Muscle Shoals is the largest city in
Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
in the northern part of the state and, as of the
2010 census, its population was 13,146.
The estimated population in 2019 was 14,575.
Both the city and the
Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area (including four cities in Colbert and
Lauderdale counties) are commonly called "The Shoals".
Northwest Alabama Regional Airport serves the Shoals region, located in the northwest section of the state in Muscle Shoals.
Due to its strategic location along the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
, Muscle Shoals had long been territory of Native American tribes. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as Europeans entered the area in greater number, it became a center of historic land disputes. The new state of Georgia had ambitions to anchor its western claims (to the Mississippi River) by encouraging development here, but that project did not succeed.
Under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's administration during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
was established to create infrastructure and jobs, resulting in electrification of a large rural area along the river. The Ford Motor Company did build and operate a plant for many years in the Listerhill community, three miles east of Muscle Shoals; it closed in 1982 as part of industrial restructuring when jobs moved out of the country.
Since the 1960s, the city has been known for music. Local studios and artists developed the "Muscle Shoals Sound", including
FAME Studios in the late 1950s and
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969.
Etymology
There are several explanations as to how the city got its name. One is that it was named after a former natural feature of the Tennessee River, a shallow zone where
mussel
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
s were gathered and settlers named, and spelled, "Muscle Shoals". When the area was first settled, the proper spelling of "mussel" to refer to the shellfish had not been locally adopted.
Cherokee people knew this place as ᏓᎫᎾᏱ (Dagunahi), or "the place of clams or mussels," from ''daguna'' (mussel)'' and ''-hi'' (place).
History
Like other areas along waterways, this was important to indigenous peoples for The area of Muscle Shoals was a part of the historic
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
hunting grounds dating to at least the early eighteenth century, if not earlier. In the early 18th century, Muscle Shoals was the site of a French trading post.
In 1783, six prominent North Carolinians (
William Blount,
Richard Caswell,
Griffith Rutherford,
John Donelson,
Joseph Martin,
John Sevier) formed a company for the purposes of establishing a colony at Muscle Shoals.
Many Cherokee fought against the rebels during the late American Revolutionary War, hoping to expel them from their territories. After the Revolution, Cherokee attitudes toward the new U.S. republic were divided, as settlers increasingly encroached on their territory. An anti-American faction, dubbed the
Chickamauga, separated from more conciliatory Cherokees, and moved into present-day south-central and southeastern
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
. Most of this band settled along the
Chickamauga Creek, from which their name was derived. They claimed Muscle Shoals as part of their domain. When Anglo-Americans attempted to settle the region in the 1780s and 1790s, the Chickamaugas bitterly resisted them.
The
Upper Creek, residing in what is now north and central Alabama, also resented any European or Euro-American presence in the region. A major incident occurred in 1790, when U.S. President
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
sent an expedition under Major
John Doughty in an attempt to establish a fort and trading post at Muscle Shoals. This expedition was nearly annihilated by a Chickamauga and Creek party sent to destroy it, and the administration abandoned the project. Meanwhile,
Francisco Luis Hector de Carondelet, governor of the
Spanish Louisiana, was in conversations with the Indian confederation to establish a fort in 1792.
Anglo-American settlers in Tennessee continued to agitate for control of this region. The site was particularly desirable, as it controlled access to fine cotton-producing land immediately to its south. In 1797,
John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, complained to
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
that "The prevention of a settlement at or near the Muscle Shoals is a manifest injury done the whole western country." At Sevier's behest, Jackson attempted to persuade Congress and President
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
to fund a new expedition to take control of the site, but to no avail.
U.S. officials finally took control of the region through a land purchase from the Cherokee in 1807, followed by the Chickasaw in 1817. Fort Hampton was built in neighboring Limestone County to protect both native and Anglo interests. Muscle Shoals was later used as a site from which to exile the Upper Creek to
Indian Territory
Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
(now Oklahoma).
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
President
Wilson authorized a dam on the Tennessee River just downstream of Muscle Shoals to help power
nitrate
Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...
plants for munitions.
The first plant started producing nitrates two weeks after the
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
, but the dam was not completed until 1924.
