Thinking of moving to Huntsville - What is it like - Really (Birmingham: housing)

[curtstein]

My wife, 2 kids and I are thinking about moving to the Hunstville area, and we would like to hear from people that live there. She is from the Northeast, and I am from Colorado, and we had some culture shock when we moved to Temple, GA (50 miles west of Atlanta, GA) last year, and we aren't very happy. We don't care for the busy Atlanta traffic/city, but we don't care for the "hee-haw" lifestyle where out house is (for example, one of our neighbors has never been seen wearing a shirt, always has a can of beer in his hand, and the first time we met him he told us that he had recently blown himself up while burning something in his back yard!)... it's the worst of both worlds!

My wife doesn't think Huntsville, AL would be much of an upgrade. I think it would be much different within the Huntsville area. I have read all the standard online reviews, but I would love to hear from people that actually live in the area. What is it like living there? We are looking to likely live and work in the south Huntsville area around South Memorial Pkwy. It looks like there is a lot of housing on the east side of Redstone Arsenal. Does anyone live and work in that area? I would love to hear from you! What are the schools like (High school), what are daycares like? (newborn), what is shopping like?, what are neighbors like?, what is the traffic like?, what is downtown Huntsville like? Thanks for your help!

[HsvMike]

Hi Curt, Huntsville is not really a typical southern city. It really reminds me of mid size Nothern city that just happens to be in the South. I am not putting down Southern cities, I was born in one, but I lived most of my life in the Chicago area. Huntsville is a great place to raise a family, it's one of the main reason's we decided to move down here.

Traffic, you can't even begin to compare Huntsville with a major U.S. city. Even when the roads are busy during "rush hour", the cars still move.

Heehaw lifestyle, I have met more people from all over the U.S. and the world for that matter than people actually born and raised here. Of course the more rural you get, you might run into it.

SE Hsv, it is one of the most desired areas around here. Grissom High School is nationally ranked and one of the top 2 or 3 public high schools in the area.

Downtown, there is not much to the actual Downtown Hsv area. Most shopping is along Memorial Parkway and University Drive. Bridge Street has opened recently which has a lot of high end shops and is located in the SE corner of Cummings Research Park. You should probably take your wife there first, she just might like Hsv after that trip.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by curtstein

I have read all the standard online reviews, but I would love to hear from people that actually live in the area. What is it like living there? We are looking to likely live and work in the south Huntsville area around South Memorial Pkwy. It looks like there is a lot of housing on the east side of Redstone Arsenal. Does anyone live and work in that area? I would love to hear from you! What are the schools like (High school), what are daycares like? (newborn), what is shopping like?, what are neighbors like?, what is the traffic like?, what is downtown Huntsville like? Thanks for your help!

I am in the same boat as you. Trying to get a feel. Jones Valley? Madison? SE Huntsville? Big Cove (aka Hampton Cove)?

We plan on a four day trip in mid May. Then we will drive through neighborhoods, sample rush hour commute times, visit elementary/middle/high schools, visit medical facilities, sample realistic drives to commonly visited places like YMCA, medical offices, stores, gym, schools, soccer/swim/lacrosse/sports venues, etc.

I've set up Google alerts for all sorts of HSV things like schools and jobs and such. Search the Al.com archives. Search blogs. Get a hold of the school bus transportation routes and times. There are lots of crime maps, sex offender maps, zoning maps, etc. Keep searching City-Data forum; every day I learn something new and this prompts me to search again as I am armed with new knowledge. Try the Census Tiger Map brower. Lots of good demographic data presented graphically (though I think the data are like ten years old...)

Tiger Map Server Browser


Parent reviews of just about all schools are available on Great Schools.

Parent Reviews of Huntsville High School - Huntsville, Alabama - AL

When and if we start looking at specific homes, we will walk up and down the street and knock on doors and ask questions like "Which houses have kids in them? What are their ages? Do you see them outside playing often?", "What is the neighborhood culture like? Block parties?", "Is the HOA helpful or unnecessarily rigid?", etc.

Also, consider that forums like these often respond to questions like yours with "tell them what they want to hear".

