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Is there anything really wrong with being called a redneck?
It’s a part of our culture. Rednecks are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. They’re prominently featured in reality television. There are even video games about rednecks.
So, you’d think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck.
Wait. What is a redneck anyways? Well, according to the official bible of literature, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a redneck is:
“ a white person who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive”
Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. And shop at Walmart.
Using that criteria, it’s not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in Alabama, and then put out a list.
Because, the data never lies, does it?
After analyzing all 439 cities in the Yellowhammer State, we came up with this list as The Most Redneck Cities in Alabama:
- Dothan (Photos)
- Haleyville
- Albertville (Photos)
- Cullman (Photos)
- Russellville
- Florence (Photos)
- Clanton
- Moulton
- Boaz (Photos)
- Wetumpka (Photos)
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked.
What redneck criteria did we use?
In order to rank the most redneck cities in Alabama, we had to determine what criteria makes a redneck.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using Yelp and the Walmart store locator, this is the criteria we used:
The dictionary definition categories
- Small towns
- Least amount of high school graduates
- Lives in the south
And the stereotypical categories
- Number of dive bars per city
- Number of tobacco stores per city
- Number of guns and ammo stores per city
- Number of Walmarts per capita
Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a city’s border, as well as within a short driving distance.
If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, from most to least redneck, we put in a list of the top 100 cities in a chart at the bottom. Hope you’re on there if you want to be.
And at least these aren’t the worst places to live in Alabama.
1. Dothan
Population: 68,000
Gun stores per capita: 1st
Fishing shops per capita: 1st
Mobile home parks per capita: 5th in the state
Walmarts per capita: 5th in Alabama
Congratulations, Dothan. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of Alabama. You may now brag to your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls.
Lets see why. Dothan has the most places to buy guns and ammo and the most number of stores to buy fishing gear per capita in the entire state.
But the real kicker in the number of Walmarts in the area. You have 5 of them within a short driving distance. That’s right. When you include the actual Walmarts and the Walmart Neighborhood Centers.
That’s redneck heaven.
Plus, there are a ton of mobile home parks and RV parks in the area. We counted 8 on the map.
What’s interesting about Dothan is the high school graduation rate of its residents is actually one of the highest in the state. So, Dothan, you have a lot of really smart rednecks.
Edit: Due to popular demand, we have Dothan #1 Redneck in AL T-Shirts for sale in all sizes and colors. Click here for mens and click here for womens.
2. Haleyville
Population: 4,137
High school graduation rate: 70%
Tobacco stores per capita: 31st highest
Walmarts per capita: 1st in Alabama
Haleyville is a teeny little place south of Russellville on the western side of the state. They have a Walmart here, and there’s no one else around for miles, which means they pretty much get to shop there all by themselves. No lines and cheap bait! What else does a redneck need?
Lots of fishing and hunting, that’s what. And there are lots of opportunities for that in Haleyville. You’ve got upper Bear Creek Reservoir practically in your backyard. There, you’ve got great black bass fishing (large mouth and spotted), and according to the Alabama B.A.I.T. report, Upper Bear has been ranked first many times for the least number of angling hours exerted to catch a bass in excess of 5 pounds.
There’s undoubtedly also great hunting just outside of the William B. Bankhead National Forest, also right near Haleyville.
3. Albertville
Population: 21,556
High school graduation rate: 70%
Tobacco stores per capita: 21st in Alabama
Mobile home parks per capita: 36th in the state
When the local newspaper, The Sand Mountain Reporter, did a survey last August called, “Give us your opinion on the future of Albertville,” they were flooded with…zero comments. Why is that? Cause Opossum season opens on September 1. They’re all busy getting their gear ready. No one has time to think about unimportant matters like that.
Folks only have to drive to nearby Guntersville to get their Walmart groceries, and if you know someone in Guntersville, hopefully they have a boat, because Lake Guntersville, in the Tennessee River watershed, has some of the best bass fishing in the state.
4. Cullman
Population: 15,000
Gun stores per capita: 7th in Alabama
Fishing gear per capita: 3rd in the state
Tobacco stores per capita: 9th
If you’re driving north-south on I-65, you’ll come to the little town of Cullman. Boy do they have some great fishing here. Lake Catoma has great largemouth bass and crappie, and nearby Lewis Smith Lake (rednecks call it Smith Lake) has some of the world’s best spotted bass. In fact, they caught a 32-pounder here once.