Meanwhile, in 1922
Henry Ford tried to buy the nitrate works and the unfinished
dam. The Michigan car manufacturer and industrialist proposed leasing the uncompleted hydro-electric dam at Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River in Alabama. The US War Department had begun the project during World War I, and engineers estimated a cost of $40 million to complete. At this time, public projects were financed either through raising taxes—which, Congress was unwilling to do at the time- or by issuing bonds. For the Muscle Shoals project, the proposal was for 30-year bonds at 4% interest.
Ford and his friend and fellow inventor
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
balked at the idea that the US government should have to pay $48 million in interest on top of the $40 million they would have to pay back—all for a project that would benefit the public (the argument being that the hydro-electric dam and accompanying fertilizer plants would create jobs and revitalize the area). Responding to the bond issue, Edison remarked: "Any time we wish to add to the national wealth, we are compelled to add to the national debt." Edison and Ford hoped that a new monetary system could be created where dollar bills were issued directly to workers and manufacturer, with the money being backed by the goods they produced rather than the gold and silver held in bank vaults. Congress eventually rejected Ford's idea.
The project of area development based on hydroelectric power languished until the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
's administration created the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
in 1933 to construct needed infrastructure and install an electrical system in the rural area, using newly generated electricity from the dam complex.
Music
Residents in Muscle Shoals created two studios that have recorded many hit songs since the 1960s. These are
FAME Studios, founded by
Rick Hall, where
Arthur Alexander
Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American country-soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuf ...
,
Percy Sledge,
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
,
Wilson Pickett,
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
and numerous others recorded; and
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, founded by the musicians known as
The Swampers. They worked with
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...
,
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...
,
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
,
The Allman Brothers, and others.
In addition to the city being home to country music band
Shenandoah, it has been a destination of numerous artists to write and record. Both FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are still in operation in the city. They recorded such recent hit songs such as "
Before He Cheats" by
Carrie Underwood and "
I Loved Her First" by
Heartland, continuing the city's musical legacy.
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
recorded an early, unreleased version of "
Careless Whisper" with
Jerry Wexler in Muscle Shoals in 1983.
Bettye LaVette recorded her Grammy nominated album "Scene of the Crime" at FAME in 1972.
The original Muscle Shoals Sound Studios were located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield but that site was closed in 1979 when the studio relocated to 1000 Alabama Avenue in Sheffield. The studio in the Alabama Avenue building closed in 2005; it houses a movie production company, which also hosts tours and concerts at the venue.
Muscle Shoals encouraged the
cross-pollination of musical styles: black artists from the area, such as
Arthur Alexander
Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American country-soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuf ...
and
James Carr, used white country music styles in their work, and white artists from the Shoals frequently borrowed from the blues/gospel influences of their black contemporaries, creating a distinct sound.
Sam Phillips, founder of
Sun Records, was born in and lived in the area. He stated that the Muscle Shoals radio station
WLAY (AM), which played both "white" and "black" music, and where he worked as a disc jockey in the 1940s, influenced his merging of these sounds at Sun Records with
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...
, and
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' editor
David Fricke wrote that if one wanted to play a single recording that would "epitomize and encapsulate the famed Muscle Shoals Sound", that record would be "
I'll Take You There
"I'll Take You There" is a song written by Al Bell (using his real name Alvertis Isbell), and originally performed by soul music, soul/gospel music, gospel family band the Staple Singers. The Staple Singers version, produced by Bell, was releas ...
" by
The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American Gospel music, gospel, soul music, soul, and Rhythm and blues, R&B singing group. Pops Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group w ...
in 1972. After hearing that song, American songwriter
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...
phoned his manager and asked him to arrange a recording session with the musicians who had performed it. Simon was surprised to learn that he would have to travel to Muscle Shoals to work with the artists. After arriving in the small town, he was introduced to the
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section ("The Swampers") who had recorded this song with
Mavis Staples. Expecting black musicians (the original Rhythm Section consisted only of white musicians), and assuming that he had been introduced to the office staff, Simon politely asked to "meet the band". Once things were sorted out, Simon recorded a number of tracks with the Muscle Shoals band, including "
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years, Kodachrome was widely used ...
" and "
Loves Me Like a Rock".
