employment growth was 0.01% at the median of 21 metros, with the measured range between the 10th and 90th percentiles running from a 0.6% decline to 1.4% growth. Daphne and Auburn were stronger named markets at 2.3% and 1.8%, respectively. Those local readings show why the nearly flat median should not be assigned to every metro.

Migration provides a genuine positive counter-signal: 119,377 people moved in and 113,165 moved out across 67 counties, for net migration of 6,212, or 1.2 people per 1,000 residents. Even so, migration and employment do not point equally strongly in the same direction. The county totals do not identify how many movers rent, their destination neighborhoods or the housing type they occupy.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — population · BLS CES — payroll employment · BLS LAUS — resident employment · IRS SOI — county migration and mover income

Entry cost and affordability

Ozark's headline yield comes with the highest named rent load

The median measured metro combined a $212,248 home value, $1,352 monthly rent and 7.3% gross yield. Gross yields ran from 5.9% at the 10th percentile to 8.5% at the 90th. Median rent equaled 26.2% of median income, while the median rent-to-two-bedroom-FMR ratio was 1.27. Together, these measures screen entry economics and local rent limits rather than net cash flow.

Ozark stood out with a $165,038 value, $1,383 rent and 10.1% gross yield, but its rent-to-income ratio was 30.2%, the highest of the three named yield markets. Enterprise paired an 9.0% gross yield with a lower 24.6% rent-to-income ratio. Gross yield excludes vacancy, repairs, management, financing, taxes and insurance, and metro income ratios do not measure an individual tenant's ability to pay.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — household income · HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard · Zillow ZHVI — metro home values · Zillow ZORI — metro market rents

Housing stock and tenant conditions

High renter burden coexists with broad housing vacancy

Across 67 counties, the median broad housing-vacancy rate was 15.8%, the median renter share was 24.9%, and the median share of renters paying at least 30% of income was 46.0%. Coosa County combined 63.5% rent burden with 27.1% vacancy and an 18.4% renter share. Dallas County combined 62.2% burden with 15.8% vacancy and a larger 36.2% renter share.

The coexistence of burden and vacancy means neither measure establishes a rental shortage by itself. The county stock was 68.5% single-family at the median, with a 21.7% mobile-home share, a 1.2% large-multifamily share and a median year built of 1984. Those distributions help identify the type and age of competing stock, but they do not show which vacant homes are rent-ready or the repair needs of a target property.

Evidence: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock

Physical risk and property tax

Inland flood leads the hazard labels, while tax burden varies separately

Inland flood was the mutually exclusive leading-hazard label for 61 counties, while hurricane was the label for six. The county climate-loss ratio was 0.17% at the median and 0.25% at the 90th percentile. Named higher-loss counties included Baldwin County at 0.45%, Escambia County at 0.42% and Covington County at 0.38%.

Property tax does not move on the same scale as the hazard measure. The county effective tax rate was 0.32% at the median and 0.42% at the 90th percentile, while Jefferson County measured 0.59% with a $1,409 median tax. These county figures can route cost review, but a leading-hazard label is not parcel exposure, and the packet does not include property-level flood mapping, building resilience or insurance premiums.

Evidence: FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios · Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax

Evidence selected for Alabama

The ranges behind the analysis

Each row keeps its own unit and shows the measured 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile. A single-value row is labelled directly.

Price and rent momentumAre home values and asking rents moving together or separating?

Supply and resale conditionsWhat do permits, inventory, marketing time and price cuts say about pressure?

Employment and household movementDo jobs, household movement and mover income point in the same direction?

Shape of the state

Distribution before conclusion

A statewide median can hide a wide spread. These SVG charts render at build time and carry no chart library or browser-side data request.

Metro score distribution19 scored metros · median 47.0

County evidence coverageEvery gap stays visible as missing—not estimated

Highest measured metro gross yieldsscreening metric only · before expenses and financing

Metro leaderboard

Markets touching Alabama

Multi-state CBSAs appear in every member state. Score is still a metro score; no value is reweighted into a statewide ranking.

