The Gulf Coast state is located in the Southern region of the U.S. and is bordered by Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi. The size of Alabama’s inland waterways ranks second in the United States and it ranks 30th in total land area with 52,423 square miles. The state boasts a population of about 4.6 million residents as of 2006. Birmingham is the most populated city in Alabama with 1,108,210 followed by Mobile with 540, 258.
The demographics for Alabama are as follows: 72.56% White; 26.33% African American; 1.00% American Indian; 0.89% Asian and 0.07% Pacific Islander. Birmingham is known as a leading banking center with two major banks calling it home for their corporate headquarters; Regions Financial and Compass Bancshares. About a dozen smaller banking institutions are also located in the city such as, Superior Bank and New South Federal Savings Bank. While banking has a large presence in the state, so does telecommunications, the insurance industry and construction and engineering firms. Meanwhile, the city of Mobile is Alabama’s only saltwater port city and is a busy seaport to the Gulf of Mexico. The Port of Mobile ranks as the 10th largest by tonnage. The state of Alabama has a general sales tax rate of 4%, but varies dependent upon additional city and county sales taxes. The corporate tax rate is 6.5%. These tax rates and the overall tax burden for the state rank it as the 2nd least tax burdened area of the country.