Is Chelsea a good place to live?
Chelsea is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A overall, 12th among Alabama's 187 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $115K. It also does better than most on health: it is healthier than 88% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $384K, 5.4 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income. Only 23 of Alabama’s 308 towns score lower on history. Chelsea's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 85% of U.S. towns. Only 6 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Chelsea.
What makes Chelsea stand out
Where Chelsea beats most towns.
Chelsea has grown 72% since 2010
10,183 counted in 2010 and 14,982 in 2020; an estimated 17,716 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 17.1% since 2020, after 47.1% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Chelsea grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Chelsea is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Legion Field and 20 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chelsea. Close and well known come first.
18 mi Stadium & arenaLegion Field
18 mi Stadium & arenaProtective Stadium
16 mi MuseumSloss Furnaces
18 mi Stadium & arenaLegacy Arena
13 mi National forestTalladega National Forest
34 mi MuseumInternational Motorsports Hall of FamePhoto credits
Legion Field: USGS, Public domain · Protective Stadium: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sloss Furnaces: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Legacy Arena: AuburnShuffle, CC0 · Talladega National Forest: Amann09 (talk · contribs), Public domain · International Motorsports Hall of Fame: BWard 1997, CC BY 4.0
Moving to Chelsea: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chelsea, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Chelsea.
Chelsea has less food insecurity than most of Alabama and costs more than Pelham or any other town next door, but it has commutes longer than most of Alabama.
For cost of living, Chelsea earns a B−
Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Pelham is next at $325K. The median property tax bill is $1,393, against $788 across Alabama, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Nine in ten households own their home in Chelsea, above both Alabama’s towns (69%) and U.S. towns (73%). In Chelsea, the median rent is $1,414 a month. A typical home here is worth about $384,000, up 1% in a year, 61% above the Alabama typical home. On the market in the town: a median 57 days to sell.
| Chelsea | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,414 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
On state tests, Chelsea’s schools beat 83% of Alabama districts
Of its 4 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Chelsea High School, with 1,235 students. The Shelby County school district runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea Park Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 891 | A |
| Chelsea High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,235 | A− |
| Forest Oaks Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 606 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
For health, Chelsea earns an A
Its widest gap with Alabama is food insecurity: 10.4% of its 10,751 adults worry about having enough food, against 19.2% statewide.
For adults in Chelsea, the share who binge drink is 18%. Only 7 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have diabetes than Chelsea. 11% of adults report frequent physical distress here, where Alabama’s towns sit at 15% and U.S. towns at 14%. CDC measures, 32 in all: Chelsea beats Alabama on 21 and trails on 2.
| Chelsea | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 30% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 15% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Chelsea | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.4% | 19.2% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.9% | 15.4% |
| More binge drinkers | 18% | 14.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Chelsea has 0.5 jobs per working resident, so most workers leave town for work
The average commute for its 6,705 working residents takes 33.2 minutes, against 25.5 across Alabama. Jobs based here grew from 2,551 in 2013 to 3,644.
The top destinations are Birmingham (24%), Hoover (14%) and Homewood (5%). Jobs based in Chelsea grew to 3,644 in 2023, 1,093 more than in 2013. Also worth knowing: in Chelsea, the mean commuting time is 33 minutes.
| Chelsea | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $115,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 15% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5% | 10% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
High risk in Chelsea, with inland flooding at the top
The natural-hazard score from FEMA in Chelsea is 63 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 48% come from inland flooding and 33% from tornadoes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Chelsea after 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Chelsea keeps 0.2% of its land conserved
2.9 miles of trail wind through 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Chelsea Rec on 39, at 25 acres. Its trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Chelsea | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chelsea Rec on 39 | — | 25 |
| 2. Chelsea Youth League Fields | — | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Chelsea
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Chelsea
About 4 of every 100 Chelsea residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
95% of working residents leave Chelsea for work
Where Chelsea’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Chelsea
City in Alabama, United States
Chelsea is a city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham metropolitan area. Although Chelsea was incorporated on May 16, 1995, it was dissolved shortly thereafter over procedural errors. Another vote was held and the city was once again incorporated on March 1, 1996. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2010 population for Chelsea was 10,183 and 14,126 in 2019. At the 2020 census, the population was 15,908.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1996
- Area
- 23 sq mi
- Elevation
- 512 ft
- ZIP code
- 35043
- Area code
- 205
Chelsea’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Chelsea.
At #12 in AL, it grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Highland Lakes (A−) comes closest.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | #12 | A | B− | — | A− | A |
| Pelham | #28 | A− | B− | B | B+ | A− |
| Westover | — | — | A− | — | A− | B |
| Columbiana | #46 | B | B+ | B− | A− | C+ |
| Highland Lakes | #18 | A− | C | — | A− | A |
Westover has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Chelsea, Westover and Highland Lakes report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Chelsea with a neighbor →
Questions about Chelsea
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Chelsea, AL a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Chelsea grades A overall, better than 89% of U.S. towns and #12 of 187 in Alabama. It grades A for health and A− for schools.
Is Chelsea, AL expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
What is Chelsea, AL known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Gary Bradberry and Stanley Smith.