Keep posting, share what you learn. We're in the same situation.

[NicoleC]

If you are in Huntsville proper, it's fairly cosmopolitan. There is the NASCAR crowd around, but they are outnumbered by the rocket scientists.

SE Huntsville is a very nice area for the most part; generally you want to be east of the Parkway. Housing is mostly older brick ranchers; as you move farther east the homes get newer and it gets more suburban. A little bit north, there is also the very lovely Medical District, Blossomwood and Jones Valley, and beyond that the historical districts. If you lived and worked in this area you'd have little traffic or commute to deal with, but would still be convenient to almost everything.

There isn't much of a downtown to Huntsville; it's somewhat of a bone of contention here. Downtown is mostly government, children's museums and at night, bars. But it's safe with ample well-lit parking.

You can tell when it is rush hour here, but the traffic is overall very light compared to Atlanta. There are some serious traffic issues along 72 through Madison, and a bottleneck on 72 going over Chapman Mountain; those are the only two bad spots of which I am aware. Neither is near SE Huntsville.

Overall, schools are quite good. There are some exceptions, of course.

If you have a desire to be outside of town, your best bet is to go south of the river into Morgan County on the SE corner of HSV. This area is a bit mixed at the moment -- newer homes are starting to come in but many of the homes in the area resembled run down shacks and garbage dumps. I believe this area is poised for development and provides the best potential residential investment and the trashier areas will get cleaned up as these folks cash in on rising home values. Nonetheless, you can purchase well and be out of town but close to work.

Then there are the numerous, nearly identical outlying suburban areas in almost every other direction. Frankly, they are overpriced at the moment and the newer subdivision homes are not well constructed. From the SE of Huntsville, Hampton Cove would be the most likely candidate for you.

Be forewarned that the farther you get from Huntsville proper, the more it gets like your neighbor minus the beer. (Much of the area is dry.) The kind of place where people are more likely to ask for your church than your name.

[curtstein]

Originally Posted by NicoleC

(Much of the area is dry.)

Really?? Is Huntsville dry? I would hate to have to seek out a bootlegger to buy my Coors.... speaking of, if allowed in the city do store sell alcohol on Sundays? Thanks for your review!

[FCEddie]

Just got here two months ago.

1) Shopping - Mall on the Parkway is nice, has the shops you want.
Bridge Street is upscale, but a very nice mall. Some good food options there.

2) People - right now 7/10 people living here are not from Huntsville. With the base and aerospace industry and the research park it gives you a pretty diverse population.

3) Recreation - couple of movie houses. Haven't been to the Monoco, but it sounds great and looks great. Minor league baseball, hockey, soccer and Arena Football.

4) HS's - my kid's older, but the HS options are supposedly pretty good. I've heard nothing but good things about Grissom, but also most of the other schools.

5) Food - well this is a bone of contention for me, but I'm new to town and being from New Orleans most places fall short. Good thing is more places are coming and that's always good.

6) Traffic - hahahahaaa. In two months I've only been in what I call a traffic jam once. Took a couple of back roads and bingo, no problem. Left my office 30 minutes later and there was no traffic on a Friday at 6.

7) Neighbors - where I'm living now, my neighbors are from DC, Ocean Springs, Nashville and not sure. Yards are well maintained.

8) Housing options - something for everyone.

That's what I've learned so far. Oh, and HSV bad neighborhoods are much better than a bad neighborhood in New Orleans or Atlanta.

[NicoleC]

Originally Posted by curtstein

Really?? Is Huntsville dry? I would hate to have to seek out a bootlegger to buy my Coors.... speaking of, if allowed in the city do store sell alcohol on Sundays? Thanks for your review!

It varies; some areas are wet with Sunday sales, some without; some with slightly different laws for restaurants. The City of Huntsville is wet, even on Sundays. They do have ABC stores here (closed on Sundays), but beer and wine is sold at many places.

Broadly speaking, most of the actual cities in the area are wet while many unincorporated counties are dry. It's not illegal to have liquor in the house in a dry area in Alabama, only no sales. And there are limits to the allowable amount in the house... but there's no beer police. If you do live somewhere dry, you just buy your beer in a wet jurisdiction, put it in the trunk for the drive home and you are perfectly legal.

