Better City for a Mixed Couple - Birmingham or Huntsville?

[TimCity2000]

^^ yeah, if his job is the leading factor in the move, then huntsville might be the place to start looking.

as for mechanical engineering in general, birmingham is a hotbed for the design and construction industry. i work with mechanical engineers every day, so if that realm has any interest for him, he would likely do well here.

[TimCity2000]

and, frankly, i don't think any place in alabama is terribly diverse in that regard, unfortunately. at least not to the extent where they would find an abundance of mixed or biracial couples.

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

and, frankly, i don't think any place in alabama is terribly diverse in that regard, unfortunately. at least not to the extent where they would find an abundance of mixed or biracial couples.

Yep, but I'm thinking some areas of the Birmingham and Huntsville metros will have schools with a good mix of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian as opposed to almost exclusively White or exclusively Black (Hoover, Huntsville/Madison).

[bhamblazer]

If they choose the Birmingham area, Homewood is another place to look. Great school system that has a good amount of diversity as compared to the other suburban systems.

[EscAlaMike]

Does anyone that matters seriously care about interracial marriage anymore? I've lived in the South my whole life and have never heard anyone say anything negative about it in real life.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by FSUMike

Does anyone that matters seriously care about interracial marriage anymore? I've lived in the South my whole life and have never heard anyone say anything negative about it in real life.

Yep. I'm 57. Maybe when I was young, you'd hear things. But now? In the urban areas, nobody even gives it a second thought.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Yep. I'm 57. Maybe when I was young, you'd hear things. But now? In the urban areas, nobody even gives it a second thought.

Same here in rural North Alabama, as I put in an earlier post, who really cares.....

[Bamaman1]

We've lived in Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta area. We recently moved to Huntsville--or 10 miles in rural Madison County.

This area is very diverse, and very middle class due to the jobs generated at large local operations like Toyota, Polaris, NASA and Redstone Arsenal.

And the atmosphere here is so superior to the city attitudes experienced in most places we've lived. Everyone we've run into has treated us with great respect and courtesy.

The "kids" would most likely do well in either Birmingham or Huntsville--socially or for the jobs. The question is whether they want to live in a medium size city or a larger city? I would tend to lean toward Huntsville not for just today but for the future.

Our 8 year old has been in private schools her whole life, but the Madison County Schools are excellent--comparable curriculum. Birmingham area has some great schools too, but the neighborhoods where they're located will be substantially more expensive than in Madison County.

Huntsville has one large hospital and one medium size hospital. The large hospital has taken over Athens, Decatur and Muscle Shoals' hospitals and others--choosing to rent money losing hospitals from counties rather than buy them. Put'em all together and Huntsville Hospital is one monster hospital chain. There is also a lot of genetic medical research being done in the Research Park in Huntsville.

Needless to say Birmingham's medical community is fantastic--and maybe even overlooked as being as great as it is. I still wonder how a low income state has funded such a magnificent medical complex. UAB is essentially a hospital that happens to own a 22,000 student university as a secondary business.