Designated Communities

Main Street programs are more than having great events and making downtown look better. At its core, Main Street is an economic development tool that enhances the tax base of a community, fosters entrepreneurship, builds community capacity, and creates partnerships among key groups in a community.

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Quick Facts

Our Main Streets tell us who we are, who we were and how the past has shaped us.

Main Streets help keep profits in town

Main Streets are prominent employment centers

From 2014-2023, Main Street Alabama communities reported a cumulative total of 4,530 net new jobs.

Main Street Alabama was launched in 2013.

Main Street is a unique preservation based economic development program.

Main Street is a powerful network of linked communities.

For every dollar Alabama puts into the Main Street program, $13.36 is paid back to state coffers in sales taxes.

From 2014-2023, over $1 billion in public and private money was invested in Alabama's Main Street districts.

Main Street is a proven strategy for revitalization.

Property investment in Main Street districts, from 2014-2023, generated $35 million in taxes for Alabama's state and local governments.

The Main Street Approach is an important economic development tool for historic preservation in Alabama.

Our Main Streets are places of shared memory where people still come together to live, work and play.