Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dothan grades D− overall, 161st among Alabama's 187 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. Its police reported 584 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 95% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 83% of the country. In its favor, a typical home costs about $204K, 3.5 years of the Dothan metro’s $58K median household income. 58% of working residents work locally in Dothan, above both Alabama’s towns (9.8%) and U.S. towns (8%). Dothan is home to George C Wallace Community College-Dothan. Only 8 of the 138 Alabama towns we compare have a higher violent crime rate than Dothan.
Where Dothan beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse| College | Students |
|---|---|
| George C Wallace Community College-Dothan | 3,279 |
| Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine | 798 |
Census counts: 247 in 1890, 71,072 in 2020. The archive holds 20 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 2 maps from 1969 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Dothan is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dothan, 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Dothan.
Dothan draws workers from Enterprise and beyond, but it reports violent crime at about twice the Alabama rate and trails Midland City and its other neighbors on schools.
Violent crime runs at 8.1 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Alabama rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D. Reported crimes fell from 3,069 to 2,394 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Dothan is 25.2 per 1,000 residents. Dothan reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 95% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Each of its 6 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its C, Midland City highest at A.
Its public schools are run by the Dothan City school district. Three of its 27 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dothan Preparatory AcademyLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 1,034 | C+ |
| Dothan High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 10–12 | Grades 10–12 | 1,588 | C |
| Carver School of Mathematics Science and TechnologyTop results in townGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 429 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
43,945 jobs are based in Dothan, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
19% of residents live below the poverty line in Dothan. Jobs based in Dothan grew to 43,945 in 2023, 4,874 more than in 2013. Dothan’s average trip to work is 20 minutes.
| Dothan | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 5% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
29 miles of trail in 26 parks and preserves. Forever Wild Trails, at 388 acres with 13.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Dothan | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Forever Wild Trails | 13.8 mi | 388 |
| 2. Westgate Memorial Park | 5.2 mi | 228 |
| 3. Landmark Park | 1.6 mi | 115 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
38% of Dothan adults feel lonely. Dothan beats the Alabama average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 17% of Dothan adults have diabetes.
| Dothan | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 43% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Dothan | AL |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 12.5% | 9.6% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 12.1% | 9.8% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 17.1% | 13.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Dothan has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 92°, January nights drop to 39° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Dothan home is worth about $204,000, up 1.2% in a year, 14% below the Alabama typical home.
| Dothan | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 57% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $960 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 93 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dothan.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Alabama average. 28% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 28% across Alabama.
| Dothan | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 28% | 23% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 18% | 18% |
52.7% women, 47.3% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 42.3, men 37.8.
| Dothan | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.6% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.4% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.8% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.4% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.6% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.4% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.9% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.7% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.9% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
2 within 15 miles of the center of Dothan
About 5 of every 100 Dothan residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
2 colleges in town.
8 places in Dothan on the National Register of Historic Places.
37 notable people were born in Dothan.
City in and county seat of Houston County, Alabama
Dothan is a city in and the county seat of Houston County in the U.S. state of Alabama. A slight portion of the city extends into Dale and Henry counties. It had a population of 71,258 at the 2020 census, making it Alabama's eighth-largest city by population and the 5th largest in Alabama by total area. It is near the state's southeastern corner, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Georgia and 16 miles (26 km) north of Florida. It is named after the biblical city of Dothan. Dothan is the principal city of the Dothan, Alabama metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Geneva, Henry, and Houston counties; the small portion in Dale County is part of the Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area. Togethe…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Dothan.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dothan | #161 | D− | B− | D | C | C− |
| Webb | — | — | A+ | — | A− | D |
| Rehobeth | — | — | B | — | A− | D |
| Kinsey | — | — | B+ | A | A− | D |
| Midland City | — | — | A− | C+ | A | D− |
| Napier Field | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Taylor | — | — | B+ | — | A− | C− |
| Cowarts | — | — | B+ | — | A− | C− |
Webb, Rehobeth, Kinsey, Midland City, Taylor and Cowarts have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Webb, Rehobeth, Taylor and Cowarts report no FBI crime data of their own. Napier Field isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Dothan with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dothan grades D− overall, better than 5% of U.S. towns and #161 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C− for health, D for safety and C for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
37 notable people were born here, including Donna D'Errico and Johnny Mack Brown.
