Birmingham population falls to 195,400

The latest Census estimate shows that the City of Birmingham's population has continued to fall. The Census estimates that the current Birmingham population is down to just 195,400. This is down from 196,644 in 2023 and down from the 2020 Census count of 200,733.

This decline is part of a long-term trend that has affected "the Magic City" since the middle of the 20th century.

In 1960 Birmingham had 340,887 residents. It was the largest city in the state of Alabama (by far) and the 36th largest city nationally. That plummeted during the turbulent 1960s as racial violence gripped the city due to desegregation and the city's violent response to the Civil Rights Movement. Black and White residents both moved out either to other cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, or New York or to suburbs 20 to 30 minutes away from the city. By 1970 Birmingham's population had fallen to 300,910 and it was the 48th largest city in America.

Rising crime, the rise of the suburbs, and a brain drain where young college grads from Alabama left to find success in other states continued to chip away at Birmingham. By 1980 the population had dropped to 280,814 and Birmingham was the 50th largest city in America. The mass failure of the Birmingham school system, crime, White flight, and the obsolescence of the city's aging steel, manufacturing, and iron industries delivered crippling blows to the city. By 1990 the population of the city had dropped to 265,940 and Birmingham had fallen to 60th largest city in the country.

The 1990s brought crack cocaine and violent drug gangs battling for control of the city. Residents of Birmingham left the crime and the crumbling school system for Hoover, Pelham, Alabaster, and similar cities to Birmingham's south. By 2000 the population had declined to 242,051 and Birmingham was the 72nd largest city in America.

The State of Alabama has invested a fortune into UAB and Birmingham based UAB has become the state's largest employer as it continues to expand its hospital empire with the acquisition of Ascension Health/St. Vincents. While the city benefits from the occupation taxes that UAB generates the transformation of the city's economy has not brought a transformation of its neighborhoods. The remaining people trapped in Birmingham's aging neighborhoods continue to deal with blight, crime, bad schools, a drug culture that attracts criminal gangs and the hardcore addicted; while scaring away almost everyone with the ability to move.

Crime and violence continues to grip the city. By the end of July, 83 persons had already been murdered this year in the City of Birmingham. That is up 15.3% from this time last year. 130 firearms have been recovered thus far this year from people who illegally possessed them, including 46 in the last week of July alone. The Birmingham Police Department struggles to recruit new officers and the state's prisons are overcrowded meaning that there is really no long term solution on where to house the city's criminals if the police were able to arrest all of the gangs and perennial criminal elements in the city.

Huntsville is now the fastest growing city in Alabama with 225,616 and is moving in the opposite direction of the City of Birmingham. Huntsville is now the 103rd biggest city in America.

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