Birmingham metro vs Charlotte metro (moving, market, airport, living)

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

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

That fair. my thoughts was Charlotte and Birmingham are on the same tire just at opposites ends. The whole tire thing is subjective not just what is where, but how many tires there are. My ideal was either the metro is over a million or it's not, of course theirs other factors, the steping stone is 3 mil. So how many tiers are we subjectly making under 3 million?

To westbank is Birmingham far ahead of little Rock and Jackson? No, But where Birmingham is at, is enough to make the bottom cut of another tire. Will Little Rock and Jackson catch up to Birmingham? I don’t know. Will Charlotte and Austin rise to another tire very possible but I’m not talking about growth.

Again Richmond, Jacksonville, Louisville, Nashville Columbus OH, Indiannapolis, OKC, Jacksonville, Austin, Memphis, Raleigh, Charlotte and etc are the same tire but there definitely a hierarchy. Some are at the top, some are barely making it.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by chiatldal

That fair. my thoughts was Charlotte and Birmingham are on the same tire just at opposites ends. The whole tire thing is subjective not just what is where, but how many tires there are. My ideal was either the metro is over a million or it's not, of course theirs other factors, the steping stone is 3 mil. So how many tiers are we subjectly making under 3 million?

One could say that Birmingham and Charlotte, each being MSAs between 1 million and 2 million, occupy the same overall tier but Charlotte occupies a higher sub-tier than Birmingham (e.g., Charlotte is B1/B+ while Birmingham is B2/B-). Other metros like Richmond, OKC, and Jacksonville would occupy this same sub-tier.

[grindin]

I've always thought that Birmingham is more comparable with Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, Richmond or Jacksonville than it would be with Charlotte, Raliegh, Nashville, etc. It's not as fast-growing or as dynamic as Charlotte, but it isn't quite as small as Jackson or Little Rock.

[sleepless in Bham]

Westbank, other than being destroyed by a nuclear attack, Jackson and Little Rock wont catch up to Bham in my lifetime. Bham is not progressing as fast as I would like for it to, but its not sitting on its hands either watching the world pass it by. The gap between the two is wider than you would like to admit, and thats fine. We in Bham will continue on trying to catch up to places like Charlotte, while Jackson should focus on cities like Montgomery.

[205]

That's a bit harsh sleepless. Jackson is significantly larger and much nicer than Montgomery in my opinion. I would watch out for Huntsville if I was Jackson though. That place is growing very rapidly and has technically taken over second place in the state from Mobile. Although Mobile's CSA (which was traditionally it's MSA and is the fair way to measure Mobile) is just under 600,000

You're right about Bham not being stagnant. I don't know where you got that idea from Westbank. Technically, Jackson (+8.8%) is growing slightly faster than Bham (7.5%) but the difference is tiny and despite that slightly higher growth rate metro Bham has 590,000 more residents than metro Jackson in 2009 as compared to 554,000 more residents in 2000 so the gap is actually steadily growing.

As for your comments comparing Jackson with Trustmark Bank and U of M Medical College and Bham with Regions Bank and UAB, this is where I question if you really know anything about Bham or have done any real research. Those are awful comparisons if you're trying to argue their relative similarities. Regions has 142 BILLION in assets compared to TrustMark's 10 BILLION in assets. Heck, Bham based Compass has 65 Billion in assets. Those are two Bham banks that absolutely dwarf TrustMark. Comparing Trustmark to Bham banks is as silly as comparing Bham banks to Charlotte's mega bank, Bank of America. With all due respect to U of M Medical College, UAB is in an entirely different statosphere. In fact, UAB's 198 MILLION in National Institutes of Health research funding last year was just a bit ahead of U of M's 15 MILLION. To put UAB's funding in perspective it alone still dwarfs the combined totals of all Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana based medical schools combined. As for city project bids, I have no idea so I can't argue that. I do know that most of Bham's city projects have been condo tower remodels and the aforementioned UAB has had a continuous string of major projects that have come online in the last few years. In closing I do want to give Jackson some more due credit, I like its interstate transportation layout a lot. In fact, Mississippi has a really nice highway transportation system and one of the nicest 4 lane highway systems in the country in my humble opinion. Big props to all the nice casino resorts in Mississippi and some really nice golf resorts located in the state (Fallen Oak, The Preserve, Dancing Rabbit, etc.)

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by 205

That's a bit harsh sleepless. Jackson is significantly larger and much nicer than Montgomery in my opinion. I would watch out for Huntsville if I was Jackson though. That place is growing very rapidly and has technically taken over second place in the state from Mobile. Although Mobile's CSA (which was traditionally it's MSA and is the fair way to measure Mobile) is just under 600,000

You're right about Bham not being stagnant. I don't know where you got that idea from Westbank. Technically, Jackson (+8.8%) is growing slightly faster than Bham (7.5%) but the difference is tiny and despite that slightly higher growth rate metro Bham has 590,000 more residents than metro Jackson in 2009 as compared to 554,000 more residents in 2000 so the gap is actually steadily growing.

