Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 9,346, established in 1889.
Pleasant Grove is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 111th of 187 graded towns in Alabama, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $70K. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 69% of Alabama towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $225K, 3.1 years of the Birmingham metro’s $71K median household income. 20% of residents live below the poverty line in Pleasant Grove, above both the Alabama town median (16%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. Pleasant Grove's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 84% of U.S. towns.
Where Pleasant Grove’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 Pleasant Grove is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,066 in 1940, 9,544 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2011 and 2 maps from 1959 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pleasant Grove. Close and well known come first.
8 mi Stadium & arenaLegion Field
Big draw39 mi Stadium & arenaBryant–Denny Stadium
10 mi Stadium & arenaProtective Stadium
11 mi MuseumSloss Furnaces
10 mi Stadium & arenaLegacy Arena32 mi LakeLewis Smith LakeLegion Field: USGS, Public domain · Bryant–Denny Stadium: Joel יוֹאֵל, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Protective Stadium: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sloss Furnaces: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Legacy Arena: AuburnShuffle, CC0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pleasant Grove, 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 Pleasant Grove.
Pleasant Grove looks healthier within Alabama than nationally, costs more than Hueytown or any other town next door and sends most of its workers to Birmingham and beyond.
Pleasant Grove has 756 jobs for its 4,276 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Pleasant Grove for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Birmingham (37%), Bessemer (8%) and Hoover (7%). Half commute less than 11 miles.
| Pleasant Grove | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2% | 10% | 8% |
| Work from home | 7.3% | 6.7% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $70,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Jefferson County school district. Its three schools are below. The largest public high school is Pleasant Grove High School, with 752 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Grove Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 524 | C− |
| Pleasant Grove High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 752 | D |
| Jefferson County International Baccalaureate SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 345 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AL on state tests and graduation
Within Alabama it is healthier than 58% of the 187 graded towns: much of Alabama scores lower on these measures.
Pleasant Grove beats the Alabama average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 47% of adults have high blood pressure in Pleasant Grove. Only 7 of the 187 Alabama towns we compare have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Pleasant Grove.
| Pleasant Grove | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 43% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 36% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 12% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Pleasant Grove | AL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.5% | 15.4% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.2% | 9.9% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 12.2% | 9.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Pleasant Grove has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Pleasant Grove’s July high is 91°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 62% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Alabama average. Pleasant Grove has lost 2.1% of its people since 2020, down to 9,346 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 23% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 28% across Alabama.
| Pleasant Grove | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 23% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 23% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4 points. Across Alabama, 51.4% of residents are women.
| Pleasant Grove | AL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 11.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.3% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.4% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 12.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.3% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.1% | 7.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.6% | 11.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.5% | 30.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.7% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.9% | 17.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.3% | 11.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Hueytown is next at $163K. The median property tax bill is $1,380, against $788 across Alabama, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent in Pleasant Grove is $1,400 a month. The typical Pleasant Grove home is worth about $225,000, up 0.9% in a year, 6% below the Alabama typical home. 79% of Pleasant Grove households own their home.
| Pleasant Grove | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,400 a month | $940 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Reported crimes fell from 210 to 105 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Within Alabama, it does better than 78% of towns.
| Pleasant Grove | Alabama towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.4 per 1,000 residents | 17 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
0.4 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Northside Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
6 within 15 miles of the center of Pleasant Grove
About 7 of every 100 Pleasant Grove residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Alabama.
City in Alabama, United States
Pleasant Grove is a city in western Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham metropolitan area. The population was 9,544 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Pleasant Grove.
| Town | AL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Grove | #111 | C− | B− | B− | C | C |
| Birmingham | #164 | D− | B | D− | D | D |
| Hueytown | #153 | D | B+ | D | C | C− |
| Edgewater | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| McDonald Chapel | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Edgewater and McDonald Chapel aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Pleasant Grove with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Pleasant Grove grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #111 of 187 in Alabama. It grades C for health, B− for safety and C for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Within Alabama, it does better than 78% of towns.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
