Population:

23rd largest U.S. State by population, with 4,661,900 people (2008 estimate).
30th largest state by area, at 52,419 square miles.

Largest city: Birmingham

Median income:$42,666 (2008 estimate)

Climate:
Yearly rainfall: 56 inches
Yearly snowfall: 2 inches
Temperatures (High/Low) in capital city of Birmingham:
January, 53/32; July, 91/70

Foreclosures:
Foreclosure activity for 2009 increased in Alabama over the prior year. There was a total of 19,896 properties with filings. That works out to a rate of one filing for every 107 households, which is more than double the average in the United States as a whole, and a little less than one percent of the state’s housing units.

Those figures represent a 156 percent increase over 2008 and a 257 percent increase over 2007.

In 2008 there were about 86,000 existing homes (including condos, co-ops, and single-family homes but excluding new homes) sold in Alabama, compared to about 118,000 sold in 2007.

Economy:
Alabama has the largest industrial corridor in the nation and is a leader in steel and iron products, lumber, coal, and textiles. It is the country's largest producer of steel pipe and cast iron. It's also now fourth in the country in automobile output, which has generated 67,800 new jobs since 1993. The state continues to draw much of its agricultural revenue from cotton, though it's also diversified into poultry and livestock, corn, peanuts, dairy and soybeans. Birmingham is known for strong insurance, telecommunications, banking and biotechnology presences. Mobile has Alabama's only seaport and is the tenth largest seaport by tonnage in the United States.

Noteworthy:
Alabama is the only state in the country with all of the natural resources needed for both iron and steel production.