Alabama Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Alabama home is worth $241,613, up 1.9% over the past year and up 17.7% over five years, 34.5% below the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #43 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $1,243 a month and takes about $63,954 of income; the median Alabama household earns $59,613, $4,341 short.
In Birmingham, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $1,433 a month against a $1,351 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so buying is $82 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is cool: 24.8% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 64 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 5.6% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Alabama Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Alabama? The typical home is worth $241,613, the median sale price is $271,300 and the median list price $320,000. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Alabama Home Prices Changed?
The typical Alabama home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 1.9% over the past year, are up 17.7% over five years, up 67.1% over ten, and up 135% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Alabama?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Birmingham, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Alabama home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Birmingham, AL
The payment excludes property tax (0.39% of value in Alabama), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (17.7%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #7 of 50
A $1,243 monthly payment takes 25% of the median Alabama household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Alabama a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Alabama is cool: it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $271,300 against a median list price of $320,000, so the typical home closes 15.2% below asking.
Where the Alabama market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 0.1 points from a year ago to 24.8%, homes take 3 days longer to go pending than a year ago (64 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 5.6%. The typical home value rose 1.9% over the same period and is at an all-time high. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Alabama home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Alabama Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 20 of the Alabama cities we track. The most expensive is Vestavia Hills ($567,090) and the cheapest Gadsden ($117,213). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville | 227,571 | $290,244 | +1.3% | ||||
| Birmingham | 196,518 | $136,876 | -2.3% | ||||
| Montgomery | 195,275 | $152,837 | +2.1% | ||||
| Mobile | 182,594 | $198,189 | -0.6% | ||||
| Tuscaloosa | 111,339 | $245,668 | +0.9% | ||||
| Hoover | 92,459 | $438,571 | +3.1% | ||||
| Auburn | 82,030 | $419,162 | +4.3% | ||||
| Dothan | 71,577 | $206,754 | +1.8% | ||||
| Madison | 58,335 | $376,375 | +0.9% | ||||
| Decatur | 57,760 | $223,248 | -1.1% | ||||
| Florence | 41,231 | $216,557 | +2.6% | ||||
| Prattville | 38,850 | $267,391 | +3.3% | ||||
| Vestavia Hills | 38,704 | $567,090 | +4.3% | ||||
| Phenix City | 38,477 | $214,927 | +5.9% | ||||
| Alabaster | 33,633 | $305,607 | +2.9% | ||||
| Gadsden | 33,617 | $117,213 | +5.7% | ||||
| Opelika | 31,944 | $308,650 | +3.4% | ||||
| Northport | 30,991 | $289,705 | +2.1% | ||||
| Enterprise | 28,990 | $208,867 | -0.3% | ||||
| Daphne | 28,673 | $328,052 | +0.2% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Alabama cities ranked →
How Alabama Compares With Nearby States
The South states closest to Alabama on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Alabama
Alabama dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Alabama
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Alabama
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Alabama Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Alabama?
$241,613 is the typical Alabama home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $271,300 and the median list price $320,000. That makes Alabama the #43 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Alabama?
No. The typical Alabama home value rose 1.9% over the past year and is at an all-time high. Over five years it is up 17.7% and over ten years up 67.1%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Alabama home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+1.9% over one year, +17.7% over five years and +67.1% over ten years for the typical Alabama home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Alabama home is up 135%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Alabama housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Alabama home value is at an all-time high after it rose 1.9% over the past year; 24.8% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 64 days (national 53), and inventory is up 5.6% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Alabama was 14.3% from October 2007 to January 2012, and values took 48 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Alabama?
The Alabama market is cool right now, which means it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market. 24.8% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 64 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 5.6% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $63,954 of income, $4,341 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Alabama a buyer's or seller's market?
Alabama leans toward buyers. Fewer listings are cutting prices than the national average (24.8% vs. 26.4%), homes take 64 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 5.6% from a year ago at 27K listings. Two of those three signals point toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Alabama?
In Birmingham, Alabama's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $1,433 a month, up 2.0% over the past year and up 21.0% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Alabama cities we track, rents range from $859 to $1,882 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Alabama?
Buying is cheaper month to month in Birmingham, Alabama's largest metro. Typical rent is $1,433 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $1,351, a difference of $82 a month in favor of buying. The payment excludes property tax (0.39% of value in Alabama), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Alabama?
About $63,954 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Alabama household earns $59,613, so the typical household is $4,341 short. That is the #7 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $1,243 equals 25% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Alabama?
Among the Alabama cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Vestavia Hills ($567,090) and the cheapest in Gadsden ($117,213). Also at the top: Hoover ($438,571), Auburn ($419,162), and Madison ($376,375). The city table above lists every tracked Alabama city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Alabama compare with nearby states?
In the South, the closest comparisons on price are Kentucky ($232,577, down 0.4% in a year), Arkansas ($227,264, up 3.6% in a year), and Oklahoma ($223,261, up 2.8% in a year). Alabama's typical home is $241,613, up 1.9%. On affordability, Alabama ranks #7 of 50 versus Kentucky at #3, Arkansas at #10, and Oklahoma at #8.
How current is the Alabama housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →