Energy burden keeps climbing in rural Alabama counties

Energy burden — the share of household income spent keeping the lights on and the house habitable — remains the single most requested form of assistance across Alabama's Community Action network.

Using American Community Survey income and housing-cost estimates, the counties with the highest modelled burden cluster in the Black Belt and parts of the Wiregrass, where older housing stock and lower incomes compound each other.

Weatherization is the durable answer: a single well-executed weatherization job reduces bills every month for years, unlike a one-time crisis payment. The network's constraint is trained crews, which is why CAAA has expanded its weatherization training calendar.