Alabama 2

The center of population of Alabama is located in Chilton County, outside of the town of Jemison.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Alabama had a population of 4,779,736. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 68.5% White (67.0% Non-Hispanic White Alone), 26.2% Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.0% from Some Other Race, and 1.5% from Two or More Races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 3.9% of the population.

The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama are: African American (26.2%), English (23.6%), Irish (7.7%), German(5.7%), and Scots-Irish (2.0%). Those citing "American" ancestry in Alabama are of overwhelmingly English extraction, however most English Americansidentify simply as having American ancestry because their roots have been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early 1600s. Demographers estimate that a minimum of 20-23% of people in Alabama are of predominantly English ancestry and state that the figure is probably much higher. In the 1980 census, 41% of the people in Alabama cited that they were of English ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group at the time. There are also many more people in Alabama of Scots-Irish origins than are self-reported. Many people in Alabama claim Irish ancestry because of the term "Scots-Irish", but most of the time in Alabama this term is used for those with Scottish roots, rather than Irish.

In 1984, under the Davis–Strong Act, Alabama established a state Indian Commission and officially recognized seven American Indian tribes, including the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama, which is a 501 (c3) group. It is made up of descendants of the Chickamauga Cherokee and others who managed to evade Indian Removalin the 1830s. Working with Auburn University, the tribe has begun a revival of the Cherokee language.

Alabama is located in the middle of the Bible Belt. A majority of people in Alabama today identify as Protestant. As of 2000, the three largest denominational groups in Alabama are Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, and Catholic. The Southern Baptist Convention has the highest number of adherents in Alabama with 1,380,121, followed by the United Methodist Church with 327,734 members, and the Catholic Church with 150,647 adherents.

In a 2007 survey, nearly 70% of respondents could name all four of the Christian Gospels. Of those who indicated a religious preference, 59% said they possessed a "full understanding" of their faith and needed no further learning. In a 2007 poll, 92% of Alabamians reported having at least some confidence in churches in the state. In the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 80% of Alabama respondents reported their religion as Christian (other than Catholic,) 6% as Catholic, and 11% as having no religion at all.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed that Alabama was one of the worst in the country for obesity with most counties having over 29% of adults obese, except for ten which exceeded 26%. Residents were least likely of any state in the nation to exercise. Alabama has one of the highest incidents of adult onset diabetes in the country, exceeding 10% of adults.

The state has invested in aerospace, education, health care, banking, and various heavy industries, including automobile manufacturing, mineral extraction, steel production and fabrication.

According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2008 total gross state product was $170 billion, or $29,411 per capita. Alabama's 2008 GDP increased 0.7% from the previous year. The single largest increase came in the area of information. In 1999, per capita income for the state was $18,189.

As of September 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 8.9%.

According to the Birmingham Business Journal, the five employers which employs the most employees in Alabama as of 2011 were:

Employer	Number of employees
Redstone Arsenal	25,373
University of Alabama at Birmingham (includes UAB Hospital)	18,750
Maxwell Air Force Base	12,280
State of Alabama	9,500
Mobile County Public School System	8,100

Alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains such as corn and sorghum, vegetables, milk,soybeans, and peaches. Although known as "The Cotton State", Alabama ranks between eighth and tenth in national cotton production, according to various reports, with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi comprising the top three.

Alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products (including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. Also, Alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the Huntsville area, location of NASA'sGeorge C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal.

Most Alabama's economic growth is due to the state's expanding automotive manufacturing industry. Located in the state are Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, as well as their various suppliers. Since 1993, the automobile industry has generated more than 67,800 new jobs in the state. Alabama currently ranks 4th in the nation in automobile output.

Steel producers Nucor, SSAB, ThyssenKrupp, and U.S. Steel have facilities in Alabama and employ over 10,000 people. In May 2007, German steelmakerThyssenKrupp selected Alabama for a $3.7 billion steel production plant, with the promise of 2,700 permanent jobs.[83] When ThyssenKrupp's new facilities reach full production capacity, Alabama is expected to become the third largest steel producing state in the country behind Indiana and Pennsylvania.

The Hunt Refining Company, a subsidiary of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., is based in Tuscaloosa and operates a refinery there. The company also operates terminals in Mobile, Melvin, and Moundville. JVC America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of JVC Americas Corp., operates an optical disc replication and packaging plant in Tuscaloosa.

Michelin North America operated a 1,000,000 square feet (9.3 ha) BFGoodrich Tire manufacturing plant in Opelika from 1963 to 2009, when it shut down. GAF Materials Corporation formerly operated a plant in Mobile, but ceased production operations in 2010. The plant had previously been idled in 2007 before resuming in 2008 and may reopen in the future once demand recovers.

