Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Grand Bay gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $214K, 3.6 years of the Mobile metro’s $59K median household income. It grades C overall, 88th of 187 graded towns in Alabama. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top, and its schools rank behind 76% of the state's. Grand Bay’s average trip to work is 48 minutes, above both Alabama’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Grand Bay Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Grand Bay beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Grand Bay Historic DistrictWhere Grand Bay’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Alabama), ordered by how far Grand Bay is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,185 in 1980, 3,460 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 1891 and 4 maps from 1943 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Grand Bay is unincorporated, so Mobile 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Grand Bay.
Grand Bay sends many workers across the state line to Pascagoula and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Alabama (mostly hurricanes).
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 94% of Alabama towns; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Mobile County school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Bay Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 751 | C+ |
| Cora Castlen ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 423 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
37% of working residents cross a state line to work, Pascagoula among the top destinations. The average commute for its 1,319 working residents takes 47.6 minutes, against 25.5 across Alabama.
Most working residents leave Grand Bay for work: only 3% work in town. 3.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Grand Bay. The top destinations are Mobile (35%), Pascagoula (11%) and Montgomery (2%).
| Grand Bay | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.2% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
January nights average 41°, milder than in 95% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 90.2°.
Grand Bay has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Grand Bay’s January low is 41°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Grand Bay | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 41°F | 33°F | 22°F |
| July high | 90°F | 91°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
68.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 48.8% across Alabama.
The typical Grand Bay home is worth about $214,000, up 0.9% in a year, 10% below the Alabama typical home.
| Grand Bay | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 74% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $951 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
0.5 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Grand Bay Odd Fellows Festival Park, at 46 acres.
| Grand Bay | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Grand Bay Odd Fellows Festival Park | 0.3 mi | 46 |
| 2. Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 9,441 U.S. towns with household incomes like Grand Bay’s, it is healthier than 73%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income. Within Alabama it is healthier than 72% of the 187 graded towns: much of Alabama scores lower on these measures.
Grand Bay beats the Alabama average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 40% of Grand Bay adults have high blood pressure.
| Grand Bay | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 43% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 39% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 40% | 36% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 12% |
| What stands out | Grand Bay | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.5% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.3% | 13.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 8.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Grand Bay. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi MuseumUSS Alabama
26 mi MuseumFort Morgan
24 mi MuseumUSS Drum
24 mi MuseumBattleship Memorial Park
17 mi National SeashoreGulf Islands National Seashore7.6M visitors a year
22 mi LandmarkFort GainesUSS Alabama: USN, Public domain · Fort Morgan: Altairisfar, Public domain · USS Drum: Jean-Pierre Martin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Battleship Memorial Park: Rennett Stowe from USA, CC BY 2.0 · Gulf Islands National Seashore: National Park Service, Public domain · Fort Gaines: Altairisfar, Public domain
None within 15 miles of Grand Bay; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Grand Bay residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
Census-designated place in Alabama, United States
Grand Bay is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southwest Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. The population was 3,460 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Grand Bay grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns and #88 of 187 in Alabama. It grades B− for health and C− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
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−.
2 notable people were born here, including Harold Page Smith and David Sessions.
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