4,062,608 (1990 census), ranking 22nd among the states. The density is 79 persons per square mile (30 per km²), and the U.S. average is 69 per square mile (27 per km²). Distribution is 60 percent urban, 40 percent rural. Largest cities are: Birmingham (265,968), Mobile (196,278), Montgomery (187,106), Huntsville (159,789), Tuscaloosa (77,759), and Dothan (53,589).
The 1990 United States census reported that Alabama had 4,062,608 people. The state's population had increased 4 1/2 per cent over the 1980 census figure, 3,893,978. According to the 1990 census, Alabama ranks 22nd in population among the 50 states.
About two-thirds of the people of Alabama live in metropolitan areas. These areas are Anniston, Birmingham, Decatur, Dothan, Florence, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa. The Columbus (Georgia) metropolitan area extends into Alabama.
Alabama has 19 cities with populations of more than 20,000. Birmingham, the largest city, developed as a steelmaking center. Today, Birmingham is an important center of service industries, particularly medical services.
Huntsville is the home of the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. During the 1950's, Huntsville's population grew by 340 per cent. Thousands of people moved to the Huntsville area to work on missile and space projects of the United States government.
Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, and other cities have kept the attractiveness of small communities, in spite of their rapid growth. Huge oak trees arch over wide boulevards, even in many downtown areas. Stately old homes add to the charm and dignity of these cities.
About a fourth of the people in Alabama are blacks. Other large population groups in the state include people of Irish, English, German, and American Indian descent.
Alabama established its public school system in 1854. Like most Southern states, Alabama had separate schools for whites and blacks. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that school segregation is unconstitutional. In 1963, Alabama began to desegregate its public schools. By 1973, most of these schools had been integrated.
Today, Alabama operates about 130 local public school systems. It also operates a system of secondary-level vocational technical training centers. The superintendent of education heads the state's public school system. The superintendent is appointed by the state board of education. The nine-member board of education establishes policies for the public school system. The governor serves as president of the board. The other eight members are elected by the voters to four-year terms.
Alabama law requires children from age 7 through 15 to attend school.
Alabama's first large library, the Supreme Court Library in Montgomery, was established in 1828. In 1901, the state legislature established the Department of Archives and History -- the first state-supported archives in the United States.
Today, Alabama has about 200 public libraries. The largest of these public libraries are in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery. The public library in Birmingham owns the Rucker Agee collection of rare maps, the Tutwiler collection on Southern history and literature, and a collection of civil rights documents. The University of Alabama's Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library in Tuscaloosa has materials on the history of the region.
The Anniston Museum of Natural History includes items used by early Indians and displays of birds in their natural surroundings. The George Washington Carver Museum at the Tuskegee University National Historic Site features exhibits that illustrate contributions of blacks to U. S. history. It also displays artwork by African and black American artists. The University of Alabama State Museum of Natural History exhibits a large collection of Indian items. The collection includes prehistoric items found at Mound State Monument. The Historic Mobile Preservation Society has displays on the Civil War period.
The Birmingham Museum of Art, the Fine Arts Museum of the South in Mobile, the Huntsville Museum of Art, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts exhibit chiefly works of art. The helicopter collection of the U. S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker ranks as one of the largest in the world.
Chief agricultural products are chickens, beef cattle, greenhouse and nursery products, eggs, peanuts, pecans, cotton, hogs, berries, melons, sweet potatoes, soybeans, Irish potatoes,dairy products. Chief manufacturing products are paper products, lumber, chemicals, textiles, primary metals, food products, and clothing. Mining consists of coal, marble, salt, iron ore, natural gas, petroleum, crushed stone, and limestone. Seafoods harvested include shrimp, crabs, flounder, mullet, oysters, and red snapper. Gross state product: 70% services (includes community, social, and personal services; finance; government; trade; and transportation, communication, and utilities. 27% industry, including construction, manufacturing, and mining. 3% agriculture, including agriculture, fishing, and forestry.
Service industries, taken together, make up more than two-thirds of Alabama's gross state product -- the total value of all goods and services produced in a state in a year. However, manufacturing is the single most important economic activity. It accounts for more than a fifth of the gross state product. Alabama factories turn out a wide variety of manufactured goods. No one type of manufactured product stands out in importance. Among the state's leading kinds of manufactured goods are paper products, chemicals, textiles, and primary metals.
Mining and farming also contribute to Alabama's economic output. The state is an important producer of coal and natural gas. Much of its agricultural income is provided by farms that raise livestock.
Service industries together contribute 70 percent of the gross state product in Alabama. Most of the service industries are concentrated in metropolitan areas. Alabama's leading service industries are (1) government and (2) community, social, and personal services. Each of these industries provides an equal portion of the gross state product. Government services include the operation of public schools, public hospitals, and military establishments. The public school system is a leading employer in Alabama. Major military bases located in the state include Fort McClellan near Anniston and Fort Rucker near Dothan. Gunter and Maxwell Air Force bases lie near Montgomery. The Huntsville area has the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal. State government offices are based in Montgomery.
Community, social, and personal services consist of a variety of businesses, including doctors' offices and private hospitals, law firms, and engineering companies. Blount, one of the nation's largest construction engineering companies, is based in Montgomery.
