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is a suburb Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States eight miles west of Hoover. The population was 29,672 at the 2000, but by the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had fallen to a population of 28,641.
Bessemer is located at (33.391343, -86.956569), about 18 miles southwest of Birmingham, a little north of the center of the state.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.8 square miles (105.6 km²), of which, 40.7 square miles (105.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.17%) is water.
Bessemer is situated in the midst of the iron ore and limestone district of Alabama, in the southern part of Jones Valley (about 3 miles wide). Iron ore was mined on the hills on the city's southeast side, coal was (and still is) mined to the north and west, and limestone deposits were also nearby. All three ingredients were necessary for steelmaking, which led to the area becoming a major steel center from about 1890 through the twentieth century. Steel is no longer made within the city limits, but is still manufactured in its northern city Fairfield.