Can you afford living in Gulf Shores Alabama?

I wanted to tell you something I don't talk about a lot on here. And hopefully my daughters aren't watching this today. I'm Amanda Eckert. Thanks for watching this week's Living in Gulf Shores. And if you're a regular watcher, welcome back. And if you're new, thanks for finding us. But I got a comment recently that I wanted to address because, you know, I always say, leave a comment and I'm going to make a video about it. And someone was asking me specifically about jobs here. So today I am dedicating this whole video to the jobs and opportunity that are here in Baldwin County, Alabama. Now, I am a real estate agent, but I do have a background in economics. That was actually my degree. I don't claim to be an expert at this. However, I'll tell you what I see. I'll tell you what I hear in the news every single day. And I'll tell you the things that are helping me help people with their relocation here from almost every state right now. So this answer can be a little nuanced, but also perhaps more encouraging than people expect. Yes, prices here have gone up a lot, and it's not as easy to afford a house within Baldwin County as it used to be. However, if you know where to look, there's still lots of opportunity to be found here. So let me just say it plainly first. Baldwin County is not the place that you're moving because of the job market. You're probably going to end up up in Huntsville if that's the primary reason for your move. However, there is job growth happening here in a lot of different sectors. And that's honestly not the number one reason why most people are showing up here right now. They're moving here more for the lifestyle, for the weather, for the culture, to be near the water and to get somewhere that just feels like home. And quite frankly, a lot of the people that I'm working with are bringing their income with them. Remote workers, retirees, business owners, people who figured that their job doesn't require them to be in a specific city anymore. So if you're coming from a major metropolitan area to find the same salary, the same career and the same infrastructure that you had there, I want to be honest with you, that can be where people might get into some trouble. But here's the thing. The real question is, can someone that's working a normal job as a police officer, as a nurse, a contractor, someone in logistics, actually make a life here? Can they buy a house? And can their family stay after they move out? And the answer to that question is yes. And it's getting a little bit better every single year. And here's why. I do think about my daughters when I talk about this section, because this is exactly what I was thinking when I moved here. Not, can a remote tech worker making a $200,000 a year salary make it? Yes, obviously. But can someone who leaves their house in the morning, goes to work every day and comes home at night, still make a decent living and afford to buy a house? So let's run through some real local job sectors. First, healthcare. And that's probably the biggest one. And the most stable. And one of the most popular for people that I'm talking to that are relocating here right now. Thomas Hospital in Fairhope is a nationally recognized facility. US News and World Report just recognized them again in their 2025 and 2026 rankings. And they just broke ground on a brand new four-story patient tower because this county is growing so fast, and we need more healthcare options. A registered nurse here earns somewhere in the range of $77,000 to $106,000 a year. That's not much lower than the national averages. And when you factor in some of the affordable housing costs that we have here, and the affordable cost of living that we have here, versus the markets that a lot of those nurses are coming from, the math can look really good. South Baldwin Regional in Foley. Specialist offices. Urgent care. Healthcare jobs are everywhere here. And they're growing with the population. This is not a market where the jobs are shrinking. In Foley, we have South Baldwin Regional Medical. Lots of urgent care facilities around. Specialist office. And don't forget the hospitals in Pensacola and Mobile. Those are great options if you're willing to commute a little bit. But the bottom line is, healthcare is definitely an area where the job market is growing here. Next, we have education. Teachers. Teachers here earn somewhere in the $55,000 to $73,000 range, depending on experience and the role. That's based on reported salaries for the Baldwin County Public School System. Is that going to make you rich? No. But here's the other side of that equation, and something that I think you should really hear. The median home price in Baldwin County is roughly right around $380,000 right now, depending on the area. But there are communities that you can still buy a very lovely home right around the $300,000 mark. Brand new construction with great interest rate incentives. And help with your closing costs. So a teacher's salary here could actually get you into a home. And that's not true in a lot of places where buyers are coming from anymore. Now let's talk about trades and construction. If you're a plumber, an electrician, an HVAC tech, a general contractor, there's more work here than there are people to do it. Building permits in Foley alone went from $700 a year to over $1,600 in a recent year. And Loxley, Robertsdale, Somerdale, that whole corridor is building up rapidly right now. Subdivisions are going up all along the Baldwin Beach Express. And that area was basically nothing just a few years ago. So the trades are in demand here and the pay is pretty good. And unlike some markets where the boom is tapering off, this region's growth trajectory supports continued structure through 2030. Logistics and distribution? Well, this is an exciting new one. And one that a lot of the people outside don't know about yet. I'm going to spend a little bit more time on that in just a minute because I personally am the most excited about that one. But let's switch into tourism and hospitality. This is the good old staple here. And I'll be honest with you. Yes, there are plenty of hospitality jobs here, but there are a lot of still seasonal parts of the county. And if that's what you're relying on as your primary income source, then you have to really plan for slower months. And it's definitely not the reason to move here. Just something to go in with your eyes wide open about. So let's talk about the growth story that a lot of people aren't talking about yet. And this is where I really want to spend some real time because it gets me the most excited. And it's the part that's changing the fastest right now. There's one corridor that I pay specific attention to when I'm out showing property, and that is in Loxley, right along the Baldwin Beach Express. Actually, it's Loxley, Robertsdale, and Summerdale. A few years ago, this was all farmland and rural agricultural land and rural highway. But now it's one of the most active development zones in the entire state. Here's a little bit of what's happening there. First, we have the Port Alabama Industrial Center in