Tuscaloosa County, located in northwest-central Alabama, is a significant regional hub for commerce, education, and industry, home to a 2020 population of 227,036. Established on February 6, 1818, and named after the 16th-century Chief Tuskaloosa, it notably served as Alabama's state capital from 1826 to 1846, and the University of Alabama was founded there in 1831.

Today, the county gained international recognition in 1993 for hosting Mercedes-Benz's first North American assembly plant, which employs over 4,000 people. Despite this, the University of Alabama remains Tuscaloosa County's largest employer and primary economic and cultural engine. Historically, after a past dominated by cotton and the Civil War, significant late 19th-century improvements to Black Warrior River navigation spurred trade and industrial growth, fostering a century of development despite the era of Jim Crow laws.