Tuscaloosa is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Alabama. With a population of 78,265 people and 24 constituent neighborhoods, Tuscaloosa is the fifth largest community in Alabama.

Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Tuscaloosa is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Tuscaloosa is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Tuscaloosa who work in office and administrative support jobs (15.15%), sales jobs (12.87%), and teaching (10.35%).

In addition, Tuscaloosa is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Tuscaloosa culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Tuscaloosa really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Tuscaloosa every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Tuscaloosa. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Tuscaloosa benefits directly from this.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Tuscaloosa spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.14 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Tuscaloosa use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Tuscaloosa's citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding taxis. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Tuscaloosa Information and Demographics

The education level of Tuscaloosa citizens is substantially higher than the average US city or town, as 30.91% of adults in Tuscaloosa have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Tuscaloosa in 2000 was $19,129, which is wealthy relative to Alabama, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $76,516 for a family of four.

Tuscaloosa is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Tuscaloosa home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Tuscaloosa is White, followed by African-American. Important ancestries of people in Tuscaloosa include English, Irish, German, and Scotch-Irish.

The most common language spoken in Tuscaloosa is English. Some people also speak Spanish.