Loxley. It's a 900 acre site positioned right off I-10 along Highway 59 and 90. And when it's fully built out, it's going to be 12 million square feet of Class A industrial space. That's the largest industrial site closest to the Port of Mobile, which has experienced rapid growth of its own. Just this month, literally within the last few weeks, Buffalo Rock, the nation's largest single family-owned Pepsi and Dr. Pepper bottler, announced a $10 million distribution facility in Loxley, bringing 100 new jobs. Half of those are professional positions with an average wage of $75,000. That's not a tourism job. That's not seasonal. That's someone's new career here. And that's just one of the announcements. The Loxley Corridor has seen over $150 million in investment and over 350 new direct jobs in just the last few years. Now, with 20 people moving in every day, that's not a job for every person that moves here. But it is a sector of jobs that hasn't been given a lot of attention and one that you should consider if finding a job here is one of the things that you need to do. Now, let's talk about the Port of Mobile, which sits just 20 minutes off of I-10 from Loxley. It just completed a $366 million deepening project. So it is now the deepest container terminal on the entire Gulf Coast. And the economic impact of that in the state of Alabama is nearly $100 billion. That's over 300,000 in jobs connected to that port statewide now. And Airbus is located right there in Mobile. It just opened a brand new assembly line in October of 2025, and that created 1,000 new jobs for the Gulf Coast. Now they have over 3,000 employees in Mobile alone, and that number is growing. Austal USA, also in Mobile. It's investing $750 million in two new facilities to build submarines and large Navy vessels, and that's supposed to bring another 2,000 jobs. Now these are technically Mobile County employers, but if you understand the geography here, a lot of the workers that work in Mobile choose to live here in Baldwin County and make that commute every day. The commute from Daphne or Loxley is very manageable, especially considering what people are used to in larger cities. And as more of the supply chain infrastructure builds up in Loxley and along that corridor, some of those jobs are likely to move even closer to home. The Loxley mayor said himself recently, you can't fight the growth, it's change for the best. And what I always say is jobs follow, and rooftops are going in right along that corridor. The rooftops first went up in Baldwin County because of the lifestyle, and now the jobs are following. So let me come back to why this matters to me personally. I didn't move here and think this is a great investment market. I'll figure everything else out later. I moved here because I wanted my daughters to be able to grow up in a place that they love, build a life here around great people, and not have to leave when they become an adult just to afford a house. And here's what I can tell you in 2026. The median home price right now is roughly right around $380,000. It has gone up a lot since I've been here. And in some neighborhoods, it is. But the central corridor like Loxley, Robertsdale, Summerdale, you can still find new construction in the $280,000 to $300,000 range. Solid homes, new builds with warranties, often including refrigerators, washer and dryers, sometimes even a fence to keep your dogs in. And that's a lot of what buyers want right now. And unlike so many of the other markets that are competing for first-time home buyers, our property taxes are some of the lowest in the country. And with these new construction homes and gold fortification, our homeowners insurance tends to be also lower than where a lot of people are coming from. So a nurse making $85,000 a year or a teacher making $65,000 a year, they can qualify for a home here. And there are people that can stay here, plant roots here, and the math can work. And that doesn't happen in a lot of places anymore. That's what I wanted for my daughters. And honestly, a lot of people that I'm helping move here, that's what they want too. They want to be somewhere that they can afford or that their kids can actually afford to live one day. And now let me save you from some mistakes that I see people make. If you fall in love with this lifestyle without a plan for your income, it can be a stressful way to start a new chapter. So know what your income situation is going to be before you commit. And the job market here is growing fast, but it's not identical to a major metropolitan area by any stretch of the imagination. Senior corporate roles, specialized tech positions, those may require remote work or a commute over to Mobile or Pensacola. So plan for that. Mobile is about 45 minutes in one direction, depending on where you're going, from the eastern shore of Baldwin County. And Pensacola is about an hour on the other end. Those are very doable commutes though. And a lot of my buyers do them. But factor it in before you decide exactly where you want to live in the county. So this life end up working for me and my kids? Yes, it did. I love it here and so do they. Now they're in college and they're starting to think about these things for themselves and they don't need me to make their decisions for them anymore. But I am so glad that I did. I came here not knowing exactly how it was going to unfold. I rebuilt my business from scratch in a brand new real estate market. And that was not comfortable. But I knew what I was looking for. A place where the lifestyle, the weather, the people, the cost of living was real and the opportunity was growing. And I still think that is the case today. You're not too late. I didn't understand exactly how fast the economic story would develop here. I did not have my radar on the port of Mobile or Loxley or the growth along the Baldwin Beach Express. I just knew that people were coming here, that there was excitement, that there was energy, that it was going to be a great place to be. And it is. And for the right person, someone with remote income, a transferable skill, a trade, a healthcare professional, someone going into logistics or manufacturing, this is genuinely one of the best places in the country to make a life right now. You can still afford a house here on a normal income. You can have a career here. And you can get the Gulf Coast lifestyle on top of it. And that combination is genuinely rare. So if you're trying to figure out if this move makes sense for your situation, for your income, for your career, for your family, reach out. That's a conversation I'm having with people every single week right now from Montana. That's a new one. California, Washington, Illinois, Missouri, Idaho, Washington, Virginia, Ohio. People are literally moving to Alabama from every single state right now. But if you want to talk through your specific situation or you just want to grab my relocation guide below to learn a little bit more about how this process works, I'll put the link in the comments and I look forward to talking to you soon. Thanks for watching this episode of Living in Gulf Shores. I'm Amanda Eckert, and I'll see you next week.