Tuscaloosa County area

Population and density of Tuscaloosa County

The Census Bureau estimates that 241,368 people lived in Tuscaloosa County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #303 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #5 of 67 in Alabama. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 228,133, the population has grown by 13,235 (+5.8%), compared with +3.3% for Alabama as a whole.

With 1,320.9 square miles of land, that is 183 people per square mile (71 per km²), placing Tuscaloosa County #675 nationally for density and #13 in Alabama. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Alabama median is 49. Put another way, there are about 3.5 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Tuscaloosa County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Tuscaloosa County. Together they are home to 158,826 people (65.8%); the other 82,542 (34.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Tuscaloosa city, with 114,316 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Moundville town grew fastest since then (+18.8%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Tuscaloosa County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Tuscaloosa County is a central county of the Tuscaloosa, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 4 county equivalents have 281,850 residents on 3,493.3 square miles of land; Tuscaloosa County accounts for 37.8% of the land and 85.6% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #83 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #181 by population.

ZIP codes

28 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Tuscaloosa County; 18 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

35006351113518435188354013540435405354063544435446354523545335456354573545835463354663546935473354743547535476354803548735490355463555535579

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Tuscaloosa County

Tuscaloosa County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Jefferson County (1,111.6 mi²) and the smallest is Bibb County (622.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Tuscaloosa County forms a block of 6,646.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 19.9%.

How big is Tuscaloosa County compared with U.S. states?

Tuscaloosa County has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1.3 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1.5 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). Alabama’s county land could hold about 38 areas the size of Tuscaloosa County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 36.3 miles (58.5 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Tuscaloosa County?

Tuscaloosa County has more land than 2,770 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Tuscaloosa County at #507 nationally by total area, 55 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 2.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.1 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Tuscaloosa County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.