As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 3,436 people, 1,211 households, and 592 families residing in the city.

The area now known as Livingston was part of the traditional territory of the nation of Choctaw Indians until the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830.

At that time, settlers from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia established the first European-American community about two blocks from the current Courthouse Square, near the corner of Madison and Spring Streets.

Soon followed the first newspaper, The Voice of Sumter; four schools (including Livingston Female Academy, now The University of West Alabama), the courthouse, and the Bored Well.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Livingston became widely known as a health spa because of the water from its Bored Well, one of many that made extensive settlement possible in the Black Belt.

This well was bored by an old blind mule which pulled an auger around until an artesian aquifer was reached in 1857.

During the early part of the twentieth century, Livingston continued to be known as a health resort.

In the early 1960s, citizens made an effort to revitalize the town, building on their historic heritage and main street.

In 1972 Livingston was named a finalist in the "All American Cities Competition", sponsored by The Saturday Evening Post.

Lakewood (1840) is a historic antebellum mansion occupied by Julia Tutwiler while she was president of Livingston Normal College.

[13] The Sumter County Courthouse (1902) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.