Ranking next among Alabama's service industries are (1) wholesale and retail trade, and (2) finance, insurance, and real estate. The wholesale trade of groceries, machinery, and mineral products is important in Alabama. Mobile serves as the state's major center of wholesale trade. Major types of retail businesses include automobile dealerships, discount stores, and food stores. Bruno's, one of the South's largest grocery store chains, is headquartered in Birmingham. Retail trade employs many people throughout Alabama.
Birmingham is Alabama's leading financial center. Two of the South's largest banking companies, Amsouth and SouthTrust, have their headquarters in Birmingham. Large financial companies are also based in Montgomery. Real estate is a major part of the economy because of the large sums of money involved in the buying and selling of homes. The leasing of buildings is also part of the real estate sector.
Transportation, communication, and utilities rank fifth among service industries in Alabama. Many shipping companies are based in Mobile, which has one of the busiest ports in the United States. Ships transport the state's mineral products and many other types of freight. Trucking and shipping companies also transport much of Alabama's freight. Pipeline companies transport petroleum and natural gas. Telephone companies are the most important part of the communications sector. The headquarters of South Central Bell and BellSouth are in Birmingham. Utility companies provide electric, gas, and water service. More information about transportation and communication appears later in this section.
Manufacturing accounts for 22 percent of the gross state product. Goods manufactured there have a value added by manufacture of about $21 billion yearly. Value added by manufacture represents the increase in value or raw materials after they become finished products.
Paper products are the leading category of manufactured goods made in Alabama. Pulp and paper are produced at mills in many parts of the state, including the Mobile, Montgomery, and Childersburg areas. Other paper products manufactured in Alabama include cardboard, paper bags, and paper tissue.
Chemicals rank second in value among Alabama's manufactured products. The state's most important chemical products are used by industry. Alabama factories also produce chemical fibers, fertilizers, and insecticides. Chief chemical production centers in the state include Decatur and Mobile.
Textiles are Alabama's third most important manufactured product. Alabama ranks among the leading textile-producing states. Fabric, thread, yarn, and other textile products are made in many parts of Alabama.
Alabama's fourth-ranking manufactured product, primary metals, is based primarily on the steel industry. Steelmaking is centered in Birmingham, Decatur, and Gadsden.
Other products manufactured in Alabama, in order of value, are food products, clothing, machinery, and rubber and plastic products. The state's major food processing activities include bread baking, meat packing, and soft-drink bottling. Much of the clothing made in Alabama is manufactured in small towns. Dresses are made in Elba and Eufaula. Andalusia, Jasper, and Scottsboro have factories that make men's shirts. Manufacturers in Bay Minette and Haleyville produce lingerie. Factories in Birmingham and Montgomery manufacture heating and air conditioning units. Florence is a center for the manufacture of metalworking machinery. Gadsden, Huntsville, Opelika, and Tuscaloosa have large tire factories. Plants near Birmingham and Huntsville make plastic products.
Mining in Alabama supplies 2 percent of the gross state product. Alabama's most valuable mineral products are coal, natural gas, petroleum, crushed stone, and limestone.
Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Walker counties in north-central Alabama produce most of the state's coal. The coal is a bituminous variety that is taken from both underground and surface mines. Natural gas and petroleum are obtained mainly from wells in the southwestern part of the state. The production of methane gas from coal is a major activity in west-central Alabama Large limestone quarries lie near Birmingham and Huntsville. Limestone is used primarily to make cement and roadbeds.
Alabama is among the leading states in mining bauxite and marble. The state's other mineral products include clays, salt, and sand and gravel.
Agriculture accounts for 3 percent of the gross state product. Farmland covers about 30 percent of the state. Alabama's approximately 46,000 farms have an average size of about 213 acres (86 hectares).
Livestock products account for nearly three-fourths of Alabama's farm income. Alabama ranks among the leading states in the production of broilers (chickens 5 to 12 weeks old). Broilers are the most valuable farm product in the state. They provide more than 40 percent of the farm income in Alabama. Counties in the northern part of the state produce the most broilers.
Beef cattle are the second most valuable farm product in Alabama. Cattle graze on grasslands throughout the state, but especially in the Black Belt in central Alabama. Eggs and milk are also leading livestock products in the state. Hogs are raised in all parts of the state, but especially in the Wiregrass area. Beekeeping is also an important type of livestock farming in Alabama.
Until the early 1900's, cotton production employed many farmworkers and provided almost all of Alabama's agricultural wealth. Alabama is still a leading cotton-producing state. But today cotton supplies only about 2 percent of Alabama's farm income. More farmland is planted in soybeans, the state's most valuable crop, than in cotton. Mechanical pickers harvest much of the cotton crop.
Other field crops of Alabama include corn, hay, oats, sorghum, tobacco, and wheat. Crimson clover and fescue are the major seed crops of the state.
Alabama is a leading producer of peanuts and pecans. Greenhouse and nursery products are also an important source of farm income in the state. Cullman and Limestone counties are Alabama's chief strawberry-producing area. Peaches and apples are important crops in Blount and Chilton counties. Alabama farmers also grow pears. The state's leading vegetable crops include beans, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Alabama farmers also grow many watermelons.