Alabama also has some weird laws about container size limits and maximum ABV in beer, but if your idea of beer is Coors you'll never even notice them. They really only limit gourmet and foreign beer sales, which are often packaged in 750ml bottles -- legal for wine but not beer here. Or exceed the 6% alcohol limit. (Also legal for wine but not beer.)

[flstatenolefan]

We just moved here last week, and I can only give my perceptions so far. A little background on us....we are from FL originally (Tampa and Orlando). Together and separately, we have lived in TN, NY, TX, Enterprise/Dothan, AL, VA, San Diego, CA and Germany and Italy. Aside from living in those areas, we have also traveled to a few major U.S. cities...L.A, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle. So, my comparison of Huntsville is based only on what I've seen elsewhere.

Huntsville appears to be a mid-size city...much less traffic than I expected from reading the reviews. I am actually surprised at how easy it has been to get around this area. I can see where the infrastructure will need to be upgraded in the future if growth continues. I'm sure you could obtain a copy of the 5 year work-program of the DOT to see where the issues are if you so chose (most states have these available for public review).

I think there is plenty of diversity in the area to have the "hee haw mentality" be a non-issue for residents. Bubba exists, but I'm not sure that is always such a bad thing I was a little amazed to see some of the newer home developments built right next to junkyards or trashed trailers, however I think that happens anywhere new growth occurs rapidly. I have not read the local zoning codes to know whether these situations are grandfathered in and will disappear or continue to exist because codes are not in place (they may not want them in place?) Perhaps some of the realtors on the board would know better in this regard.

There appears to be plenty of the chain restaurants that you find everywhere. We haven't ventured out enough to try the locally owned restaurants to form an opinion. I do think the shopping is limited in comparison to what I am use to in Orlando or Tampa, but my DH is probably very happy about that

Our experience with the schools has been mixed so far. I will not name names, but I tried to contact a Principal prior to our arrival to gather information and never received a response. However, the counselor and teacher were wonderful the day I admitted my child to school and have made her transition so late in the year as easy as possible.

Of course, all of this is just my anecdotal experience, so take it for what it's worth I do not find it to be a "hickville" at all and think your wife might be pleasantly surprised.

[Southeastern]

We moved here 2 years ago and have kids in elementary, middle, and high school.

This is our 6th state, and Huntsville is by far the smallest "metro" we've lived in. You will not find everything in Huntsville, but if you look, you will find plenty.

People are moving in and out of Huntsville all the time due to the companies in the area and the arsenal. Gives a good mix of nationalities, race, and experiences. I believe Huntsville says 1 in 11 residents has an engineering degree.

In 2 years, no one has asked me if I go to church or to what church I belong. Huntsville, Madison, and the majority of the surrounding area is wet.

It's easy to get around the area. Your personal view of traffic will depend on where you've come from. Getting from south Harvest \ Monrovia area or Hampton Cove \ Jones Valley areas to the airport or to Huntsville Hospital or to Palmer Park (Madison) or to Merrimack Park (Huntsville) or to the arsenal can all be done in 30 minutes or less.

The Huntsville metro has it's share of problems. Roads, other infrastructure, and services are way behind. Partially due to the quick growth over the last 15 years, but also due to the low taxes in area (which can be viewed as a pro). Less money to spend. Much of the growth on the north side of Huntsville and Madison is in the county, so no zoning. For some thats a pro and for others a con.

All things considered... a good area for a family. Plenty of outdoor activities for the family, sports teams for the kids, minor league teams to watch, and easy drives to Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta.

http://www.tennessee-valley.org/communities/huntsville/comm_profile.html#hsv_demographics

http://www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/newcomers/nc_brochure.pdf

http://www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/new_exp/new_comm_toc.html


Welcome to town.

[Keeper]

I don't believe you will find any sugar coating about Huntsville here. These folks will tell you their opinions and we don't always agree. I personally think they do a good job of advising ppl on the area.

They have helped guide many others about moving to H'ville.