Birmingham metro vs Charlotte metro (rates, school, statistics, similarities) - City vs. City - Page 8 - City-Data Forum

Akhenaton06 · 08-15-2010, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

I'm guessing the general perception. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the OP feels that certain cities are "below" Birmingham regardless of similarity and to put Birmingham side by side with any of these cities is the worst that can be done.

Possibly. Or, to give him the benefit of the doubt, he may only be aware of municipal populations (Columbia's is relatively low given the true size of the overall area due to SC's restrictive annexation laws) or it might be the fact that Greensboro is the largest municipality of a larger region (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point CSA, ~1.5 million), which is about twice the size of the Columbia CSA.

sleepless in Bham · 08-15-2010, 10:46 PM

Westbank, there is no way that Bham can be compared to Jackson or Little Rock. You havent even made a case to even persuade me to such a notion

Carolina Blue, yes ive been to Columbia recently, and while its a nice city, to put bham's 1.2 million metro on a level with Columbia's 745k is well........

WestbankNOLA · 08-15-2010, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Possibly. Or, to give him the benefit of the doubt, he may only be aware of municipal populations (Columbia's is relatively low given the true size of the overall area due to SC's restrictive annexation laws) or it might be the fact that Greensboro is the largest municipality of a larger region (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point CSA, ~1.5 million), which is about twice the size of the Columbia CSA.

I guess it would be fair.

sleepless in Bham · 08-15-2010, 10:54 PM

Akhenaton06 I wasnt aware that the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem MSA was only around 715k. I was under the impression that it would be at least one million. Im more puzzled if anything about why bham is being placed in tier with obviously smaller metros. Sure its not up there with Charlotte, but to align it with Columbia and Jackson is kinda an ''insult'' to Bham.

Akhenaton06 · 08-15-2010, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

Akhenaton06 I wasnt aware that the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem MSA was only around 715k. I was under the impression that it would be at least one million. Im more puzzled if anything about why bham is being placed in tier with obviously smaller metros. Sure its not up there with Charlotte, but to align it with Columbia and Jackson is kinda an ''insult'' to Bham.

Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point stopped being one MSA about 7 years ago or so. They are now one CSA (of about 1.5 million) which consists of the Greensboro-High Point MSA and Winston-Salem MSA.

Carolina Blue · 08-15-2010, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepless in Bham

Akhenaton06 I wasnt aware that the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem MSA was only around 715k. I was under the impression that it would be at least one million. Im more puzzled if anything about why bham is being placed in tier with obviously smaller metros. Sure its not up there with Charlotte, but to align it with Columbia and Jackson is kinda an ''insult'' to Bham.

You mean the Greesboro-Winston Salem CSA, not MSA. There is no Greensboro-Winston Salem MSA. Regarding your Columbia comments, I respect your opinion. My issue is that having lived in Birmingham and now in Charlotte, I don't in any way, put Charlotte and Birmingham in the same tier. Its not an insult to Birmingham, I'm just looking at what Birmingham has to offer and IMO its much closer to what Columbia offers versus Charlotte.

sleepless in Bham · 08-15-2010, 11:10 PM

As I said Carolina Blue Ive been to Columbia, well about a yr ago, and it a nice, cool, small city it just never crossed my mind that Birmingham would be on the same tier with it. I dont wanna come off as a blind homer, Birmingham has its share of the blame of not keeping up with cities it was once on par with like Charlotte, Nashville and Atlanta.

205 · 08-15-2010, 11:23 PM

I don`t want to speak for the other Bham posters, but Birmingham has always been more or less in the Memphis, Louisville, Richmond, OKC, and Greenville/Spartanburg, SC range while Jackson was always in the Mobile, Little Rock, Pensacola, Augusta, Chattanooga, and Columbia category. I was impressed by the dining scene in Jackson which seemed really strong for a metro its size. You asked for differences Westbank so I`ll name a couple. Unless things have changed dramatically in Jackson very recently, Bham has a MUCH larger retail mix of higher end retailers and nicer shopping options than Jackson. The medical facilities are much larger and more prestigous in Bham than Jackson too. Finally, Bham has historically had a much larger corporate community than Jackson and similar to Omaha had a remarkably high number of Fortune 500 and 1,000 headquarters . BTW, I find it hard to believe Jackson has a denser urban core than Bham considering Bham`s small confined city limits alone has over 90% of the population that all of Hinds County has . As for the OP`s idea of bringing up Charlotte, silly comparison as Charlotte is clearly well above Bham. Bad comparison.

Akhenaton06 · 08-15-2010, 11:24 PM

Birmingham is in something of a mid-tier between Columbia, Jackson, Little Rock, etc. and Charlotte, Hampton Roads, Austin, etc.

WestbankNOLA · 08-15-2010, 11:44 PM

For the record, not once did I ever say that Jackson and Birmingham should be on the same level or tier. I'm well aware of Birmingham's history compared to the others, etc. All of that aside, Birmingham feels no faster than Jackson or Little Rock to me. How that statement turned into 6 pages of b.s. is beyond me.

If we put present day Jackson and present day Birmingham beside each other, the biggest difference will be size. Of course Birmingham has UAB and Regions, but someone could bring up UMC and Trustmark. UMC may not have the "prestige" of UAB and Trustmark may not be as large as Regions, but for metro the size of Jackson a debate can be made. Jackson and Little Rock have grown faster than Birmingham in the last 10 years and if I'm not mistaken they lead in city-proper building permits. As you've mentioned Jackson has a developed food scene for it's size. In terms of shopping the only thing it currently lacks behind Birmingham is Saks Fifth Ave and arguably Macy's. I say arguably because since Macy's expanded, Dillard's could actually be considered more upscale with the exception of the Flagship Macy's stores. It is possible that if Birmingham doesn't turn around soon, the smaller cities are going to be catching up. Little Rock and Jackson have already started large infill projects and bringing downtown housing online. The company that oversees Beale Street is also in the middle of constructing a similar area in Jackson.

I'm not arguing that they're on the same level. I'm just pointing out that they aren't as far behind as some of the Birmingham posters want to admit and apparently that touches a nerve. Seriously though, who is going to sit here and argue that Birmingham is closer to Charlotte, than these cities?