Living in Mobile, AL

"Dangerous" is too broad a label for any city, but Mobile does sit above national averages on crime. The violent crime index is 119 and property crime hits 136 — both past the 100-point U.S. baseline. Plenty of residents live comfortably and safely, but they've usually chosen their neighborhoods carefully. If you're considering a move, visit first, drive around at night, and look up crime stats block by block. Data: FBI Uniform Crime Report.

Housing costs in Mobile are reasonable. Median rent sits at $1,029/month with median household income at $51,090/year — a 24.2% rent-to-income ratio. That's well within the comfort zone that most financial advisors recommend. It's not dirt cheap, but most working households can afford rent here without financial strain. Other costs like groceries and utilities will vary, but the rent picture is solid. Census ACS 2023 data.

Worth considering, yes. At 21 minutes average, the commute in Mobile isn't brutal but it's not trivial either. 81.2% drive alone, 0.7% ride transit, and 8.1% work remotely. Where you live relative to your office will make a bigger difference than the city-wide average suggests.

Mobile faces a moderate level of climate risk — score of 43/100. The top threats are Flood, Hurricane, and Heat Wave. None of these hit every year, but they're real possibilities that affect insurance rates and emergency planning. Make sure your policy covers the relevant perils, keep a basic emergency kit, and know your evacuation routes if you're in a flood-prone area. FEMA and NOAA data.

Good, overall. The median AQI sits at 44, which falls within the EPA's "Good" category, and Mobile logs 262 clean-air days annually. PM2.5 is the main pollutant. Occasional spikes happen — wildfire smoke, temperature inversions, or high-ozone days — but they're the exception, not the rule. Check AirNow.gov during allergy season or summer heat waves.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report; climate risk assessments using FEMA disaster declarations and NOAA storm records; air quality measurements from the EPA's Air Quality System database. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.