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This is a tough one! I'm tempted to pick South Carolina, because it has more going on across shorter distances. I like the ability to travel from the beautiful Low Country and Atlantic beaches to the big mountains of North Carolina in 4 hours or less. On the other hand, Alabama has those white sugar sand beaches (albeit on a very short coastline), the Sipsey Wilderness, a high tech, diverse city (Huntsville), and a bigger city polishing up its rusty framework (Birmingham). I would really miss the character and scenic suburbs of the Birmingham Metro if I moved to South Carolina.
On the other hand, if you offered me a place in Upstate South Carolina, I might not be able to pass it up. Having Western North Carolina just minutes away and Charleston a few hours away would be a major temptation.
This is a tough one! I'm tempted to pick South Carolina, because it has more going on across shorter distances. I like the ability to travel from the beautiful Low Country and Atlantic beaches to the big mountains of North Carolina in 4 hours or less. On the other hand, Alabama has those white sugar sand beaches (albeit on a very short coastline), the Sipsey Wilderness, a high tech, diverse city (Huntsville), and a bigger city polishing up its rusty framework (Birmingham). I would really miss the character and scenic suburbs of the Birmingham Metro if I moved to South Carolina.
On the other hand, if you offered me a place in Upstate South Carolina, I might not be able to pass it up. Having Western North Carolina just minutes away and Charleston a few hours away would be a major temptation.
I'm from Philadelphia so I'm a "jaded" Yankee(I guess! lol). I have relatives in Birmingham whom I see every couple of years. And, I'll tell you, the difference between what I saw in Birmingham in 2014 and what I saw a month ago was just terrific. I'm really rooting for the nice things/changes I saw there to continue.
traffic is brutal on that 280 highway with all the restaurants/retail and the Summit mall in Birmingham. feels like the road is basically an interstate. not any road like that in SC.
I'm from Philadelphia so I'm a "jaded" Yankee(I guess! lol). I have relatives in Birmingham whom I see every couple of years. And, I'll tell you, the difference between what I saw in Birmingham in 2014 and what I saw a month ago was just terrific. I'm really rooting for the nice things/changes I saw there to continue.
It really is amazing. The areas adjacent to downtown are becoming unrecognizable to me (in a good way).
traffic is brutal on that 280 highway with all the restaurants/retail and the Summit mall in Birmingham. feels like the road is basically an interstate. not any road like that in SC.
You can live in Birmingham and stay off U.S. 280 for the vast majority of your life. In my mind, the restaurants along US 280 are mostly chains (most of the best local restaurants are downtown and close in neighborhoods and burbs) , and I can't offhand think of too many retail places that only exist there. The Summit is really not that hard to access most of the time. That's the one place on 280 that we do visit occasionally, and we rarely have traffic issues. Time of day is crucial, though.
Another thread I was reading through and thought I would post on. I didn't vote because I've not been to either state yet.
This is interesting to me though, because it's two states I have interest in traveling to in the future to visit different sites!
Alabama: Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and Huntsville.
South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
Anybody who is posting sarcastic remarks and acting like where they come from is better is basing their beliefs in ignorance and their superiority in delusion.
I really like all 3 South Carolina larger cities. Greenville is growing well and it is a nice city with a great downtown. Charleston is just incredible and the restaurant scene amazing. Columbia is growing and its downtown is becoming much nicer.
The South Carolina coast is beautiful and the northern part of the state has the southern smoky mountains--incredible up there.
Alabama carries a cultural and political stigma these days, and I've just overall never been a big fan of the state. I've spent time in Huntsville as well as Birmingham. Never been to Montgomery or Mobile, other than driving through.
I was in Birmingham about 20 years ago, so I can't really say what it's like today. But at the time it was actually pretty fun. Good bars/restaurants, but a definite mid size city vibe. Not that large.
But I was in Huntsville in early 2018, and it is a growing city. However, it was an odd metro area to me. It has a super nice, higher end mall that was bustling, and areas on the west side of town felt vibrant. The downtown was pretty much dead quiet, and small--not a lot going on.
Driving into Huntsville from Chattanooga, I felt the backroads and towns were living in the 80s. It was a bizarre step back in time.
Huntsville's economy is strong though, and lots of higher paying jobs there due to the aerospace and IT/engineering firms locating there.
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