A market of 278,526 residents, ranked 179th among the 387 metropolitan areas in the country. Households, home values, education, business density, and which trades are already crowded, all from Census data.
This is the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area in Alabama.
Homes are valued at a median of $230,700 against $332,700 nationally, 31 percent below the national figure. The typical household income is $61,517, 24 percent below the national figure. Both figures matter for pricing and for which offers land.
Three quick reads on the people of Tuscaloosa, AL. Homeownership stands at 63%, 2 points below the US share. Age first: the median is 34, 4.9 years below the national median. The share of adults with a bachelor's or above is 29.3%, 6 points below the US share. Of 135,640 people in the labor force, 5.7% are unemployed, about the same as the US share.
Compared with Alabama: income is 4 percent lower than the Alabama figure, home values are 10 percent higher than the Alabama figure, and business density is 19 percent thinner than the Alabama figure.
By the Census Bureau's count Tuscaloosa, AL supports 4,705 employer establishments. Business density is a first proxy for competition: 16.9 per 1,000 residents, 32 percent below the national figure. The single largest category in the table below is restaurants, with 387 locations. The home-services slice is 234 establishments, 5% of the base, about the same as the US share.
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 387 | 138.9 | 1.11× |
| Physicians' offices | 129 | 46.3 | 1.05× |
| Legal services | 106 | 38.1 | 1.04× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 84 | 30.2 | 1.09× |
| Personal care services (all) | 79 | 28.4 | 0.87× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 72 | 25.9 | 1.15× |
| Landscaping services | 64 | 23 | 0.96× |
| General freight trucking | 64 | 23 | 0.97× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 62 | 22.3 | 1.10× |
| Dentists | 59 | 21.2 | 0.77× |
| Beauty salons | 47 | 16.9 | 0.99× |
| Electrical contractors | 45 | 16.2 | 0.96× |
| Child day care services | 39 | 14 | 0.84× |
| General automotive repair | 35 | 12.6 | 0.73× |
| Automobile dealers | 31 | 11.1 | 1.17× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 22 | 7.9 | 0.91× |
| Roofing contractors | 20 | 7.2 | 1.39× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 11 | 3.9 | 0.84× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 11 | 3.9 | 2.11× |
| Self-storage facilities | 10 | 3.6 | 0.96× |
Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.
The market over-indexes on road and paving contractors, roofing contractors, automobile dealers and plumbing and HVAC contractors. At the top of that list, road and paving contractors number 11, 2.1 times the US share. Where the base is lighter: general automotive repair, dentists, concrete contractors and child day care services. General automotive repair are the thinnest at 35, about 73% of the national share. Electrical contractors, specialty trade contractors and landscaping services track the US share closely.
In absolute numbers restaurants lead with 387, followed by physicians' offices at 129 and legal services at 106. Per 100,000 residents: restaurants 138.9, followed by physicians' offices and legal services. Grouped, trucking, storage, real estate and road construction hold about the same as the share they hold nationally, while automotive businesses sit at about the same as.
In the crowded trades (road and paving contractors, roofing contractors and automobile dealers) the map pack decides more calls than the ads do. Business Profile completeness, review volume and review recency become the separating factors, and paid search has to be tight rather than broad. In general automotive repair, dentists and concrete contractors, the shortage of local establishments is an opening: the searches are there, the competition for them is not, and a listing that ranks plus a page that converts can own the category quickly. With a median age 4.9 years below the national median, expect more discovery through maps, short video and AI answers; search alone covers less of the market. With household income 24 percent below the national figure, price transparency and financing matter more in the ad copy, and a phone call is usually the conversion to optimize for.
Matched to the data: the services most likely to earn their cost in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Facebook and Instagram campaigns aimed at the households in Tuscaloosa, AL most likely to need the service.
Google search ads for the exact services and towns, tracked to the phone call.
The map listing, kept accurate, photographed and posted to every week.
Organic visibility for the searches that do not need an ad to win.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
A site assistant that answers questions and captures the lead at any hour.
Tuscaloosa, AL has 278,526 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 179th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Tuscaloosa, AL is $61,517 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 4,705 employer establishments in Tuscaloosa, AL (County Business Patterns 2023), or 16.9 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Tuscaloosa, AL is $230,700, and 63% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), road and paving contractors, roofing contractors and automobile dealers have more establishments per resident than the US average; general automotive repair, dentists and concrete contractors have fewer in Tuscaloosa, 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.