Mobile, AL: 412,590 residents, 133rd of 387 US metropolitan areas. Census figures on income, housing, education and the local business mix, and what they imply for a business advertising here.
This is the Mobile metropolitan area in Alabama.
The median home is worth $190,700, 43 percent below the national figure, which shapes what homeowners will spend on repairs and upgrades. The median household in Mobile, AL earns $58,880 a year, 27 percent below the national figure (the US median is $80,734). Read together, they frame the buying power of the market.
Age and education shape how people search and who answers the phone. Mobile, AL has a median age of 38.5 (about the same as the national median). Bachelor's degree or higher: 26% of adults, 10 points below the US share. Owner-occupied housing 66%, about the same as the US share, which is the figure home-service advertisers should watch. Unemployment in the civilian labor force is 5.3%, about the same as the US share.
How does that compare with the state as a whole? Income in Mobile, AL is 8 percent lower than the Alabama figure, the median home value is 9 percent lower than the Alabama figure, and business density is 4 percent denser than the Alabama figure; the full numbers are on the Alabama page.
County Business Patterns counts 8,960 employer establishments in Mobile, AL. Business density is a first proxy for competition: 21.7 per 1,000 residents, 13 percent below the national figure. Home-services contractors make up 424 of those establishments, 4.7% of the total, about the same as the US share.
| Category | Locations | Per 100k people | Local ÷ US share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 22 | 5.3 | 2.22× |
| Self-storage facilities | 33 | 8 | 1.66× |
| Automobile dealers | 68 | 16.5 | 1.35× |
| Legal services | 229 | 55.5 | 1.18× |
| Roofing contractors | 32 | 7.8 | 1.17× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 135 | 32.7 | 1.13× |
| Electrical contractors | 99 | 24 | 1.11× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 151 | 36.6 | 1.03× |
| General freight trucking | 126 | 30.5 | 1.00× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 44 | 10.7 | 0.96× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 103 | 25 | 0.96× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 614 | 148.8 | 0.93× |
| General automotive repair | 84 | 20.4 | 0.92× |
| Child day care services | 77 | 18.7 | 0.87× |
| Personal care services (all) | 137 | 33.2 | 0.80× |
| Landscaping services | 100 | 24.2 | 0.79× |
| Physicians' offices | 185 | 44.8 | 0.79× |
| Beauty salons | 69 | 16.7 | 0.76× |
| Dentists | 104 | 25.2 | 0.72× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 14 | 3.4 | 0.56× |
Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.
More common here than nationally: road and paving contractors, self-storage operators, automobile dealers and legal services. Road and paving contractors are the clearest case: 22 establishments, 2.2 times the share they hold nationally. The thin end of the table is concrete contractors, dentists, beauty salons and landscaping services. Concrete contractors are the thinnest at 14, about 56% of the national share. In line with the country: plumbing and HVAC contractors, electrical contractors and specialty trade contractors.
Relative to population the leaders are restaurants (148.8 per 100,000 residents), legal services and physicians' offices. Three categories dominate by count: restaurants at 614, legal services at 229 and physicians' offices at 185. The group picture: legal services above the national pattern at 1.2 times, medical and dental practices below it at about 76% of.
A crowded category like road and paving contractors, self-storage operators and automobile dealers rewards precision: exact-match search terms, service-area fencing, Local Services Ads where the trade is eligible, and a Business Profile that is answered daily. Broad campaigns get outspent. A business in concrete contractors, dentists and beauty salons enters a lightly contested auction. That is the time to build organic visibility and a review base before the category fills in. With a median age about the same as the national median, expect more discovery through maps, short video and AI answers; search alone covers less of the market. Incomes 27 percent below the national figure mean value and clarity carry the message; offers should be plain and the path to a call short.
Services for a business advertising in Mobile, AL, picked from the full list.
Design and build of a site that turns local traffic into leads.
An answering service that books and qualifies rather than sending callers to voicemail.
Google Guaranteed placements above the ads for the home-service and legal categories that qualify.
Search advertising that pays for intent, not impressions.
The map listing, kept accurate, photographed and posted to every week.
Organic visibility for the searches that do not need an ad to win.
Mobile, AL has 412,590 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 133rd of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Mobile, AL is $58,880 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 8,960 employer establishments in Mobile, AL (County Business Patterns 2023), or 21.7 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Mobile, AL is $190,700, and 66% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), road and paving contractors, self-storage operators and automobile dealers have more establishments per resident than the US average; concrete contractors, dentists and beauty salons have fewer in Mobile, AL.
Tell us the trade and the area; we will show you what the competition looks like and what it takes to be found.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.