As people move out of Birmingham’s most affluent suburbs, one city in the metro stands out for its record-breaking population boom.

Located about 20 miles southeast of Birmingham on U.S. 280 in Shelby County, Chelsea is growing faster than every other city with at least 10,000 residents in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area. In fact, it’s the sixth fastest growing of all Alabama’s cities with at least 10,000 people. Chelsea’s population in 2022 reached an estimated 16,193 people, U.S. Census Bureau data shows.

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“I don’t have to do anything to attract people,” said Mayor Tony Picklesimer, who moved to the city 17 years ago to start a new career in nearby Birmingham after selling his business in Sylacauga. “The people are coming.”

It’s come a long way from its railroad stop origins in the mid-1800s. The city was formally incorporated in 1996, but it was originally settled as Melrose until the railroad company discovered it had two station stops named Melrose and had to make a choice.

Chelsea’s growth is nothing new. Its population soared between 2010 and 2020, increasing by nearly 50% and pushing Chelsea from the 62nd largest city in Alabama in 2010 to No. 49 in 2020. And it hasn’t stopped growing – since the 2020 Census, Chelsea added another 1,100 people, including more than 500 between 2021 and 2022. That was a growth rate of 3.2% in just one year.

What’s driving it? It could be the low property taxes and booming home construction.

Alabama residents already pay the lowest property taxes in the U.S., at an average of $632 in 2020, per the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. Chelsea’s success could have to do with the fact that it offers an even better deal: no city property taxes.

In fact, just last year, the city’s voters turned out in record numbers to reject a proposal that would create a city property tax to fund a new school district.

Homeowners in Chelsea and two other municipalities in Shelby County (Indian Springs and Westover) just have to pay state and county property taxes, per the Shelby County Property Tax Commissioner’s Office.

Chelsea Park, a fast-growing and well-established subdivision in the city, is expected to double soon to 2,500 homes. Situated just off Highway 280, the residential community is developed by Eddleman Properties, Inc., a Homewood-based real estate developer and homebuilder of four other residential communities in Chelsea and elsewhere in the metro area.

Two other new subdivisions are expanding now: D.R. Horton’s Chelsea Acres and Newcastle Homes’ Melrose Landing, with hundreds more homes slated for the market in the next five years, Picklesimer said.

The growth has added strain on city resources. Last year, the City Council pushed forward a proposal to break off from the county’s public school system, funded by a new municipal property tax, saying that Chelsea’s schools were “busting at the seams.” But that initiative failed, with voter turnout higher than any other election in the city’s history. The city does collect a penny sales tax to benefit its schools.

“That’s one issue that you get when you get this rapid of growth, is the schools have trouble keeping up,” Picklesimer said, who was elected in 2016. “We’re trying to keep up from an infrastructure standpoint.”

In late 2021, the city added a new fire station on the east end. And officials worked with the county to literally straighten busy roads like Highways 39 and 47 and improve intersections to stave off traffic congestion, Picklesimer said. The mayor said that before he retires from office in October 2025, he wants to improve sports facilities at the local schools and add additional sidewalks to make the city more walkable and accessible.

Picklesimer pointed out other appeals for new residents: being a short drive from Birmingham while keeping a “small town feel,” student test scores in math and reading trending higher than the statewide averages, public ballparks and other athletic facilities as well as community centers.

“Our city slogan is ‘it’s all about family,’” he said. “We’ve got a lot of amenities to offer a young family. And when you’ve got homes available, you’ve got amenities for families, and you’ve got a good school system, that combination continues to help us grow.”

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Across the country, more and more companies pay attention to livability as a way to find and keep their employees. The city’s working on its own strategy to market itself as a viable option for young families apt for spending and seeking local jobs to attract a corporate headquarters – and more jobs, in general, Picklesimer said. The new 15-acre Foothills Business Park is one step of that, in addition to construction sales tax incentives it offers new and expanding businesses.

Along the 280 corridor, the city is slated for its first hotel, a new La Quinta Inn & Suites, opening in summer of 2024, Picklesimer said. Southern Immediate Urgent Care opened its first metro area location in Chelsea last year, as Buffalo Wild Wings and a few other restaurants also opened in the city.

An ABC wholesale operation moved to the city earlier in May. But while many of Chelsea’s jobs are at healthcare facilities or bank branches, the city doesn’t currently have any major employers with more than 100 staff members, said Kirk Mancer, Shelby County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.

Mancer said there are “lots of positive things” for people who want to start businesses in Chelsea, such as proximity to Birmingham and access to Highway 280.

“At this current stage, it’s all the qualities of ‘small town living’ but access to anything major that someone would want to take advantage of,” he said.

Bringing in more businesses, led by 58 Inc., the county’s economic development arm, would mean more Chelsea residents could work where they live. It would also generate more tax revenue for the city.

“It’s exciting,” Picklesimer said of Chelsea’s rapid growth. “But it is becoming pretty customary. We continue to grow in the three to five percent range every year. I don’t see that changing in at least the immediate future.”