Rednecks can also get their smoke on, as there are almost more cigarettes and chew per person in the Cullman area than anywhere else in Alabama.
5. Russellville
Population: 9,809
Tobacco shops per capita: 31st in Alabama
Gun stores per capita in the region: 45th in the state
If you’re driving along state route 24, you’ll possibly come to the little redneck haven of Russellville. Here, you’ve got endless opportunities for fishing. Nearby Cedar Creek and Little Bear Creek are really isolated, and a short drive to the Tennessee River will get you to fishing heaven.
Locals like to go to Speedy Pig BBQ, places so redneck they don’t even have a website.
The only thing rednecks here in Russellville don’t have is a Piggly Wiggly in town. That must be frustrating, since there’s one a short drive in every direction. Start writing letters, you guys.
6. Florence
Population: 40,059
Guns stores per capita: 4th in Alabama
Bars per capita and nearby: 10th most in the state
Tobacco shops per capita: 5th most
This one might be a bit of a surprise. Florence might be considered a ‘college town’ since UNA makes its home right downtown. But according to science, this is a great place for rednecks.
Not only does Florence have some of the highest number of places to buy guns and cigarettes per person, you’re right on the banks of the Tennessee River. You can probably fish right outside your back door, while listening to the ‘Bama football games on your back porch. Whoa’ Nellie!
7. Clanton
Population: 8,755
Fishing stores per capita and the area: 12th most in Alabama
High school graduation rate: 77%
Mobile home parks: 30th most
Along I-65 north of Montgomery is the small town of Clanton, where you’ve got great fishing and lots of white people without college degrees. Locals can head over to the Coosa River to catch their bass in kayaks, or get their whitetail hunts on every fall in the nearby rolling hills.
Local rednecks can get their drink on at Boomerangs, and then take their prey back to Smitherman’s Mobile Home Park. Plus, for such a small town, having a Walmart Supercenter, Dollar Tree and a Piggy Wiggly nearby means lots of opportunities to meet other fellow rednecks to speculate about when rut is gonna hit.
8. Moulton
Population: 3,400
Fishing gear per capita: 22nd most in Alabama
Walmarts per capita: Tied, first in state
Bass Pro Shops coming: Soon
This little town outside of Decatur is a perfect place for rednecks. There’s a ton of fishing nearby, and everyone in the entire region is on pins and needles, waiting with anticipation when the Bass Pro Shops opens in Decatur.
The city doesn’t have a Facebook page, which is so redneck. But what they do have is a Walmart Supercenter all to themselves. Locals can talk about how many times they shot their limits while playing pool at The Place. And for the 25% of people here without high school degrees, there’s plenty of blue collar jobs in Decatur. So gas up the truck and head into town.
9. Boaz
Population: 9,695
High school graduation rate: 77%
Gun stores per capita: 13th most in Alabama
Smoke shops per person: 21st in the state
Boaz is a mostly white, tiny place located on state route 1 just south of Albertville. There are fishing holes all over town, and even if they’re private, you can bet they’re stocked. And when did a ‘No Fishing’ sign ever stop a redneck?
Rednecks here like to get a cold one at the Gridiron. There are two pawn shops in town, and two Alabama Tactical Supply outlets within a short driving distance.
What else could a redneck need?
10. Wetumpka
Population: 7,531
High school graduation rate: 24%
Walmarts per capita: 5th most in Alabama
Fishing gear per person: 31st most
Wetumpka might have more fishing spots than any other place in this top ten list. Rednecks have the Coosa River meandering right downtown, plus there’s the Alabama River, Gun Island Chute, and tons of other little coves and creeks.
There are several mobile home parks, either in town or within a short driving distance.
Edit: Due to popular demand, we have Dothan #1 Redneck in AL T-Shirts for sale in all sizes and colors. Click here for mens and click here for womens.
There You Have It
According to the official dictionary definition of a redneck, and based on stereotypes that the internet says are true, using science to determine the most redneck cities in a state can’t be too far off. If you’re analyzing smaller towns in Alabama with blue collar workers, where people have lots of options for drinking, smoking, hunting and Walmarting, this is an accurate list.
