According to the American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau, the number of persons working from home increased significantly in Shelby and many other counties in Alabama between the five-year periods of 2011-2016 and 2017-2021. Just 4% of Shelby County employees worked remotely in 2016.
The number of remote workers in 20 Alabama counties at least doubled over that time, and in a few cases, they increased much more. Some of the biggest counties in the state are among those. Huntsville, which is rapidly expanding, is located in Madison County, where the number of remote employees more than tripled between 2011 and 2021, rising from about 5,100 to over 17,000.
The number of remote workers in Jefferson County, Alabama, which is home to Birmingham and is the state’s largest county, increased dramatically as well, from 7,600 in 2016 to almost 22,100 in 2021. The state’s total rise in remote employees was topped by Jefferson and Madison, with Shelby following in third.
A little county to the north of Mobile called Washington County experienced the most change in terms of percentages. According to Census projections, the number of remote workers in Washington increased by 356%.
In the meantime, some counties actually observed a decline in the proportion of remote workers. The majority of such counties are fairly small, and there are not many of them. However, a bigger county, Etowah, where Gadsden is located, witnessed a 28% decrease in remote employees.
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