[harry chickpea]

Mod: Reminder to keep on topic to Alabama or have post deleted.

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

I agree so many of these aspects of life quality are personal and subjective; however, I don't think as Alabamians we should be dismissive of ranking near the bottom of so many lists. There are reasons why we are always ranked low in many categories; whereas, other nearby or neighboring states like Georgia and North Carolina are doing much better. Quality of life is pretty good in Alabama for middle to upper middle class people and higher, but huge huge segments of our population live in areas with terrible schools, very poor access to health care, etc. As a state we should value these things more than we do. Life is very different in Alabama outside the islands of Huntsville-Madison, suburban Birmingham, and other comfortable spots.

A lot of the problems with Alabama’s schools have to do with the parents. You can build the nicest schools and hire the best teachers, but if the parents do not want to get involved it will be pointless. Many parents in this state don’t seem to care if their kids get an education or not, and this is especially noticeable in the poorer black communities.

[Saskia Calico]

Originally Posted by Huntsville_secede

This 100 percent embodies what I was trying to say. The nice areas of the state are no different than any other American cities and in some areas the QOL is ultimately higher due to the low cost of living. But there are vast areas of the state where significant populations still live that live in conditions not experienced in most states. The black belt region of Alabama is a perfect example. I read somewhere that half of the counties in Alabama don't even have access to an OB/GYN.

Where did you read this? Honest question. I'm a librarian by profession and a genealogist by avocation and I like citation of sources. I'm not questioning your statement; I'm asking where you read it.

I will just add that in GA a person can live in a big city and have "access to health care" but that doesn't mean the person has access to a US-educated health care professional whose first language is English and whose philosophy of good medical care is in line with US standards and expectations.

ETA: I just found this 2014 report that is similar to the "half the counties" statistics you posted:

https://www.acog.org/-/media/Departm...607T0833419668

A more recent (2018) report:
https://blog.everymothercounts.org/a...e-91ed91ae5b09

According to another 2018 report, this state of affairs is not exclusive to AL:

https://blog.everymothercounts.org/t...e-6d80ef87c36d

[Vacanegro]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

What would you expect when the ratings are reported by a yahoo?

Vermont is what? #5? Take a read over in the Vermont forum to see how that is working out for them. Click-bait.

Al, MS and LA are consistently in the bottom five, no matter who does the rankings.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by Vacanegro

Al, MS and LA are consistently in the bottom five, no matter who does the rankings.

And all three great places to live, low taxes, amazing natural resources, affordable living, all three states have more people moving in than moving out, jobs and wages are increasing in all three states.
I honestly believe most of the bashing going on is due to purely politics.

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by Vacanegro

Al, MS and LA are consistently in the bottom five, no matter who does the rankings.

The only reason GA escapes that list is because of the Atlanta metro. Go anywhere in south GA and things won’t be any different from AL or MS.

[brownbagg]

Originally Posted by PortCity

Baldwin's Eastern Shore( Daphne-Fairhope-Spnaishfort) is actually the fastest growing area of Baldwin not the beaches and they also have the highest income in that county. Baldwin's beach growth is due to retirees.As for the Eastern Shore it's growth has nothing to do with retirees. The Easternshore and beach areas are just as transient as Madison if not very close to it.

a lot of the growth is people leaving the city of mobile, which I feel has gone down hill the last ten years, Once the toll bridge is up, those in baldwin county will stop coming into mobile completely, why pay a toll with pensacola so close.

[xray731]

Originally Posted by GreggT

And all three great places to live, low taxes, amazing natural resources, affordable living, all three states have more people moving in than moving out, jobs and wages are increasing in all three states.
I honestly believe most of the bashing going on is due to purely politics.

I so agree - my son moved down to Alabama from NY for a job. He won't return to the state of high taxes and stupid politics that are decided by pretty much one area of this state. We plan on following him down there in a couple of years.

I find the people to be good people - friendly and caring. As someone else noted - schooling and how well kids do has a lot to do with the parent's involvement - some don't care - some are working so much they don't have the time to care.

