Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 32,822.

Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee River from the much larger Columbus, Georgia and observes Eastern Time on a de facto basis (in contrast to the rest of Alabama, which observes Central Time) due to Phenix City’s strong economic ties to Columbus. Most of Phenix City is included in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the remainder is in Lee County and therefore included in the Auburn, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The entire city is part of the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika Combined Statistical Area.

In 2007, BusinessWeek named Phenix City the nation’s No. 1 Best Affordable Suburb to raise a family. It is home to Chattahoochee Valley Community College, a public, two-year college with an acceptance rate of 100%. Troy University has a satellite campus in Phenix City.

As of 2020, the mayor is Eddie N. Lowe, the city’s first black mayor elected by the public. The city manager, who holds the task of organizational matters, is Wallace Hunter. 

Phenix City is located at 32°28′22″N 85°1′12″W (32.472822, −85.020121). It is the easternmost settlement in the state of Alabama as well as the Central Time Zone, but it and some other nearby areas unofficially observe Eastern Time, as these areas are part of the metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia, which is in the Eastern Time Zone and adjacent to the city across the Chattahoochee River to the east.