Alabama County Map: All 67 Counties

The Black Belt—a crescent-shaped prairie across central Alabama named for its rich, dark topsoil—comprises counties such as Dallas, Marengo, Wilcox, and Lowndes. Historically the center of cotton cultivation and civil rights milestones (such as the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march across Dallas and Lowndes counties), it remains predominantly rural and agrarian today.

In sharp contrast, northern mountain counties (Madison, Limestone, Morgan) around Huntsville have expanded rapidly into aerospace, defense, and biotechnology hubs, with Madison County surpassing Mobile as the second-most populous county in the state.

Baldwin and Mobile counties along Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico anchor the state's maritime trade, commercial fishing, and tourism economies, with Baldwin ranking as Alabama’s fastest-growing county by percentage.

Under the 1901 Alabama Constitution, county commissions possess zero inherent home-rule or general ordinance-making power. A county cannot enact zoning ordinances, occupational safety rules, or environmental regulations unless the Alabama Legislature passes specific local legislation.

For over a century, this forced local matters—such as allowing a specific county to regulate golf carts on county roads or alter local sheriff pay—to appear on statewide election ballots as constitutional amendments.

In November 2022, Alabama voters ratified the Recompiled Constitution of Alabama of 2022, reorganizing local amendments by county and granting limited administrative discretion to county commissions, though basic Dillon’s Rule limits remain firmly in place.