2025 Children's of Alabmama Community Health Needs Assessment

The population of children in the Birmingham MSA is also aging. Year over year, the share of children aged 14 to 17 has increased, while the share of children under 5 and 5 to 13 has declined, with the latter group declining the most. See Figure 6.

Figure 6. Population Change by Age Band, 2020–24

With a population of 150,703, Jefferson County has the most children, and Greene County, with 1,525, has the fewest. 11 Marshall County has the highest percent of children as a share of the population at 26%, and Coosa County the lowest at 16%. 12 See the full table in Appendix A.

POVERTY

Alabama ranks 6 th in the percentage of people in poverty at 16.2%, compared to a national rate of 12.6%. 13 Almost 22% of Alabama children are in poverty, compared to a national rate of 16.3%. This ranks the state 48 th in the percentage of children in poverty. 14

______________________________________ 11 Annual County and Puerto Rico Municipio Resident Population Estimates by Selected Age Groups and Sex: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024 (CC-EST2024-AGESEX). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. June 2025. 12 Annual County and Puerto Rico Municipio Resident Population Estimates by Selected Age Groups and Sex: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024 (CC-EST2024-AGESEX). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. June 2025. 13 Barries to Prosperity 2024 Dashboard.” Alabama Possible analysis of U.S. Census data. https://alabamapossible.org/wp-content/ uploads/2024/09/AP_PovertyFactSheet_2024_Web.pdf 14 “Children in Poverty in Alabama.” America’s Health Rankings. https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/measures/ChildPoverty/AL

Children’s of Alabama, 2025 CHNA

13