Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region.
As of the 2020 census, its population was 227,036, making it the fifth-most populous county in Alabama. The county seat and largest city is Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa County is part of the Tuscaloosa, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes Hale and Pickens counties. The community gained international attention in 1993 when it landed Mercedes-Benz's first North American assembly plant, and as of 2021, the company employs over 4,000 people at the facility. Even so, Tier-1 research university the University of Alabama remains the county's largest employer and dominant economic and cultural engine.
History See also the history of Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Early settlement The pace of white settlement in the Southeast increased greatly after the War of 1812 and the Treaty of Fort Jackson and the subsequent availability of land previously settled by Native Americans. A small assortment of log cabins soon arose near the large Creek village at the fall line of the river, which the new settlers named in honor of the sixteenth-century Chief Tuskaloosa."ACES Winston County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpage: ACES-Tuscaloosa. of a Muskogean-speaking tribe and paramount chief of the Mississippian culture. To form the word, they combined the Choctaw words "tushka" or "tashka" ("warrior") and "lusa" ("black").
In 1817, Alabama became a territory. Tuscaloosa County was established on February 6, 1818. On December 13, 1819, the territorial legislature incorporated the town of Tuskaloosa- now Tuscaloosa - one day before Congress admitted Alabama the Union as a state.
From 1826 to 1846, Tuskaloosa was the capital of Alabama. The State House was built at the corner of 6th Street and 28th Avenue (now the site of Capitol Park). In 1831, the University of Alabama was established.
Civil War and Reconstruction During the antebellum years, the principal crop was cotton, cultivated and processed by African-American slaves. By 1860, shortly before Alabama's secession from the Union, the county had a total of 12,971 whites, 84 free African-Americans, and 10,145 African-American slaves; the latter comprised 43.7 percent of the total population.Tom Blake, "MIGRATION OF FORMER SLAVES", Tuscaloosa County, AL, February 2002, at Rootsweb The Civil War brought significant changes, including migration out of the county by some African Americans. Some freedmen moved to nearby counties and larger cities for more opportunities and to join with other freedmen in communities less subject to white supervision and intimidation.
Several thousand men from Tuscaloosa County fought in the Confederate armies. During the last weeks of the War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the university. The town of Tuscaloosa was also damaged in the battle and shared fully in the South's economic sufferings which followed the defeat. Following Reconstruction, there was violence as whites struggled to regain control of the state legislature. It reached a height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tuscaloosa County had a total of 10 documented lynchings of African Americans, according to a 2015 study by the Equal Justice Initiative."Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Alabama: Tuscaloosa", 3rd edition , from Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror, 2015, Equal Justice Institute, Montgomery, Alabama
In the 1890s the construction of a system of locks and dams on the Black Warrior River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improved navigation to such an extent that Tuscaloosa was effectively connected to the Gulf Coast seaport of Mobile. This stimulated the economy and trade, and mining and metallurgical industries were developed in the region. By the advent of the 20th century, the growth of the University of Alabama and the mental health-care facilities in the city, along with a strong national economy, fueled a steady growth in Tuscaloosa which continued unabated for 100 years.
In 1901, the state legislature passed a constitution that disenfranchised most African Americans and tens of thousands of poor whites and followed with Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation. Due to this oppression and problems of continued violence by lynchings, many African Americans left Alabama in two waves of the Great Migration in the first half of the 20th century. They went to Northern and Midwestern industrial cities. Their mass departure from Tuscaloosa County is reflected in the lower rates of county population growth from 1910 to 1930, and from 1950 to 1970. (see Census Table).
Civil Rights era Blacks by 1960 represented 28.7% of the county population, and they were still disenfranchised throughout the state. African Americans in Tuscaloosa were active in demonstrations and other civil rights activities throughout the 1960s, seeking desegregation of public facilities, including the county courthouse. The university was at the center of significant moments in the civil rights movement, including the admission of Autherine Lucy and the pro-segregation demonstration that followed as well as the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door incident in which then-governor George Wallace attempted to stop desegregation of the institution by denying entrance to two African-American students.
The late 20th century brought positive economic news when Mercedes-Benz announced it would build its first U.S. assembly plant near Vance. The facility opened in 1995 and began assembling the R-Class Grand Sport Tourer in 2005. From 2006 to 2015 it produced the GL-Class vehicles; and since 1998 and 2015 respectively, has produced the GLS-Class and GLE-CLASS. The plant brought thousands of jobs to the area through its own direct hires as well as those of the many component suppliers it attracted.
2000 to Present On April 27, 2011, the city of Tuscaloosa was hit by a half-mile (800 m) wide EF4 tornado, which was part of the 2011 Super Outbreak. It resulted in at least 44 deaths in the city, over 1000 injuries, and massive devastation. Officials at DCH Hospital (alone) in Tuscaloosa reported treating more than 1000 injured people in the first several days of the tornado aftermath. Mayor Maddox was quoted saying that "We have neighborhoods that have been basically removed from the map." On April 29, President Barack Obama, upon touring the tornado damage in Tuscaloosa, said "I have never seen devastation like this".
In the decade since, more than $1 billion in public and private funding has assisted the community in recovery. Former Tuscaloosa City Council President told NPR in 2021, "Black, white, young and old come together and we worked through this thing and made Tuscaloosa what it is today."
According to a police violence tracking website, police have killed directly or indirectly 18 people over the last 21 years in the county, half of them African American.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.2%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Alabama by land area and third-largest by total area. It is located in the west central part of the state, in the region commonly known as West Alabama. The county straddles the boundary between the Appalachian Highlands and the Gulf Coastal Plain and consequently boasts a diverse geography. Tuscaloosa County contains part of the Talladega National Forest, a national protected area.
Adjacent counties are: Walker County (northeast), Jefferson County (east), Bibb County (southeast), Hale County (south), Greene County (southwest), Pickens County (west), and Fayette County (northwest)
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Tuscaloosa County, Alabama – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010White alone (NH)111,367126,611134,88067.55%65.04%59.41%Black or African American alone (NH)48,13557,40168,77929.19%29.49%30.29%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)3484554200.21%0.23%0.18%Asian alone (NH)1,5062,2933,2410.91%1.18%1.43%Pacific Islander alone (NH)1976940.01%0.04%0.04%Other race alone (NH)1071367920.06%0.07%0.35%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)1,2631,7356,5320.77%0.89%2.88%Hispanic or Latino (any race)2,1305,94912,2981.29%3.06%5.42%Total164,875194,656227,036100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 227,036. The median age was 32.9 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 13.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.5 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 60.2% White, 30.4% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.8% from some other race, and 4.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.4% of the population.
68.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 31.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 89,962 households in the county, of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 33.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 101,460 housing units, of which 11.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 58.9% were owner-occupied and 41.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 11.6%.
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 194,656 people, 76,141 households, and 46,304 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 84,872 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 66.3% White, 29.6% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.5% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Nearly 3.1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 76,141 households, out of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 41.6% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.2% were non-families. 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42, and the average family size was 3.02.
In the county, 21.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 19.7% was from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $42,311, and the median income for a family was $58,756. Males had a median income of $42,424 versus $32,163 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,546. About 11.3% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.4% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.
2000 census As of the 2000 census, there were 164,875 people, 64,517 households, and 41,677 families residing in the county. The population density was . The population core of the county lies in Tuscaloosa-Northport conurbation (including Coaling, Coker, and Holt CDP). The combined 2000 Census population of this area (not including their undesignated suburban census areas) is 103,367, accounting for 62.7% of the county in population, while only accounting for 6.9% in area. Consequently, the population density of the central population core is , while the density of the county outside the central population core is only .