If you’re curious enough, here are the least redneck cities in Alabama, according to science.
- Vestavia Hills
- Mountain Brook
- Huntsville
- Montgomery
- Birmingham
And, if you’re interested, we wrote about the 10 Drunkest Cities in Alabama.
You should probably take a closer look at your figures. For many of the cities, you got the populations wrong by several thousand citizens, and your “redneck criteria” smacks of someone that has never actually visited the places they are talking about. Then again, when you have crappy pictures from Google Street View and hundreds of Chris Chase-style blog posts to churn out, who needs actual research and writing skills?
Once again another example showing that you can’t believe it just because you read it on the Internet. What you used to base your rankings on is nothing more than profiling and you should no it’s not nice to offend a specific group, especially with the events of the past several months.
I live outside of Clanton and it might be redneck darlin’ but the greatest people in the world call this place home. Not to mention the sexiest books come from a wonderful author who loves to write surrounded by nature, myself of course *grins*
thats right! i love Clanton, Thorsby and Jemison and i live in Alabaster now. Wish I was back. One day before long I am going to. I lived there 4 years. I loved the people there most are just down home people and who you see is who you see everytime . Meaning they are not fake about anything. i love it all the way from Smokey Hollow cafe down to our Walmart supercenter. but let people keep seeing this so we can keep our towns just like it is. and we can keep our small town simple life with it!!!
From someone who had lived in Dothan, I can honestly say it’s prob one of the least redneck places on this list. Having a Walmart close by doesn’t make it a redneck city. Piggly wigglys and food giants make it closer to a “redneck” city. And I seriously believe there’s more than 68,000 people who live there. I can think of other cities that would fall into this “redneck” category such as Elba, friendship, samson, abbeville, opp…just to name a few.
I’m from The Dothan area and in no way was I offended by what was said I really think this is hilarious. So what if we were rank #1 rednecks in the state it could be worse. So what that we are a Harding working class of folks that like shopping at Walmart. Don’t be so offended!
I’m from The Dothan area and in no way was I offended by what was said I really think this is hilarious. So what if we were rank #1 rednecks in the state it could be worse. So what that we are a Harding working class of folks that like shopping at Walmart.
I was shocked and dismayed that, my home town B’ham, did not score higher in the list of most redneck but to have finished fifth in least redneck cities of Alabama is akin to being in redneck limbo. It’s a sadness I have not known since 5th grade music class where we would sing The Birmingham Jail to the tune of Hear the Wind Blow. Truly a gem of southern culture. At least I can hold my head high and say I had friends who were from towns like Russelville and once dated a young lady from Florence. I don’t like to brag it I have been to Dothan and it was nowhere near as redneck as Birmingham.
I can’t believe that Grand Bay or Chatom didn’t make the top 10
You know how when you go to the state fair in any southern state, and all of the freaks come out that look like those people who lived on the river bank in the film Deliverance? – Well go out towards Jasper and find this town called Sumiton – it’s like the fair every day there! – I am not sure anyone there made it through high school all of the way.
Dont forget about Nauvoo if you gonna talk about Walker County.They only have a Dollar General though. And I think you have to borrow your ammo from your neighbor.
My towns name is Altoona…. We don’t have a Walmart at all. I would think that we’d be on that list somewhere. And if Altoona doesn’t sound redneck I don’t know what does.
What about Locust Fork? That sounds pretty redneck!!!
Or Bugtussle! Yes according to the Map it’s a real place near Dodge City and Breman
Bugtussle had the famous steak house !
I wouldn’t call any of these towns small( one of your criteria). Wheres Geraldine, Crossville,Arab,Douglas, the rest of our small towns. I’d call most of the ones listed here as city’s almost.
Whew sensitive people. Its all in fun. Get over it!! READ the disclaimer at the beginning. If you cannot enjoy humor go read CNN. Gosh, learn to chillax!! Life is too short to be a stuffed shirt.
