These Alabama counties have the fastest growing - and shrinking - economies

Back before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Alabama’s economy, most counties were enjoying economic growth. Forty-one of the state’s 67 counties saw some growth between 2015 and 2019.

But when measured from 2015 to 2020, when the initial wave of lockdowns hit, just 28 counties saw economic growth, led by Clay County, a rural county in east Alabama. Over that period, Clay saw a 26% rise in the real gross domestic product, or the inflation-adjusted total value of all goods and services produced in a year.

Bullock County, just east of Montgomery, was second, with nearly 23% growth from 2015 to 2020. But rural counties weren’t the only ones that managed to hold onto growth through the start of the pandemic.

Among Alabama’s 13 counties with at least 100,000 residents, 10 saw some GDP growth between 2015 and 2020.

Meanwhile, Montgomery and Jefferson were among those that saw a decline in real GDP, but both were very small decreases of less than 1%. Etowah County, home of Gadsden, saw real GDP drop nearly 9%.

Leading the way in growth among Alabama’s most populous counties was Baldwin, one of the fastest growing counties in the state and home to the Alabama’s beaches. The GDP there grew by nearly 17% in five years, and it was one of three of the state’s largest counties with GDP growth of at least 10%.

The others were Madison County, home of Huntsville, which saw GDP growth of 14.5%, and Tuscaloosa County, home of the University of Alabama, which saw growth of 11%.

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Alabama’s economy appears to have largely recovered since 2020.

Before the first cases of the virus were reported in Alabama and before many business began to shut down in 2020, Alabama’s economy was on the upswing, with inflation-adjusted GDP increasing steadily. There was a dramatic plunge in 2020, but since then, the state’s real GDP - the number adjusted to control for inflation by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis - is back on the rise.

In fact, Alabama’s real GDP topped $205 billion for the first time ever in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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Despite the relative stagnation of Jefferson County’s GDP, it’s still the largest county in the state and home to Birmingham, the center of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area that is the largest economic hub in the state. Jefferson County had by far the largest total GDP in Alabama in 2020 at nearly $40 billion. That’s about $16 billion more than second-place Madison County.

But when controlling for population Madison jumps to the top of the list. The inflation-adjusted GDP per capita there in 2020 was about $61,000 per person, compared to Jefferson County’s $58,000 per person.

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Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.

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