Nick-names for Sylacauga include: "The Marble City", "Buzzard's Roost", "Sly Town".
Sylacauga is the site of the only documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person. On November 30, 1954, a 4 kg piece of what became known as the Hodges Meteorite crashed through the roof of an Oak Grove house, bounced off a radio, and badly bruised Mrs. Ann Hodges, who was taking an afternoon nap.
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,616 people, 5,215 households, and 3,421 families residing in the city. The population density was 681.0 people per square mile (262.9/km²). There were 5,748 housing units at an average density of 310.3/sq mi (119.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.17% White, 28.91% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. 0.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 5,215 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 81.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,533, and the median income for a family was $40,275. Males had a median income of $32,092 versus $21,990 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,209. About 16.6% of families and 21.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.