Alabama has an annual fish catch valued at about $40 million. The Gulf of Mexico provides most of the catch. Shrimps are Alabama's most valuable saltwater seafood. Oysters rank next in value. Other saltwater products include blue crabs, croakers, and red snappers. Buffalo fish, catfish, and mussels are caught commercially in freshwater streams in Alabama. Grain-fed catfish, raised in artificial ponds on farms, are an important new food crop.
Plants that burn coal provide about 70 percent of Alabama's electric power. Nuclear plants provide about 20 percent of the state's electric power. Hydroelectric plants supply almost all of the remaining power. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a government corporation, operates hydroelectric and nuclear plants in northern Alabama.
Alabama has about 91,000 miles (146,000 kilometers) of roads and highways. Four major rail lines provide freight service in Alabama. Passenger trains serve Birmingham and two other cities in the state. Most of Alabama's air traffic goes in and out of the airports at Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile.
About 1,350 miles (2,173 kilometers) of navigable waterways cross the state. They include a section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Brownsville, Tex., and Carrabelle, Fla. This section is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) long. The Black Warrior-Tombigbee-Mobile river system, 453 miles (729 kilometers) long, is the longest navigable waterway in Alabama. The Tennessee River connects northern Alabama with the Mississippi River system. The 234 mile (377 kilometer) long Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was completed in 1985. This waterway helps link the port at Mobile with inland ports on the Tennessee and Ohio rivers. Alabama has built dock facilities at Decatur, Demopolis, Eufaula, Guntersville, Huntsville, Phenix City, and other towns along waterways.
Mobile, on Mobile Bay, is Alabama's only seaport. The Alabama State Docks at Mobile are among the finest port facilities in the United States. They can handle about 35 oceangoing vessels at a time.
The Mobile Register, founded in 1813, is Alabama's oldest newspaper. Today, about 100 newspapers, including about 30 dailies, are published in Alabama. The Birmingham News has the largest circulation. Other leading papers include the Birmingham Post-Herald, The Huntsville Times and The Montgomery Advertiser. About 75 periodicals are also published in Alabama.
WAPI of Birmingham is Alabama's oldest commercial radio station. It began in 1922 in Auburn as WMAV. WVTM-TV, the state's first television station, was established in Birmingham in May 1949 as WABT-TV. In 1955, Alabama began operating the first state-owned educational television system in the United States. This system, called Alabama Public Television Network, has stations in several cities, and reaches every county in the state. As of 1990 Alabama had about 220 radio stations and about 25 television stations.
Alabama's Black Belt is known for its black clay soils. Parts of the East Gulf Coastal Plain have sandy soils. Red soils cover most other parts of the state. In many areas, these red soils were once covered by gray or yellow topsoil. Much of the fertile topsoil was carried away by erosion after farmers cut down trees and plowed the land. Today, many Alabama farmers help save fertile soils by contour plowing, terracing, and other conservation methods.
Valuable deposits of coal and limestone lie fairly close together in the Birmingham area of Alabama. These minerals are used in the production of iron and steel. Alabama's most important coal beds are located in the north-central part of the state. Major deposits of limestone are also found in northern Alabama.
Alabama has important oil and natural gas fields in Choctaw, Escambia, Mobile, and other southwestern counties. Other minerals found in the state include asphalt, bauxite, clay, dolomite, marble, mica, salt, sand and gravel, sandstone, and talc.
Natural resources of Alabama include thick pine forests, areas of fertile soil, valuable mineral deposits, and deep rivers.
Most of southern Alabama lies less than 500 feet (150 meters) above sea level. The surface of the state rises gradually toward the northeast. Alabama has six main land regions and the coastline:
The Chattahoochee River forms much of the border between Alabama and Georgia. The Tennessee River is the most important river in northern Alabama. It flows west across almost the entire width of the state.
Alabama has no large natural lakes, but dams on rivers have created many artificial lakes. The largest of these, Guntersville Lake, covers 110 square miles (285 km²). It is formed by Guntersville Dam on the Tennessee River. Other large artificially created lakes, in order of size, include Wheeler on the Tennessee River, Martin on the Tallapoosa River, and Weiss on the Coosa River.
In the spring, blooming shrubs and trees cover the Alabama countryside. The state is famous for its azaleas. It also has flowering dogwood, mountain laurel, and rhododendrons. Alabama's wild flowers include asters, dutchman's-breeches, goldenrods, orchids, pinks, and southern camasses.
Bobcats, deer, red and gray foxes, minks, oppossums, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and wild turkeys live in many parts of Alabama. Beaver colonies thrive in the swamps and lowlands. Alligators can be found in the state's southern swamps and bayous. These areas also provide winter shelter for ducks, geese, and other water birds that fly north in the spring. Freshwater fish in Alabama streams include bass, bream, buffalo fish, catfish, crappies, garfish, and shad. Drumfish, flounder, mackerel, mullet, red snapper, and tarpon are common in the Gulf of Mexico along Alabama's coast. Shellfish found in the Gulf include crabs, oysters, and shrimps.