An estimated 100,000 tourists annually from other countries visit the state, including from Canada, England, Germany and Japan. In 2006, 22.3 million tourists spent $8.3 billion providing an estimated 162,000 jobs in the state.

UAB Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in Alabama. UAB is the largest employer in Alabama, with a workforce of about 20,000.

Alabama has the headquarters of Regions Financial Corporation, BBVA Compass and Superior Bancorp. Birmingham-based Compass Banchshares was acquired by Spanish-based BBVA in September 2007, although the headquarters of BBVA Compass remains in Birmingham. In November 2006, Regions Financial completed its merger with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. SouthTrust Corporation, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004 for $14.3 billion. The city still has major operations for Wachovia and its now post-operating bank Wells Fargo, which includes a regional headquarters, a operations center campus and a $400 million dollar data center. Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered in the Birmingham, such as Superior Bancorp, ServisFirst and New South Federal Savings Bank. Birmingham also serves as the headquarters for several large investment management companies, including Harbert Management Corporation.

Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, also has a major presence in Alabama with several large offices in Birmingham. The company has over 6,000 employees and more than 1,200 contract employees.

Many commercial technology companies are headquartered in Huntsville, such as the network access company ADTRAN, computer graphics company Intergraph, design and manufacturer of IT infrastructure Avocent, and telecommunications provider Deltacom. Cinram manufactures and distributes 20th Century Fox DVDs and Blu-ray Discs out of their Huntsville plant.

Rust International has grown to include Brasfield & Gorrie, BE&K, Hoar Construction and B.L. Harbert International, which all routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design, international construction, and engineering firms. (Rust International was acquired in 2000 by Washington Group International, which was in turn acquired by San-Francisco based URS Corporation in 2007.)

The Port of Mobile, Alabama's only saltwater port, is a busy seaport on the Gulf of Mexico with inland waterway access to the Midwest by way of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Port of Mobile is currently the 9th-largest by tonnage in the United States.

Barge transportation in and out of the Port of Tuscaloosa and other commercial navigation make the Black Warrior River useful in the state of Alabama.

The foundational document for Alabama's government is the Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901. At almost 800 amendments and 310,000 words, it is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the U.S. Constitution. There is a significant movement to rewrite and modernize Alabama's constitution. This movement is based upon the fact that Alabama's constitution highly centralizes power in Montgomery and leaves practically no power in local hands. Any policy changes proposed around the state must be approved by the entire Alabama legislature and, frequently, by state referendum. One criticism of the current constitution claims that its complexity and length were intentional to codify segregation and racism.

Alabama is divided into three equal branches: The legislative branch is the Alabama Legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the Alabama House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation.

The executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the Governor of Alabama. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the Attorney General of Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the State Auditor of Alabama.

The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the Constitution and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Alabama levies a 2, 4, or 5 percent personal income tax, depending upon the amount earned and filing status. Taxpayers are not allowed to deduct their federal income tax from their Alabama state tax, but can deduct federal Social Security and Medicare taxes.

The state's general sales tax rate is 4%. The collection rate could be substantially higher, depending upon additional city and county sales taxes. For example, the total sales tax rate in Mobile is 10% and there is an additional restaurant tax of 1%, which means that a diner in Mobile would pay a 11% tax on a meal. Sales and excise taxes in Alabama account for 51% of all state and local revenue, compared with an average of about 36% nationwide. Alabama is also one of the few remaining states that levies a tax on food and medicine. Alabama's income tax on poor working families is among the nation's very highest. Alabama is the only state that levies income tax on a family of four with income as low as $4,600, which is barely one-quarter of the federal poverty line. Alabama's threshold is the lowest among the 41 states and the District of Columbia with income taxes.

The corporate income tax rate is currently 6.5%. The overall federal, state, and local tax burden in Alabama ranks the state as the second least tax-burdened state in the country. Property taxesare the lowest in the United States. The current state constitution requires a voter referendum to raise property taxes.

Since Alabama's tax structure largely depends on consumer spending, it is subject to high variable budget structure. For example, in 2003 Alabama had an annual budget deficit as high as $670 million.

Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the County Commission, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Because of the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but seven counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.

Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. However, counties can declare themselves "dry"; the state does not sell alcohol in those areas.

• List of counties in Alabama

The current governor of the state is Republican Robert Bentley. The lieutenant governor is Republican Kay Ivey. The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Democrat Sue Bell Cobb. The Republican Party currently holds a majority in both houses of the Legislature. The Legislature has the power to override a gubernatorialveto by a simple majority (most state Legislatures require a two-thirds majority to override a veto).

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