2026 Birmingham Economic Dashboard

The Birmingham Economic Dashboard shines as a guiding light, illuminating our city’s progress and its standing among comparable and aspirational cities nationwide. Embarking on a journey towards becoming the most inclusive and thriving community in the Southeast, the Birmingham Economic Dashboard fosters transparency, inspiration, and collaboration essential for steering us in the right direction.

See Our Progress

About the Dashboard

The Birmingham Economic Dashboard is a collaborative effort between city leaders, businesses, and nonprofits to help grow the median income in Birmingham by creating high-paying jobs and attracting top talent to the labor force.

This dashboard tracks progress in 4 economic areas:

Jobs

Educational Attainment

Income

Labor Force Participation

A Path to Progress: How We Climb the Ranks

Each topic area follows a Pathway to Progress leading toward 2030. These pathways were developed in partnership with organizations dedicated to creating positive change in their areas of focus or recognized for their expertise. Each approach brings Birmingham to match the national average or a benchmark set by respected external organizations such as MIT.

Jobs

Make Data Clear: Turn Census and labor statistics into insights everyone can understand.

How we climb the ranks by 2030:

Jobs – Grow the number of jobs paying a living wage ($22/hour).

Educational Attainment

Spot Strengths & Gaps: Show where Birmingham is making progress and where challenges remain.

How we climb the ranks by 2030:

Education – Raise the share of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher to the national average.

Income

Align Action: Give government, nonprofits, businesses and individuals a common source to plan and measure impact.

How we climb the ranks by 2030:

Income – Lift per capita income to match Birmingham’s living wage.

Labor Force

Track Progress: Monitor change over time to see if local initiatives are moving the needle.

How we climb the ranks by 2030:

Labor Force – Increase participation to meet the national average.

Dashboard Function

Provide Clarity:

Break down Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data into a format that’s understandable for business leaders, policymakers, and community members.

Highlight Strengths and Gaps:

Show where progress is happening and where there are opportunities for growth.

Align Action:

Provide a common source to reference in strategy creation for the government, nonprofits, and businesses so the goals of the initiatives created from these entities can be aligned with each other in making informed decisions to improve Birmingham.

Track Progress Over Time:

Serve as a living tool that measures whether the initiatives created by stakeholders are moving the needle towards long-term goals.