CottondaleAL
A town of 2,632.
Is Cottondale a good place to live?
Cottondale gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $200K, 3.2 years of the Tuscaloosa metro’s $62K median household income. It grades C+ overall, ranked 77th of 187 in Alabama. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 84% of the country. 32% of residents live below the poverty line in Cottondale, above both the Alabama town median (16%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Among 187 Alabama towns, just 2 have a lower share of children under 18 than Cottondale. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 70% of U.S. towns.
What makes Cottondale stand out
Where Cottondale beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Cottondale for work
Where Cottondale’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Cottondale grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Cottondale is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Cottondale: who provides what
Cottondale is unincorporated, so Tuscaloosa County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Cottondale.
Cottondale is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has poverty well above the Alabama rate and has little public open land.
Cottondale earns a C− for health
Against the 3,957 U.S. towns with household incomes like Cottondale’s, it is healthier than 52%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
For adults in Cottondale, the share who report frequent mental distress is 18%. Among adults locally, 43% sleep under 7 hours and 44% have high blood pressure.
| Cottondale | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 39% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 40% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 43% | 35% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 19% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cottondale | AL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 19.5% | 15.4% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 11.9% | 9.6% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 17.2% | 13.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
On state tests, Cottondale’s schools trail 53% of Alabama districts
Two of its 3 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Its public schools are run by the Tuscaloosa County school district. Public school enrollment in Cottondale: 835 students across 2 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottondale Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 438 | B− |
| Tuscaloosa Christian School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 333 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
About two in five of Cottondale’s working residents commute to Tuscaloosa
Cottondale has 170 jobs for its 1,268 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Cottondale dropped by 20, to 170. Just 1% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. The top destinations are Tuscaloosa (43%), Northport (7%) and Birmingham (4%). For Cottondale, the typical journey to work is 23 minutes.
| Cottondale | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cottondale earns an A for cost of living
The typical value, about $200K, is 10% below its May 2023 peak. At about $200K, home values are up 0% in five years, against a rise of 17% across Alabama.
Cottondale: just over four in five households live in a home they own. Homes locally are typically worth about $200,000, down 1.2% in a year, 16% below the Alabama typical home. In Cottondale, the going rate for rent is $935 a month.
| Cottondale | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $935 a month | $943 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Cottondale faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
44% of Cottondale’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 25%. Compared with nearly three fifths of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is lower. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cottondale after 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2014.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0% of Cottondale is conserved land
Just 0 of its 2,205 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Cottondale itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
Across 2 parks and preserves: 0.2 miles of trail. Cottondale’s density of trails stands at 0.1 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves in the town: 2, covering 21 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gordon Davis Park | 0.2 mi | 17 |
| 2. University of Alabama Arboretum | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Bryant–Denny Stadium and 7 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cottondale. Close and well known come first.
Big draw6 mi Stadium & arenaBryant–Denny Stadium
17 mi Ancient siteMoundville Archaeological Site29 mi Theme parkAlabama Adventure & Splash Adventure
5 mi MuseumAlabama Museum of Natural History
23 mi MuseumTannehill Ironworks
7 mi MuseumTuscaloosa Museum of ArtPhoto credits
Bryant–Denny Stadium: Joel יוֹאֵל, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Moundville Archaeological Site: Altairisfar (Jeffrey Reed), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alabama Museum of Natural History: Skusnr, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tannehill Ironworks: Dystopos, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Kthurman83, CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Cottondale
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Cottondale
About 9 of every 100 Cottondale residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
About Cottondale
Suburb in Alabama, United States
Cottondale is a census-designated place in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, United States, now encompassed in the eastern suburbs of Tuscaloosa. As of the 2020 census, Cottondale had a population of 3,130. The ZIP Code is 35453. Alternative spellings include Cotton Dale, Kennedale, Kennidale and Konnidale.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.5 sq mi
- Elevation
- 344 ft
- ZIP code
- 35453
Cottondale’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Cottondale.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottondale | #77 | C+ | A | — | B− | C− |
| Tuscaloosa | #143 | D | C+ | D | C | C |
Cottondale reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Cottondale with a neighbor →
Questions about Cottondale
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cottondale, AL a good place to live?
Cottondale grades C+ overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #77 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C− for health and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Cottondale, AL expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.