Looking at data - New York ranks in the middle as far as educational rankings - Alabama near the bottom - but just my school tax alone is 4x what an average Alabama homeowner pays in property tax. Now if we look at the cost spent by each state on education - Utah - which ranks towards the top on the educational ranking chart - spends the lowest amount $7,000 on each student - and NY which spends $22,300 on each student - ranks in the middle.

NY continues to fall no matter how much money is thrown into the school budget. We are closing and consolidating schools left and right and my school taxes continue to climb $100 each year.

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by brownbagg

a lot of the growth is people leaving the city of mobile, which I feel has gone down hill the last ten years, Once the toll bridge is up, those in baldwin county will stop coming into mobile completely, why pay a toll with pensacola so close.

Because Mobile has the jobs and better regional healthcare. And majority of Baldwin's growth is due to out of state transplants not Mobile county transplants.

[hindsight2020]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Quality of life is pretty good in Alabama for middle to upper middle class people and higher, but huge huge segments of our population live in areas with terrible schools, very poor access to health care, etc. As a state we should value these things more than we do. Life is very different in Alabama outside the islands of Huntsville-Madison, suburban Birmingham, and other comfortable spots.

See, that's the point though. For the Alabama upper middle class, that isn't the bug....it's the FEATURE! That culture cherishes that de facto apartheid as a point of pride. The bigotry I witnessed and experienced in my tenure in Alabama was always different than the other states mainly due to its passive aggressive inflection. "Have a good day bigotry" I coined it.

I find myself in the peculiar position of having finished my undergraduate engineering education in Tuscaloosa back in the early 00s after 3 years at Gatech. As a result of my presence in the place and my peculiar happenstance of being an "invisible minority" (aka European complected Hispanic, aka Anglo thinks Im white until they pick up a bilingual inflection in my voice or read my Spanish surname) I got the opportunity to interact with folks from little places like Jackson, Ragland, Atmore, as well as the main cities. Places for whom the concept of a Puerto Rican, even in 2001, was like Columbus meeting the Taínos for the first time.

Coming from 3 years in the main Georgia metro, the treatment I got in Alabama at the time was pitiful and condescending, but never overt like the Jim Crow I've read about in history books. I took in stride as it was certainly a means to an end for me. Mainly go there and rock the GPA without trying, which allowed me to get a Master's paid for at Purdue later on, by going to a lower ranked party school to finish undergrad...and said Alabama school of course could boast about diversity where their Hispanic enrollment in the 2001 school year was 1%. Hate the game not the playa and I digress.

At any rate, the stunt allowed me to experience the contrast between the bubble of Atlanta and what to me was a hypothetical construct up to that time, as an out of state transplant from Puerto Rico of all places. I was not impressed.

I've since lived everywhere due to military career moves and the aforementioned college moves. It hasn't been peaches and cream, there's a lot of want out there in middle America. But one thing that stood out for me when choosing to raise a family of my own were those apartheid values and socio-economic indicators of Alabama society. Closest I got to having to make the decision was a potential transfer to Columbus MS and contemplate living across the border in Tuscaloosa or deal with Mississippi. I chose Texas and was able to survive the hinterland assignment long enough to move into the exploding I-35 corridor and Texas residency, which has been a boon for my family in all fronts. It really was the best decision for my family.

I don't say any of this gratuitously. I moved out of Puerto Rico for economic reasons, and if PR was a state, we'd make Alabama look civilized by comparison. But AL has CONUS physical connectivity and neighbors with much better outcomes, so there really isn't an excuse for why it's so backwards other than what I highlighted in my first sentence: it's not the bug my friend, it's the FEATURE. And native folks at the top like it that way. You can't fix that. As an always interloper in their eyes I quietly exit stage when my goal was accomplished in that state, but there is no way 19 years later that what I see in the news surprises me about the place. It merely reaffirms my decision that at least for me, Texas was a better fit for my family's goals and values, and Texas is still too conservative for my taste mind you. To each their own.