Yeah its all funny till somebody talks about your home town or calls you a derogatory name . First the criteria is all wrong . They are assuming that the people in these towns need to be entertain 24/7 . Define entertainment . We have cow tipping and possum chaseing . I didnt see that listed ! I think maybe the author of this story dont know real entertainment when he sees it . Or possibly assumes that people in these small towns are unhappy with there lives . He must either be from the north or lives in Birmingham maybe idk . I know this for sure . He is either a notherner or has never lived in a small southern town where people still porch sit and wave as ther town folk drive by . Dont lock there doors at night and dont have to worry about getting mugged if you go out after 9 pm . Ive seen the life in birmingham al. Chicago il . Alanta ga. Los Angeles California Phoenix Arizona . I will take my backwoods red neck small towns over those big cities anyday !
I spent my first years of life in Dothan and it by no means is it redneck now moving from there to Clanton was like a serious major chain and to me Clanton is redneck but I Have to say it has great people in that towm
Well…most of these REDNECKS in Cullman can afford campers to go hang at the really close Smith Lake…Woo hoo!!!! A lot of them own large boats ski doos and pontoon boats….Redneck life….Gottalove it!
I got to say , I live 10 minutes north of Dothan and to be real Ya’ll its all of the smaller surrounding towns like , Pinckard ,Wicksburg , Cottonwood , Ashford , Newton ,Midland City , Rehobeth , Headland, Napier Field, Grimes , Webb , Echo , and all the other lovely little towns that surround Dothan that actually make up the largest part of the Redneck population in our area. Not so much Dothan itself . Drive in any direction 15 minutes outside the Circle City if you want to find us true Alabama Rednecks that live in LA !
Evidently you don’t know the difference in a redneck and a hillbilly. They are cousins but have distinct differences. In Alabama most of the people north of the Walker-Jefferson line are hillbillies. Most of the rednecks are below that line
Dothan is the most redneck town in the state?! I literally laughed at that! It’s anything BUT redneck! The place is huge, contains a huge mall, has the best movie theater for miles around- The reason it has all those guns and fishing stores is because the place is so big! The amount of first-class restaurants, stores, and name brands scream modern, plus the place is loaded with high class neighborhoods. Sure, Dothan has rednecks, but it isn’t a redneck town. It’s a Modern City if anything. Geneva and Samson are different stories though… They’re redneck as they come.
It seems as if Russellville made #5 because of the “endless opportunities for fishing” and because Speedy Pig doesn’t have a website. That’s scientific. Still if it means trolls like Nick James won’t be coming to the city since Russellville’s redneck, go ahead and bump it up to #1. I’m sure they won’t mind.
Interesting that Madison, the states 10th largest city with 46K population and the fastest growing city in Alabama isn’t even on the top 100 list. I guess that’s a good thing. Or the author doesn’t know the difference between Huntsville and Madison. Perhaps not one of them there college grads…..
neither is Eufaula.
No matter what city you live in here I think we are all proud to be residents of Sweet Home Alabama! We have good folks in every part of our state and we have just as much education as any other state in the U.S.A…and its for sure these tater-fed, redneck, country boys can play football up against any state…ROLL TIDE! I hate to think that Wal-Mart is criteria for classifying any town to be redneck because there are very few cities nowdays that dont have one, and that covers the entire nation! All this is in fun for sure, and good stuff for a laugh..at the end of each day we can all be rednecks one way or another and one thing for sure we will band together and help or own when the need arisis cause we are all family redneck or not!!!!
Amen that brother !
This is funny. To the people in Alabama these are town folk. You put big cities on here and that makes them less country. You want redneck put the small towns with barely any stores and the ONE they do have is a small shop that you can eat, get gas and you fishing supplies.
Graduation rate for Boaz is 91%. Where did the 77% come from?
I thought number of Bama fan’s would be one of the criteria for redneck cities..making Tuscaloser #1!
You’re obviously an Auburn fan.
Ha ha ha now that funny but most likey true !
Redneck must be code for “low crime numbers.”
My husband and I are 75 and 76. We don’t need any more drama in our lives. I’m the 4th generation of Floridians, but the non-caring people and high crime rate is just too much for us. We visited several towns/cities in Alabama and loved the people.. We’re looking for a low crime town or city, which doesn’t have a lot of snow. We are white, older and love to fellowship with others. We need some suggestions as to where to look for a home, in a low crime area. We’re both country people who believe in the old ways…Compassionate, loving, kind, and not judgemental. We accept people for who they are, not how we want them to be. Sorry for the novel….Suggestions please.