When
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
began to plan the recording of an album that would feature his new-found faith in Christ, he recruited veteran R&B producer
Jerry Wexler and they agreed to use the Muscle Shoals studio. Wexler remembered: "Dylan came to me because he wanted the sonority he'd heard in
Aretha and
Otis as opposed to those out-of-time, see-you-down-the-line, thirteen-and-a-half-measure, out-of-time phrases." With Wexler, Dylan recorded two albums of contemporary gospel music, ''
Slow Train Coming'' (1979) and ''
Saved'' (1980).
In the early 21st century, Florence native
Patterson Hood, son of "Swamper" David Hood, found fame as a member of the alternative rock group
Drive-By Truckers. Siblings and Muscle Shoals natives
Angela Hacker (winner) and
Zac Hacker (second place) were the top two finishing finalists on the 2007 season of ''
Nashville Star'', a country-music singing competition. In 2008,
State Line Mob, a
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals.
History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...
duo group formed by singer and songwriters
Phillip Crunk (Florence native) and
Dana Crunk (Rogersville native), released their first CD, ''
Ruckus'', and won two Muscle Shoals Music Awards for 2008 for (Best New Artist) and Best New Country Album) of the year.
Band of Horses recorded a portion of their album ''Infinite Arms'' at Muscle Shoals.
Artists signed to the FAME label in 2017 include
Holli Mosley,
Dylan LeBlanc,
Jason Isbell,
Angela Hacker,
Gary Nichols, and James LeBlanc.
Although Muscle Shoals is no longer the "Hit Recording Capital of the World" (as it was in the 1960s and 1970s), the music continues. Groups and artists include
Drive-By Truckers,
The Civil Wars,
Dylan LeBlanc,
Gary Nichols,
Jason Isbell,
State Line Mob,
Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt,
Fiddleworms, and
BoomBox.
A number of rock, R&B and country music celebrities have homes in the area surrounding Muscle Shoals (Tuscumbia), or riverside estates along the Tennessee River. They may be seen performing in area nightclubs, typically rehearsing new material.

Sister city
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, Alabama, is frequently referred to as "the birthplace of the Blues".
W. C. Handy was born in Florence and is generally regarded as the "Father of the Blues". Every year since 1982, the
W. C. Handy Music Festival is held in the Florence/Sheffield/Muscle Shoals area, featuring
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
,
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
, rock music and
R&B. The roster of jazz musicians known as the "Festival All-Stars", or as the
W. C. Handy Jazz All-Stars, includes musicians from all over the United States, such as guitarist
Mundell Lowe, drummer
Bill Goodwin, pianist/vocalist
Johnny O'Neal, vibraphone player
Chuck Redd, pianist/vocalist
Ray Reach, and flutist
Holly Hofmann.
On January 6, 2010, Muscle Shoals was added to the
Mississippi Blues Trail.
After FAME studio founder Rick Hall died in early 2018, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' concluded its retrospective with this comment:
"Muscle Shoals remains remarkable not just for the music made there but for its unlikeliness as an epicenter of anything; that a tiny town in a quiet corner of Alabama became a hotbed of progressive, integrated rhythm and blues still feels inexplicable. Whatever Hall conjured there—whatever he dreamt, and made real—is essential to any recounting of American ingenuity. It is a testament to a certain kind of hope." ''
Al.com'' commented that Hall is survived by his family "and a Muscle Shoals music legacy like no other". An editorial in the ''
Anniston Star'' concludes with this epitaph, "If the world wants to know about Alabama – a state seldom publicized for anything but college football and embarrassing politics – the late Rick Hall and his legacy are worthy models to uphold".
3614 Jackson Highway Studio
The original location of
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
since June 2006. From the early 2000s to 2013, it had been partly restored and open for tours. In 2013, the documentary ''
Muscle Shoals'' raised public interest in a major restoration of the original studio. In the same year, the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation was formed to raise funds to purchase the building and to complete major renovations. In June 2013, the owner of the property since 1999 sold it without the historic recording equipment to the Foundation.
A grant from
Beats Electronics, a manufacturer of headphones owned by
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...
, and founded by
Dr. Dre and
Jimmy Iovine
James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...
, provided an essential $1 million. The state tourism director said in 2015 that the 2013 film ''
Muscle Shoals'' had been a significant influence. "The financial support from Beats is a direct result of their film." Additional donations were made by other groups and individuals.
