Mobile County, Alabama

Mobile County is a county in Alabama, United States, on the Gulf Coast about 60 miles west of
Pensacola, Florida. It had a population of 414,809 at the 2020 census, an estimated 412,590 by
2024, and covers 1,229 square miles (3,183 km2) of land centred near 30°47′N 88°13′W.

Mobile is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 36602. The county
holds 9 cities, 2 incorporated towns and 10 census-designated places across its unincorporated
land, plus more than a dozen smaller unincorporated communities, and it runs on Central Time.
Its FIPS code is 01097.

Towns & Villages in Mobile County

Mobile County has 21 named places with an official Census designation — 11 incorporated
cities and towns, plus 10 census-designated places (CDPs) that are populated but have no
separate city government. Type key: City · seat is the county seat,
City and Town are incorporated municipalities, CDP
is an unincorporated Census-recognized community.

Two pairs are easy to mix up. Movico and Mauvilla sound alike and sit a few miles apart near
Prichard; Movico is the CDP in the table above, Mauvilla is a separate unincorporated community
with no Census population count. Belle Fontaine also has a same-named community in neighboring
Baldwin County across Mobile Bay — the Belle Fontaine listed here is the Mobile County CDP
near Theodore, not the Baldwin County one.

Beyond the 21 places above, the county has more than a dozen smaller unincorporated
communities without their own Census population figures, including Alabama Port, Coden,
Crawford, Eight Mile (ZIP 36613), Fernland, Irvington, Kushla, Le Moyne, Mauvilla, Mon Louis,
St. Elmo, Tanner Williams and Wilmer. Most use a neighboring town’s ZIP code.

ZIP Codes

• 36602 — Mobile (downtown; the city itself spans more than 20 ZIP codes)
• 36610, 36613, 36617 — Prichard
• 36571 — Saraland
• 36572 — Satsuma
• 36611 — Chickasaw
• 36575 — Semmes
• 36522 — Citronelle
• 36509 — Bayou La Batre
• 36525 — Creola
• 36528 — Dauphin Island
• 36560 — Mount Vernon
• 36619 (also serves 36582) — Tillmans Corner
• 36582 (also serves 36590 and 36619) — Theodore
• 36541 — Grand Bay
• 36505 — Axis
• 36513 — Calvert (this ZIP crosses into Washington County)
• 36521 — Chunchula
• 36512 — Bucks

Movico, Gulfcrest and Belle Fontaine have no post office of their own and are served by
Prichard, Grand Bay and Theodore ZIPs respectively.

Geography

Mobile County covers 1,644 square miles in total, 415 of them water — a quarter of the
county’s area. The Mobile River and Mobile-Tensaw Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the
United States, drain into Mobile Bay at the county’s eastern edge. Dauphin Island, a Gulf of
Mexico barrier island reachable by bridge and ferry, forms the county’s southern tip and once
held Fort Gaines, built between 1821 and 1848.

Washington County borders Mobile County to the north (no separate townsvillages.com page for
it yet); Baldwin County lies east across Mobile Bay and the delta (its own live page here covers
Baldwin County, Georgia, a different county of the same name, so it is not linked). To the west
is Jackson County, Mississippi,
and to the northwest is George County,
Mississippi. A small strip of Greene County, Mississippi touches the county’s northwest
corner. The Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound form the southern boundary.

Demographics

Mobile County had 414,809 residents at the 2020 census and an estimated 412,590 in 2024, the
third most populous county in Alabama. Mobile (187,041) and Prichard (19,322) are the two
largest communities. Median household income is $58,880, below the Alabama state figure of
$63,999. Population density works out to about 337 people per square mile of land.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector at roughly 26,370
workers, followed by manufacturing (22,608) and retail trade (20,767). The University of South
Alabama, based in Mobile, is the county’s biggest single employer at about 11,500 people and runs
one of the state’s two public medical schools. The Mobile County Public School System (about
7,200 employees) and Infirmary Health System (about 4,700) follow. Shipbuilder Austal USA and
Airbus’s A320 final-assembly line both operate out of Mobile’s aerospace and maritime industrial
parks. Bayou La Batre, known locally as the Seafood Capital of Alabama, packages catch from
hundreds of shrimp and fishing boats and is home to a large Vietnamese-, Cambodian- and
Laotian-American shrimping community that settled there after the Vietnam War. The Port of
Mobile ranks among the ten busiest U.S. ports by cargo tonnage and includes the McDuffie coal
terminal. Mobile’s Mardi Gras, the oldest organized Carnival celebration in the United States,
is the county’s biggest annual event, running from early January into February or March.

History

French colonists founded Mobile in 1702 as the first capital of French Louisiana, at Fort
Louis de la Mobile; the name is believed to come from a Choctaw word for “paddlers,” referring
to the Mobile River’s original inhabitants. The county itself was organized on December 18,
1812, by proclamation of Mississippi Territory Governor Holmes, after the area passed from
French to British to Spanish and finally American control. On August 5, 1864, Union Rear
Admiral David Farragut defeated Confederate forces under Admiral Franklin Buchanan in the Battle
of Mobile Bay, leading to the fall of Forts Morgan, Gaines and Powell and closing the last major
Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico. Bayou La Batre’s Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian
shrimping community, one of the county’s most distinct later chapters, took root after 1975 as
refugees found the bayou’s fishing grounds similar to home.

Getting There

Interstate 10 runs east-west through Mobile, crossing Mobile Bay on the Bayway and passing
under the bay through the George Wallace Tunnel. Interstate 65 terminates in Mobile, and
Interstate 165 spurs into downtown from the north.

• Pensacola, Florida — about 60 miles east
• Biloxi, Mississippi — about 65 miles west
• New Orleans, Louisiana — about 145 miles west
• Montgomery, Alabama — about 170 miles north

Mobile Regional Airport (MOB) handles commercial flights. Amtrak’s Gulf Coast Mardi Gras
Service stops at downtown Mobile’s train station, connecting to New Orleans.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mobile County, Alabama?
It sits on Alabama’s Gulf Coast in the state’s southwest corner, bordering Mississippi to the
west and Mobile Bay to the east.

What is the population of Mobile County?
414,809 at the 2020 census, an estimated 412,590 as of 2024.

How big is Mobile County?
1,229 square miles of land (3,183 km2), plus 415 square miles of water, mostly Mobile Bay and
the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

What is the county seat of Mobile County?
Mobile, Alabama’s second-largest city and the county’s largest employer hub.

How many towns are in Mobile County?
21 named places carry an official Census designation: 9 cities, 2 incorporated towns and 10
census-designated places.

What ZIP codes does Mobile County use?
Mobile alone spans more than 20 ZIP codes; outlying cities each have their own, from 36505
(Axis) to 36619 (Tillmans Corner). See the ZIP Codes section above for the full list.

Why is Bayou La Batre called the Seafood Capital of Alabama?
Its harbor processes catch from hundreds of shrimp and fishing boats, and it has one of the
Gulf Coast’s largest Vietnamese-, Cambodian- and Laotian-American shrimping communities.

More counties in this state: Towns and
villages in Alabama.