Mobile or Huntsville? (Birmingham, Montgomery, Decatur: home, rent, jobs)

[Sailaway50]

Thanks. It's such a shame when lovely old neighborhoods/homes get "surrounded" like that......

[kokoesquire]

Look, Aquemini's response is right on target. Your best bet is Huntsville, particularly in a post-911 world, Huntsville is big on the federal job scene. Plus, the school system is great, you don't have to do alot of shopping around. My school was degraded in the media, but i felt very prepared while in college and did very well on standardized tests without any prep courses.

I would add that Mobile is seeing a decline in population. I considered moving there and worked at the largest law firm there. while the city certainly has character, I would consider it if I were retiring, perhaps. I am not sure about the school systems, but I doubt that they are on the same level as Huntsville.

The thing is Huntsville's community is highly educated in comparison to other cities in AL. While I can see how people may point out that Huntsville is boring and lacks character I don't think its a bad place to raise a family. Whenever you move to a new place you are going to have to get out and get involved. Huntsville's no different.

Moving to Lower Alabama, or LA as we call it comes with certain economic drawbacks and I wouldn't move to LA personally because it is old Alabama. And I'm not too into old Alabama.

Birmingham's nice and is doing alot to eradicate the images and expereinces of a bygone era.

Good Luck.

[Keeper]

What else do you want to know? I think you can tell we love our state and cities.

[mimpdaddy]

Originally Posted by kokoesquire

Look, Aquemini's response is right on target. Your best bet is Huntsville, particularly in a post-911 world, Huntsville is big on the federal job scene. Plus, the school system is great, you don't have to do alot of shopping around. My school was degraded in the media, but i felt very prepared while in college and did very well on standardized tests without any prep courses.

I would add that Mobile is seeing a decline in population. I considered moving there and worked at the largest law firm there. while the city certainly has character, I would consider it if I were retiring, perhaps. I am not sure about the school systems, but I doubt that they are on the same level as Huntsville.

The thing is Huntsville's community is highly educated in comparison to other cities in AL. While I can see how people may point out that Huntsville is boring and lacks character I don't think its a bad place to raise a family. Whenever you move to a new place you are going to have to get out and get involved. Huntsville's no different.

Moving to Lower Alabama, or LA as we call it comes with certain economic drawbacks and I wouldn't move to LA personally because it is old Alabama. And I'm not too into old Alabama.

Birmingham's nice and is doing alot to eradicate the images and expereinces of a bygone era.

Good Luck.

okay now these are the facts I looked up.



Population:
As of 2007, Mobile's population is 192,830 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of -3.06 percent. See all of our Mobile demographic data.
Mobile-Daphne-Fairhope Combined Statistical Area with a total population of 540,258, the second largest CSA in the state.


Economy:
Aerospace, retail, services, construction, medicine, and manufacturing are Mobile's major industries. After experiencing economic decline for several decades, Mobile's economy began to rebound in the late 1980s. Between 1993 and 2003 13,983 new jobs were created as 87 new companies were founded and 399 existing companies were expanded. 1,700 new jobs were created from February 2003 to February 2004.[113] Mobile's Alabama State Docks is currently undergoing the largest expansion in its history by expanding its container processing and storage facility and increasing container storage at the docks by over 1,000%.[114] As of 2005, the Port of Mobile was the 11th largest by cargo volume in the United States.[11]

In 2005 Austal USA, based in Mobile, expanded their production facility for US defense and commercial aluminium shipbuilding.[115] In 2007 German steel manufacturer ThyssenKrupp announced plans for a $3.7 billion steel mill.[116] The new plant is currently under construction in northern Mobile County. Company officials state that 2,700 permanent jobs will be added to the local economy.[116] Mobile is also in competition with Boeing to become home to the nation's largest military contract in history, an aerial refueling tanker project for the armed forces which would generate over 5,000 high paying jobs in Mobile.[117] The project would be with EADS North America, based out of the Brookley Complex.[117]

The Brookley Complex, also known as the Mobile Downtown Airport, is an industrial complex and airport located 3 miles (5 km) south of the central business district of the city. It is currently the largest industrial and transportation complex in the region with over 100 companies, many of which are aerospace, and 4000 employees on 1,700 acres (688 ha).[118] Brookley includes the largest private employer in Mobile County, ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering, a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering.[118] According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mobile's unemployment rate is 3.7% as of September 2007.



Schools:

Your right , Huntsville has better schools but with new industry and booming economy that will have to change. But Mobile has some good schools already.
The thing is black schools in Mobile were not getting any support from the school system in Mobile, unlike Huntsville which is majority white and less segregated than Mobile.I 've been keeping up on this and now it seems the officials in Mobile are really improving that city as a whole.You can look up everything I said online.




