Red Bay, Alabama.
Typical home $157,264 (-0.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$415 (+101%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $751 -0%
- $158,015$157,264 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $18,833 +14%
- $138,431$157,264 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Red Bay$825
- Alabama$1,252
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 27 years.
Typical home values in Red Bay, AL fell 0.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Red Bay, Franklin County, Alabama
Red Bay is a city of 3,232 people in Franklin County. 58% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 42% are rented. Unemployment in Franklin County was 3.5% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Franklin County work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Red Bay is a small city in northwest Alabama whose residents are older than in most American towns. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though incomes are below the county's and poverty is more common than a typical American town would see. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and winters are mild and cool, with snow a rare event, while summers run hot and the year brings plenty of rain.
Work. Manufacturing is the main line of work here, followed by schools, hospitals and social care, the building trades and shops. Tiffin Motorhomes, Sunshine Homes and Sunshine Mills are among the largest workplaces in Red Bay. Most people have a short drive to work, and very few work from home.
Things to do. Bear Creek Reservoir is a short drive away and is the nearest place to get out on the water. A longer drive brings you to Tishomingo State Park, a protected area, and to Bay Springs Lake, another reservoir. The Apron Museum, also a longer drive away, suits a quieter day out.
Report a mistake
- 1,457households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 20%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What people in Franklin County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Franklin County had 10,994 jobs in 2025, 0.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 51° and lows near 30°; warmest in August, with highs near 89° and lows near 68°. About 2 inches of snow and 62 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Fulton West weather station, 22 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Red Bay
- Tiffin MotorhomesMotor homes, self-contained, assembling on purchased chassis822
- Sunshine HomesMobile home manufacturing330
- Sunshine MillsPet food, dog and cat, manufacturing253
- Tiffin Motorhomes Inc. ServiceMotor homes, self-contained, assembling on purchased chassis247
- Sunshine Mills Red BayPet food, dog and cat, manufacturing237
- GatesRubber goods, mechanical, manufacturing89
- Red Bay HospitalCritical access hospital79FTE
- Piggly Wiggly #93/AceGrocery stores40
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,018 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Lightningrelatively high in parts of Red BayRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Red Bay’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Franklin County.
Red Bay home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Red Bay$157,264
- Alabama$238,614
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Red Bay18
Zip codes with a Red Bay address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Red Bay — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.