At A Glance

• 55 out of 67 of Alabama's counties are considered rural.
• 2,123,399 residents, or 42.3% of the entire Alabama population, live in rural areas.
• The average percentage of uninsured Alabama residents aged 18 to 64 who live in rural areas is 16.4 percent compared to 14.1 percent of residents who live in urban areas.

Access to Healthcare Poses a Challenge in Rural Alabama

• There are 54 rural county hospitals that serve residents in 42 out of the 55 rural counties in Alabama.
• Only 15 rural counties in Alabama have labor and delivery units.
• 28% of women in Alabama have no birthing hospital within 30 minutes of their residence.
• The average response time from call to arrival to the scene for the state is less than 7 minutes. The average response time for urban counties is 0-5 minutes, and the average response time for rural counties is 11-15 minutes. However, it can take up to 30 minutes for some rural counties such as Perry and Clarke.
• In rural areas throughout Alabama, 89.8% of women live over 30 minutes from a birthing hospital compared to 26% of women living in urban areas.
• Alabama has six critical access hospitals within the entire state.
• In rural counties, there are 3.2 dentists per 10,000 residents, compared to 5.5 dentists per 10,000 residents in urban counties in Alabama.
• Hospitals in rural Alabama counties have 21.4 general hospital beds per 10,000 residents compared to 34.6 general hospital beds per 10,000 residents in urban counties.

Updated 2024