Alabama Landscapes
Population
Population
In 2000 the
“typical Alabamian" (Table P1):
was female
was between 35 and 44 years of age
was White
had a High School Diploma
worked in education, health services or social services
was married, 1 child under 18
was born in Alabama
lived in Jefferson County
was a Baptist
and voted Republican and state and federal level,
Democrat at local level
Table P1: Demographic data (US Census 2000)
|
|
Alabama |
USA |
|
% Female |
51.7 |
50.9 |
|
% Urban |
55.2 |
75.1 |
|
Population density (persons/sq. mile) |
88.0 |
80.2 |
|
% high school graduate or higher |
75.3 |
83.4 |
|
% bachelor's degree or higher |
19.0 |
25.2 |
|
% born in state |
73.4 |
|
|
% foreign born |
2.0 |
11.2 |
|
% White |
71.1 |
75.1 |
|
% Black or African American |
26.0 |
12.3 |
|
% Other Race(s) |
2.9 |
2.5 |
Population and Population Distribution
According to the US Census Bureau, Alabama had about 4.4 million (actually 4,447,100) residents in the year 2000. The population density was 88 people per square mile, and a slight majority lived in an urban area (core census block or block group that have a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile and surrounding census blacks that have an overall density of 500 persons per square mile).
However you parse it, Alabama's population is not uniformly distributed throughout the state (Figure P1).
Figure P1. Distribution of Population by County 2000. The four black circles are from N to S Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile. (Cartographic Research Laboratory, Dept. of Geography, University of Alabama)
Thirteen counties contain more than 85,000 people (red on Figure P1). Nine of those counties lie astride or north of the Fall Line. Counties in the western and south central part of the state tend to have few inhabitants. With the exception of Montgomery County, this includes the counties in the Black Prairie region.
Population density follows population by county (Figure P2).
Figure P2. Population density by County 2000. Black circles are from N to S Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile. (Cartographic Research Laboratory, Dept. of Geography, University of Alabama)
Only 14 of Alabama's 67 counties are urban (>53% urban population), and these counties cluster around the main cities: Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Huntsville, Dothan, Tuscaloosa, Anniston, Gadsden, Opelika, and Florence. Some 2,549,330 people, slightly over half of all people in the state, live in these counties.