Better City for a Mixed Couple - Birmingham or Huntsville? (Hoover: low income, to rent)

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

yeah, you're gonna have to elaborate on that one...

No kidding. If he were talking about engineering, I'd get that. But "the new medical center" of Alabama is just, well, fantasy. And that's not to put down Huntsville. If I said that Birmingham is becoming "the new rocketry center" of Alabama, it would be equally absurd.



Birmingham not only has an immense research hospital, but it's also home to a ton of biomed, medical equipment, and other assets. Huntsville has two mid-sized hospitals.

[JesseRohr]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

No kidding. If he were talking about engineering, I'd get that. But "the new medical center" of Alabama is just, well, fantasy. And that's not to put down Huntsville. If I said that Birmingham is becoming "the new rocketry center" of Alabama, it would be equally absurd.



Birmingham not only has an immense research hospital, but it's also home to a ton of biomed, medical equipment, and other assets. Huntsville has two mid-sized hospitals.

^ This. To further the point Birmingham is coming quite the hotbed of research related to COVID-19 further fanning the flames on the world stage.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by JesseRohr

^ This. To further the point Birmingham is coming quite the hotbed of research related to COVID-19 further fanning the flames on the world stage.

Or the new genetics center just announced. I mean, to underscore matters, people around the world come to Birmingham for care, whether it's cutting edge procedures, athletic injuries, or even cosmetic surgery. I mean, hell, I have several friends in Huntsville who have made the trek to Birmingham for serious and pretty esoteric care. I don't see that happening in Huntsville this century.


And, once again, that's not a knock on Huntsville. But Birmingham's eminence in healthcare is the result of a half-century of civic support of UAB and smart strategic hires. That's an advantage that's not going away anytime soon.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

No kidding. If he were talking about engineering, I'd get that. But "the new medical center" of Alabama is just, well, fantasy. And that's not to put down Huntsville. If I said that Birmingham is becoming "the new rocketry center" of Alabama, it would be equally absurd.



Birmingham not only has an immense research hospital, but it's also home to a ton of biomed, medical equipment, and other assets. Huntsville has two mid-sized hospitals.

After just a bit of research, you folks are correct. I'll take back my statement about Huntsville.
Huntsville is no slouch

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by GreggT

After just a bit of research, you folks are correct. I'll take back my statement about Huntsville.
Huntsville is no slouch

We get it. You made that comment out of spike to Birmingham. Anybody with a common sense knows that statement you made was not accurate. But you are not the first to say something total out of nowhere just to defend Huntsville when comparing to Birmingham. Being where you from, I can see why you made that.

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

We get it. You made that comment out of spike to Birmingham. Anybody with a common sense knows that statement you made was not accurate. But you are not the first to say something total out of nowhere just to defend Huntsville when comparing to Birmingham. Being where you from, I can see why you made that.

c'mon man, i don't think he said it out of spite. he retracted his statement after admitting that he hadn't researched it.

i love your enthusiasm for the city, but i think you get defensive too easily. not everyone outside of birmingham is a hater.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

My daughter and son-in-law are a young mixed (White and Black) couple in their 20's. They currently live in Pensacola, but my son-in-law wants to start looking for a new job closer to us in about one year (he's a mechanical engineer, and she is a nurse). Obviously being an engineer favors Huntsville, but I'm thinking more in terms of how easy it will be for a mixed couple to assimilate into these cities and areas to live that have good schools. Is there any appreciable difference? My instincts say Huntsville may be a little better because of the more diverse mix of people from all over associated with the employers in the area. But I can also see a diverse suburb like Hoover being a good place for them as well (no kids yet, but they plan to have some reasonably soon).

I personally would consider Huntsville more inclusive, plus it's better for mechanical engineering. Birmingham is very divided when it comes to the city and suburbs, so take that into account. Huntsville is more diverse across the board, and has less of the cliquey country club type stuff.

While Huntsville is not Birmingham when it comes to medical, your daughter will still be able to easily find a nursing job.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

c'mon man, i don't think he said it out of spite. he retracted his statement after admitting that he hadn't researched it.

i love your enthusiasm for the city, but i think you get defensive too easily. not everyone outside of birmingham is a hater.

Okay. Your opinion. I call it like I see it. Never did I say I thought everyone outside of Birmingham hate the city. But the majority of people in this state do. If he hasn't been in this state the last 10-20 years, understandable. But if he has, he know that Birmingham is known for it medical facilities. Everyone in this state knows that.

He also put "new medical center" in quotation marks. He meant what he wrote.

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

yeah, i don't see any appreciable difference between the two cities on that front.

as a nurse, she may gravitate towards birmingham. as for him, a mechanical engineering background is pretty broad... what specifically does he work on, and what type of field is he interested in?

He is interested in aerospace (which, of course is another major argument for Huntsville), but is open to other areas as well.

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by GreggT

Personally I would choose Huntsville mainly for job opportunities. As far as being a mixed couple, who cares anymore, either place or hundreds of other choices in Alabama would be fine.

I wish that was true, but we live in Blount County, and they would not be comfortable here. It would be nice for them to find a diverse community where they and their future kids won't be such anomalies. It sounds like the consensus is that there isn't enough of a difference between Huntsville and Metro Birmingham to worry about it.

Selfishly, I have been hoping for Birmingham, because my other daughter will be remaining here in West Blount, and when we retire, we could likely downsize to a location between the two (assuming our mixed couple moved to Hoover). If they move to Huntsville, there isn't really a place in between West Blount and Huntsville where we would likely want to live. We would likely either stay here to have access to Birmingham or relocate to Huntsville ourselves.