Dallas to Birmingham (Huntsville, Athens, Greenville: 2009, employment, public schools)

[BPWilliams]

My wife and I (both 25, without kids) are living in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas and want out! I grew up in Dallas, and after going to college in a smaller town in Texas and living in Shreveport, LA I'm having a hard time readjusting to a big city and everything that comes with that, I'm missing the small cities and towns I've lived in over the last few years. My wife is from Shreveport, Louisiana and she has never adjusted to this place and the 1 hour commute is driving her crazy. We love the South, and feel that the bigger that Dallas gets the more it loses its Southern and Texan feel, and that breaks our hearts. To put it simply, we want to be back in a place that just oozes Southern.

I've lost my job in the last few months, my degree is in public relations and my last job was in marketing, but I'm not particular. My wife has her degrees in archaelogy and political science and a master's in Art History from UNC. She wants to start a career in historical preservation, but hasn't had any luck so far.

We know we want to move to the Southeast (we haven't exactly settled on which city so I'm trying to find out what I can about the ones we like) so I have been sending resumes out that way for a while now, but I know its going to be hard to land a job without actually be there. We're thinking that if we want to be out there so bad, we might as well just move in the next few months and take the risk and land a job when we get there. We have plenty of savings to get along for the better part of a year. So, any advice, tips or knowledge from moves without having a job lined up and about Birmingham itself would be appreciated!

Please let me know if I could provide any more information that would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

[Back Again]

You can start looking in www.al.com for jobs You can also try Home - JobsQuest.org - Employment Opportunities In Jefferson County Alabama

Good Luck!

[drfranklin]

If you're looking for a moderate sized Southern city, with reasonable job prospects, most amenities, inexpensive COL, and (generally) easy commutes, might I suggest the following:

Chattanooga, TN; Knoxville, TN; Huntsville, AL; Athens, GA; Winston-Salem, NC; Columbia, SC; Greenville, SC (great area )

Birmingham is the largest city in AL with some of the longest commute times/distances in the country.

[Back Again]

Originally Posted by drfranklin

If you're looking for a moderate sized Southern city, with reasonable job prospects, most amenities, inexpensive COL, and (generally) easy commutes, might I suggest the following:

Chattanooga, TN; Knoxville, TN; Huntsville, AL; Athens, GA; Winston-Salem, NC; Columbia, SC; Greenville, SC (great area )

Birmingham is the largest city in AL with some of the longest commute times/distances in the country.

Apparently you have never lived in Atlanta Ga, Southern California, Washington DC or Long Island NY. I find the commute in Birmingham is nothing.

[drfranklin]

Just wanted to clarify my statements above.

I've read recent studies where commutes (both in time and length) for Birmingham have ranked quite high (but for the life of me I can't recall any specific studies) -

a google search revealed this:

The Locust Fork News-Journal » Blog Archive » Conservation Alabama Says Fund Mass Transit

Look at the 4th paragraph down.

Of course, when I lived in Birmingham in 2003, my commute from Southside to UAB was less than 5 minutes . However, the public schools in this area were terrible at the time (this may not matter to the OP).

Also, when I lived in the area, Birmingham had terrible problems with sprawl, poor car pooling efforts, lots of Summer "ozone alerts", lack of biking, and poor mass transit. I think some of this has been addressed since 2003 (I visit Birmingham occasionally - family there). Surprisingly, there is no mandatory emissions testing in Jefferson/Shelby counties (unless this has changed recently).

Just made the above comments due to the OP's concern re commutes and "missing the small cities and towns".

[alabamatide]

Originally Posted by BPWilliams

My wife and I (both 25, without kids) are living in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas and want out! I grew up in Dallas, and after going to college in a smaller town in Texas and living in Shreveport, LA I'm having a hard time readjusting to a big city and everything that comes with that, I'm missing the small cities and towns I've lived in over the last few years. My wife is from Shreveport, Louisiana and she has never adjusted to this place and the 1 hour commute is driving her crazy. We love the South, and feel that the bigger that Dallas gets the more it loses its Southern and Texan feel, and that breaks our hearts. To put it simply, we want to be back in a place that just oozes Southern.

I've lost my job in the last few months, my degree is in public relations and my last job was in marketing, but I'm not particular. My wife has her degrees in archaelogy and political science and a master's in Art History from UNC. She wants to start a career in historical preservation, but hasn't had any luck so far.

We know we want to move to the Southeast (we haven't exactly settled on which city so I'm trying to find out what I can about the ones we like) so I have been sending resumes out that way for a while now, but I know its going to be hard to land a job without actually be there. We're thinking that if we want to be out there so bad, we might as well just move in the next few months and take the risk and land a job when we get there. We have plenty of savings to get along for the better part of a year. So, any advice, tips or knowledge from moves without having a job lined up and about Birmingham itself would be appreciated!

Please let me know if I could provide any more information that would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

Pack your bags and get moving! You'll love Birmingham compared to Dallas. I agree with you- it doesn't have a southern feel at all, in any way.