Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
McCalla grades C+ overall, 78th of 187 graded towns in Alabama, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $87K. It also does better than most on health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 62% of the country. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 69% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $280K, 3.9 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. Only 28 of Alabama’s 308 towns score higher on the outdoors. Its National Register listings include Sadler House and Five Mile Creek Bridge.
Where McCalla beats most towns.
Where McCalla’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 McCalla is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 2009 and 3 maps from 1932 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around McCalla. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaBryant–Denny Stadium
18 mi Stadium & arenaLegion Field
20 mi Stadium & arenaProtective Stadium
20 mi MuseumSloss Furnaces6 mi Theme parkAlabama Adventure & Splash Adventure
20 mi Stadium & arenaLegacy ArenaBryant–Denny Stadium: Joel יוֹאֵל, CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
McCalla is unincorporated, so Jefferson 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 McCalla.
McCalla sits above the Alabama town median (1.2%) and near the median of U.S. towns (4.3%) on this measure. 11 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, 587 acres with 9.4 miles of trail.
| McCalla | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.7% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park | 9.4 mi | 587 |
| 2. UABMW - M. F. Bell Memorial Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Jefferson County school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is McAdory High School, with 1,259 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| McAdory Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 841 | C |
| McAdory High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,259 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave McCalla for work: only 3% work in town. 6.3% of residents live below the poverty line in McCalla, against 16% in Alabama’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Since 2013, McCalla has added 415 jobs, to 3,407 in 2023.
| McCalla | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 6.3% | 16% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 14% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.7% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
McCalla has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. McCalla’s July high is 91°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
37% of McCalla adults feel lonely. McCalla beats the Alabama average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 12% of McCalla adults report frequent physical distress.
| McCalla | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 36% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 43% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | McCalla | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.1% | 15.4% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.7% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Alabama average. 35% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in McCalla.
| McCalla | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 23% | 29% |
| Median age | 42.3 years | 39.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 18% | 18% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.6 points. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women.
| McCalla | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.9% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.2% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.3% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.9% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.6% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.5% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.8% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.8% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.5% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.5% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.7% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.3% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.2% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The median property tax bill is $1,549, against $788 across Alabama, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent in McCalla is $1,777 a month.
| McCalla | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,777 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 90% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 50% of U.S. communities. Since 2014, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in McCalla.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of McCalla
About 4 of every 100 McCalla residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Alabama.
Census-designated place in Alabama, United States
McCalla is a census-designated place in Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties, Alabama, United States, southwest of Bessemer and the geographic terminus of the Appalachian Mountains. As of the 2020 census, McCalla had a population of 12,965. The community is named for Richard Calvin McCalla, a well known civil engineer, who served as chief engineer of several railroads throughout the South, including the Alabama and Chattanooga, the Tuscaloosa and Northern and the Knoxville and Ohio. He also served as surveyor of many of the rivers throughout the South.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with McCalla.
McCalla and Lake View report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare McCalla with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
McCalla grades C+ overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #78 of 187 in Alabama. It grades B for health and C for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
The typical home is worth about $280,000, 17% above the Alabama typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