, tours were visiting the partly-restored studio on Jackson Highway. It was closed when major restoration work started in September 2015. Muscle Shoals Sound Studio reopened as a finished tourist attraction on January 9, 2017. Owned and operated by the foundation, the interior is reminiscent of the 1970s, with relevant recording equipment and paraphernalia. There are plans for future recording projects.
Even before the Jackson Highway studio reopened, The Alabama Tourism Department named Muscle Shoals Sound Studio as the state's top attraction in 2017.
The Swampers
The members of the
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section were
Pete Carr (lead guitar),
Jimmy Johnson (rhythm guitar),
Roger Hawkins (drums),
David Hood (bass guitar) and
Barry Beckett (keyboards).
Affectionately called The Swampers, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was a local group of first-call studio musicians (initially working at FAME and then at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios) who were available for back-up. They were given the nickname The Swampers by music producer
Denny Cordell during the
Leon Russell sessions because of their "funky, soulful Southern 'swamp' sound".
A verse of the
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...
song "
Sweet Home Alabama" contains references to the Swampers and their native town, Muscle Shoals: "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers / And they've been known to pick a song or two."
Geography
Muscle Shoals is located on the south bank of the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
at .
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.13%, is water.
The local
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...
is 7b
Interactive Map , USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
Climate
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 16,275 people, 5,371 households, and 3,738 families residing in the city.
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 13,146 people, 5,321 households, and 3,769 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,653 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 80.6%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 15.3%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.3%
Native American, 0.9%
Asian, 1.3% from
other races, and 1.6%
Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 2.7% of the population.
There were 5,321 households, out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.4% were married couples living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males.
The
median income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...
for a household in the city was $48,134, and the median income for a family was $60,875. Males had a median income of $41,061 versus $37,576 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,237. About 8.3% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.9% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,924 people, 4,710 households and 3,452 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,010 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 83.88%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 14.16%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.38%
Native American, 0.56%
Asian, 0.31% from
other races, and 0.70% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 1.16% of the population.
There were 4,710 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males.
The
median income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...
for a household in the city was $40,210, and the median income for a family was $48,113. Males had a median income of $38,063 versus $21,933 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,113. About 5.4% of families and 7.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
Schools
The
Muscle Shoals City School District is currently led by Superintendent Dr. Chad Holden. There are seven schools in the district:
*
Muscle Shoals High School
*Muscle Shoals Career Academy
*Muscle Shoals Middle School
*McBride Elementary School
*Highland Park Elementary School
*Webster Elementary School
*Howell Graves Preschool
Transportation
The city is served by
Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, which is one mile east from the town and is served by one commercial airline.
The Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments (NACOLG) provides
demand-response transit services through NACOLG Transit within the Shoals Area.
Representation in other media
*''Muscle Shoals'' (2013) is an American documentary film about
FAME Studios and
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in this city. Directed by Greg 'Freddy' Camalier, the film was released by
Magnolia Pictures.
Notable people
*
Jason Allen, former
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
and former NFL player
*
Gary Baker, country music singer-songwriter
*
Boyd Bennett,
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...
singer
*
Levi Colbert,
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
Bench Chief
*
Rece Davis, ESPN commentator (QB for the Trojans' football squad)
*
Alecia Elliott, country music singer
*
Donna Godchaux, singer for the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979
*
Dennis Homan, Alabama All-America wide receiver and Dallas Cowboys' player
*
Patterson Hood, singer-songwriter, co-founder of the
Drive-By Truckers
*
Ozzie Newsome, American football player, former general manager & executive VP for the
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...
*
Gary Nichols, country music singer
*
Michael "Nick" Nichols, photographer
*
Leigh Tiffin, American football placekicker
*
Chris Tompkins, songwriter
*
Steve Trash, magician
*
Kim Tribble, country music songwriter
*
Rachel Wammack, country music singer-songwriter
*
John Wyker, musician
References
External links
Article about Muscle Shoals written by Ernest Hemingway''Shoals Music Magazine'' publication dedicated to covering the Muscle Shoals Sound
{{authority control
*
Cities in Alabama
Cities in Colbert County, Alabama
Florence–Muscle Shoals metropolitan area
Populated places established in 1918
Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area
Alabama populated places on the Tennessee River