Rank School Location State Index Subs. Lunch E & E
4 Jefferson County IBS * Irondale Ala. 9.04 15 100
137 Loveless Academic Magnet Montgomery Ala. 3 10 81.7
214 Mountain Brook Birmingham Ala. 2.616 0 53
299 Auburn * Auburn Ala. 2.331 20 90
558 Grissom Huntsville Ala. 1.826 6 34.6
1121 Bob Jones Madison Ala. 1.206 11.5 17.4
1313 Spain Park Hoover Ala. 1.03 11.7 22.6

[Bama`s Port]

Mobile has a very strong economy EADs will be soon landing a contract that will creat 1500 high paying jobs in Mobile and 4500 indirect jobs in Alabama . I read the Mobile Bay monthly magazine when I was in Mobile for Christmas and it stated that around 1000 high paying jobs came to the Mobile area between 2006 and early 2007 which are private companies that decided to move to Mobile. These jobs employed around 40 to 60 and startyinf salary of around 60,000 . Mobile was put in the top ten by Fortune for cities to do business . Huntsvilles income capata is higher , in 2007 Mobile and Montgomery had the fastest growing income capata in the state Montgomery 1 and Mobile 2 by CNN . There is a lot of jobs development and Money in Mobile that goes beyond the 3 billion dolar and 300 million dolar steal plants that are being built in Mobile .ThyssenKrupp will creat 50,000 jobs by it self ! Austul is expanding ,the port expansion , private companies are moving in the area the list can go on and on . Huntsville has a strong economy but to say that Mobile has a week econnomy is old news ! Huntsville has a good school system , Harold Dodge did a job so well with running the school system and improving it that Huntsville city schools was looking at him to run there program which is a good one . Mobile`s school sytem is the states largest but also one of the best , Birmingham city schools sre during a huge turn around as well especialy with there new mayor last I read on AL.com there were 37 school that wrere planed to be closed in Birmingham because of vacancy . Birmingham has a strong leader now nad that will be changing very soon !

[petitek]

I moved to Huntsville almost two years ago and I really like it. The city has really grown and has a lot to offer. There are plenty of new neighborhoods to choose from and if you want a job in engineering, computers, science, military, you'll definately find it. Beautiful downtown, constant "mountain" views, great libaries, and lots of retail choices with three malls. Not sure about the school system though. The only I would change is the traffic, but that's part of a growing city I guess. We're moving back to Kentucky to be with family, but if Huntsville was closer we would stay!

[Reactionary]

If I ever say anything bad about Mobile, have the judge spank me

I live in Huntsville. If I didn't live here I'd live in Mobile. I think about moving down there several times a year (usually around beach time).

neednewscenery - transferring with Uncle Sugar to Huntsville should be easy, lots of opening because of BRAC. Great place to raise a family.

SBurgess - HSV has UAH, HBCU Alabama A&M, and SDA Oakwood College. Most of the public schools here score well. Some are excellent.

Madison County 3rd and 5th Grade SAT Scores

[Sailaway50]

Originally Posted by

SBurgess - HSV has UAH, HBCU Alabama A&M, and SDA Oakwood College. Most of the public schools here score well. Some are excellent.

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http://www.city-data.com/forum/huntsville-madison-decatur-area/205522-madison-county-3rd-5th-grade-sat.html[/url]

Thank you so much!

[Southsky]

Originally Posted by kokoesquire

I would add that Mobile is seeing a decline in population.

The "decline in population" was attributed to people moving to the Eastern Shore (older couples) and West Mobile (young professionals), but after Katrina the population decline flipped and is on the rise. Downtown is flourishing with new people and money, and an international infusion of investing is about to turn Mobile into something no one has ever seen. This should be fully realized by 2015. I'll guarantee that.

While I'm not downplaying Huntsville's character, Mobile's is quite interesting and appealing.

[Huntsville_secede]

I'm originally from Michigan and live in Huntsville. Although I did move to Alabama towards the end of my high school career, i have lived in Alabama for about 10 years now, Huntsville for a little over 3 1/4 years. I lived in Tuscaloosa, and I have to be honest most of this state is pretty boring, and has a long way to go as far as transportation, schools, entertainment, and other areas, but Huntsville, Birmingham, and Mobile are the best cities in the state by far IMO and the economy, crime, and other factors of the state are far better than the rapidly declining state of Michigan. Huntsville has a really good economy right now but it does lack character and excitement especially if you are young single person. If you have a family it doesn't matter as much but Huntsville has been trying to improve its entertainment lately. I went to Mobile a few times and I really liked it, it was before I even moved to Huntsville, but it seemed to be a very interesting beautiful city. The one thing about Huntsville is a lot of the jobs that are here and that are coming here is related to Missile Defense, depending on how the election goes, that wasn't really a favorable program for democrats, big cuts in Missile Defense could possibly really devastate Huntsville so thats always something to consider, until Huntsville's economy becomes more diversified it will always be vulnerable Being from Michigan you should know how relying on one industry can devastate an economy. Another thing to consider Huntsville is in a really central location, relatively close to cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, and Memphis, but because Huntsville is a late bloomer city, this geographic benefit is negated by the fact that the city is kinda disconnected from the interstate system no Interstate besides (565 which is actually a spur) goes directly through the city which means you will have to backtrack or take back roads to go anywhere east or west of here or north of here. 565 helps a lot though it wasn't built until the late 80s and early 90s. I'd say go with Huntsville because of location, and because you work with the government if you are a family man even though I may like Mobile's character better. You can always visit Mobile! Also shopping and eating options have increased dramatically in Huntsville in just the three years I've been here.