List of counties in Alabama

The of Alabama is comprised of sixty-seven counties. The oldest and newest in  are  (created, ) and  (created , ), respectively.

The land enclosed by the present state borders was joined to the piecemeal. Prior to permanent settlement by Europeans, the areas claimed by as  and by  as the  overlapped. However, the first permanent was established by the  on the banks of the  in 1702. A part of northern Alabama was granted to as part of  in 1732 while France and England competed for alliances with. Great Britain took possession of France's territory in Alabama following the in 1763. They controlled the area south of the 32nd parallel while the rest of the present-day state remained Indian territory.

Following the, south of the 31st parallel became a possession of Spain while the remainder was organized primarily as the , with narrow claims by Georgia and  persisting until 1804. The territorial assembly established some of the earliest county divisions which have survived to the present. The United States took control of the of West Florida in 1813. In 1814 the opened the territory to American settlers. In 1817 the western part of the territory became the State of and the remainder the. The Alabama territorial legislature established several more county divisions. Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state in 1819. The Alabama state legislature formed additional counties from former Indian lands as the took effect and settlers populated different areas of Alabama.

In 1820, Alabama had 29 counties. By 1830 there were 36, with Indians still occupying land in northeast and far western Alabama. By 1840, 49 counties had been created; 52 by 1850; 65 by 1870; and the present 67 counties by 1903.

According to 2006 U. S. Census estimates, the average population of Alabama's sixty-seven counties is 68,642, with as the most populous (656,700), and  (9,374) the least. The average land area is 757 mi² (1,962 km²). The largest county is (1,596 mi², 4,134 km²) and the smallest is  (535 mi², 1,386 km²).

The Alabama Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Division issues standard automobile license plates bearing a one or two digit number identifying the county in which the vehicle is registered. The prefixes proceed alphabetically, with the first three reserved for the state's historically most populous counties. (Note that follows  using the more common abbreviated form.) Individual license plate numbers are assigned sequentially in each licensing office. The numbers are in the format XA1111A or XXA111A, depending on whether the prefix is one or two digits. has since surpassed in population, but still uses the two-digit "47" prefix. Overflow registrations are accommodated by substituting a letter for one of the registration numbers. (XXZ999Z is followed by XXA0A0A)

The (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. (In this system, St. Clair County is alphabetized ahead of Shelby County.) The FIPS code links in the table point to U. S. Census "quick facts" pages for each county.

Former counties and county names

 * Baine County (for ), changed to in 1868
 * Baker County (for Alfred Baker, a local landowner), changed to in 1874
 * Benton County, first named in 1832 for, who served as aide-de-camp to during the  and, since 1820, a U. S. Senator from Missouri, where he settled. In 1849, Benton renounced his support for slavery, alienating him from the . He lost his seat in 1851, and in 1858 the name of the county was changed to , honoring Benton's Senate rival, , who had died soon after presiding over the momentous.
 * Cahawba County, for the former cpaital city of, changed to in 1820
 * Cotaco County (for Cotaco Creek), changed to in 1821
 * Elk County (for the ), originally part of another Houston County (for ), changed to and  in 1818
 * Hancock County (for ), changed to in 1858
 * Jones County (for Josiah Jones, a local political leader), changed back to in 1868 after Jones refused the honor
 * Jones County (for E. P. Jones), then Sanford County, before becoming in 1877
 * Sanford County (for H. C. Sanford), changed to in 1877

Fictional counties of note

 * Aurora County, the setting for several books by.
 * Beechum County, the setting for the 1992 film, .
 * Greenbow County, the title character's birthplace in the 1986 novel , which was adapted into a feature film in 1994.
 * Maycomb County, the setting for 's 1960 novel , which was adapted into a feature film in 1962.
 * Pearl County, the setting for 's 1943 novel Looking Glass and of several of his short stories.