#	Metro	Score	Price	Rent	Yield	Jobs
1	Auburn, AL	63	$354k	$1,728	5.9%	▲ 1.8%
2	Enterprise, AL	61	$188k	$1,400	9.0%	▲ 1.1%
3	Ozark, AL	61	$165k	$1,383	10.1%	▲ 0.2%
4	Decatur, AL	57	$237k	$1,161	5.9%	▲ 1.0%
5	LaGrange, GA	56	$206k	$1,352	7.9%	▲ 1.4%
6	Florence, AL	55	$219k	$1,122	6.1%	▲ 0.0%
7	Daphne, AL	53	$376k	$1,702	5.4%	▲ 2.3%
8	Anniston, AL	52	$173k	$1,022	7.1%	▼ 0.5%
9	Huntsville, AL	51	$318k	$1,381	5.2%	▲ 1.0%
10	Columbus, GA	47	$212k	$1,295	7.3%	▼ 0.2%
11	Gadsden, AL	46	$189k	$1,137	7.2%	▼ 0.1%
12	Tuscaloosa, AL	46	$222k	$1,480	8.0%	▼ 0.4%

Showing the top 12 scored metros of 21. Unscored metros remain discoverable through the national rankings.

Below the metro line

Largest counties in Alabama

County figures join on the five-digit FIPS code. The table uses measured local values and prints “n/a” wherever a publisher has no record.

County	Population	Price	Rent	Yield	Hazard
Jefferson County, AL	667,755	$220k	$1,399	7.6%	inland flooding
Mobile County, AL	412,590	$199k	$1,335	8.1%	hurricane
Madison County, AL	405,718	$316k	$1,371	5.2%	inland flooding
Baldwin County, AL	246,989	$376k	$1,702	5.4%	hurricane
Tuscaloosa County, AL	237,552	$230k	$1,470	7.7%	inland flooding
Shelby County, AL	230,211	$362k	$1,728	5.7%	inland flooding
Montgomery County, AL	226,718	$167k	$1,364	9.8%	inland flooding
Lee County, AL	181,134	$354k	$1,728	5.9%	inland flooding
Morgan County, AL	124,471	$238k	$1,149	5.8%	inland flooding
Calhoun County, AL	116,090	$173k	$1,022	7.1%	inland flooding
Limestone County, AL	111,233	$324k	$1,540	5.7%	inland flooding
Houston County, AL	108,140	$204k	$1,229	7.2%	inland flooding

County yield sample29/67counties have the rent needed to compute yield

Statewide net migration+6,212IRS tax-return households summed across counties

Median investor share7.4%among counties with HMDA purchase records

Published city evidence

Go from Alabama to a city record

These links exist only where an official Census place, direct city price and rent series, and a checked city brief are all available.

City · ALHuntsville$293k home · $1,322 rent · 5.4% yield City · ALMobile$199k home · $1,311 rent · 7.9% yield City · ALBirmingham$140k home · $1,359 rent · 11.7% yield City · ALMontgomery$154k home · $1,343 rent · 10.5% yield City · ALTuscaloosa$232k home · $1,433 rent · 7.4% yield

Sources used in this analysis

Measured releases, not a global source count

Only sources supporting the selected evidence modules are listed here.

Bear case

What can break the thesis

Employment was nearly flat at the measured metro median, and the 10th-percentile metro contracted by 0.6%, weakening a broad demand interpretation.
Auburn, Daphne and Huntsville had active permitting, but the packet does not show completions, timing or rental unit type.
Gross yields exclude vacancy, repairs, management, financing, property tax and insurance, so they cannot establish net returns.
Rent growth covers 19 of 21 metros, while days on market, months of supply and price-drop data cover 20; missing observations may affect the reported medians.
Countywide vacancy and FEMA leading-hazard labels cannot establish rent-ready competition or parcel exposure, and property condition and insurance premiums are missing.

Investor questions

Before underwriting a property

Where is the rent-value divergence most visible?

Among the named momentum markets, Enterprise had rent growth of 5.0% and value decline of 1.5%, a calculated 6.5-percentage-point split. Ozark's calculated split was 4.8 points, while Anniston's was only 0.6 points.

Does measured demand support the rent-growth signal?

Only partly. Net migration was positive by 6,212 people, but median metro employment growth was 0.01%. Daphne and Auburn were stronger employment exceptions at 2.3% and 1.8%.

Do resale conditions offer acquisition leverage?

The median price-drop share was 23.9% and the sale-to-list ratio was 97.6%, which supports screening for negotiation. Median marketing time was 60.5 days, and Talladega took 91 days, so the evidence also indicates exit friction.

Which named market has the strongest headline gross yield?

Ozark measured 10.1% on a $165,038 value and $1,383 monthly rent. Its 30.2% rent-to-income ratio was also the highest among the three named yield markets, and the gross figure excludes operating and financing costs.

Can the county hazard labels identify whether a property is exposed?

No. Inland flood was the leading-hazard label for 61 counties and hurricane for six, but each is a mutually exclusive county-level label. Parcel exposure, insurance premiums and building resilience are not measured.