As for your comments comparing Jackson with Trustmark Bank and U of M Medical College and Bham with Regions Bank and UAB, this is where I question if you really know anything about Bham or have done any real research. Those are awful comparisons if you're trying to argue their relative similarities. Regions has 142 BILLION in assets compared to TrustMark's 10 BILLION in assets. Heck, Bham based Compass has 65 Billion in assets. Those are two Bham banks that absolutely dwarf TrustMark. Comparing Trustmark to Bham banks is as silly as comparing Bham banks to Charlotte's mega bank, Bank of America. With all due respect to U of M Medical College, UAB is in an entirely different statosphere. In fact, UAB's 198 MILLION in National Institutes of Health research funding last year was just a bit ahead of U of M's 15 MILLION. To put UAB's funding in perspective it alone still dwarfs the combined totals of all Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana based medical schools combined. As for city project bids, I have no idea so I can't argue that. I do know that most of Bham's city projects have been condo tower remodels and the aforementioned UAB has had a continuous string of major projects that have come online in the last few years. In closing I do want to give Jackson some more due credit, I like its interstate transportation layout a lot. In fact, Mississippi has a really nice highway transportation system and one of the nicest 4 lane highway systems in the country in my humble opinion. Big props to all the nice casino resorts in Mississippi and some really nice golf resorts located in the state (Fallen Oak, The Preserve, Dancing Rabbit, etc.)

When I say that Birmingham has been stangant, I mean in the sense that it has been passed by many of it's "peers" and now the "lower" tiers have gotten to the point that they aren't too far behind.

I know that that UMC and Trustmark aren't on the level of UAB and Regions. My point was that for a city of it's size Jackson is not some small sleepy town. UAB is a monster and Regions is all over the southeast.

Note that I said "UMC may not have the "prestige" of UAB and Trustmark may not be as large as Regions, but for metro the size of Jackson..." Maybe I should have clarified that a little more. As far as growth rates Jackson's rate is only a percent ahead but Little Rock's is almost double. At the same time those growth rates are over a 10 year period.

[205]

Those are great points. I agree that B`ham has been rather stagnant growth wise compared to peer cities like Richmond, Louisville, OKC, Jacksonville, etc. I think Bham has stagnating a bit in ways that are similar to Midwestern Rust Belt cities. Bham also suffers from a weak leadership and a lack of unified cooperation among the numerous municipalities. Downtown is missing a major draw as well. UAB is a draw but it`s a work draw exclusively. BTW, the same company that is designing and building Jackson,s entertainment district is suppose to be building Bham`s.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by 205

Those are great points. I agree that B`ham has been rather stagnant growth wise compared to peer cities like Richmond, Louisville, OKC, Jacksonville, etc. I think Bham has stagnating a bit in ways that are similar to Midwestern Rust Belt cities. Bham also suffers from a weak leadership and a lack of unified cooperation among the numerous municipalities. Downtown is missing a major draw as well. UAB is a draw but it`s a work draw exclusively. BTW, the same company that is designing and building Jackson,s entertainment district is suppose to be building Bham`s.

The "stagnant" commentary is especially true when you go back to 1960 and see that the city of Birmingham was almost as large as the city of Atlanta...and Birmingham has lost population every decade since then. I realize that the metro area has increased in population since 1960, but not to the extent of many other similarly-sized metros. It kind of got left behind in growth over the past few decades, yet it has grown at a much slower pace.

All that said, I really love Birmingham and I hope to see it break out of this patttern in the near future. It presently has all of the needed elements to explode in growth and population...except maybe the leadership.

[NorthDeKalb]

**This thread is troll food/bait all day long but I'll briefly entertain**

LMAO @ Birmingham against Charlotte!

What next, Jackson against Birmingham or better yet Charlotte against Atlanta? Charlotte is like a couple of Birminghams just like Birmingham is practically a couple of Jackson/Little Rocks. It's never fair (to me) to place cities against one another when the gap in size/amenities is almost double. Jackson and Little Rock are taking great strides to catch up with places like Birmingham and Richmond, but the only thing I can suggest is keep building because they certainly haven't caught up with twice as much city yet. More city (in this scenario) means more of everything. More schools, more stores, more clubs...more of everything just like Charlotte has more of everything than Birmingham, end of story.

Everything about Charlotte is on a grander scale than Birmingham to me, just like the Birmingham and Jackson comparison. Charlotte has upscale shopping just like Birmingham, but significantly more of it just like Jackson has some fairly upper-end type shopping but not like Birmingham.

For me, the progression in that region goes something like this:
Jackson> Birmingham> Nashville> Charlotte> Atlanta.

Charlotte and Nashville are the closest, but Charlotte feels more dynamic than Nashville to me. Birmingham certainly isn't as conservative as Nashville (my opinion has nothing to do with statistics, but from a former resident and frequent Nashville visitor's perspective) but no where near as all over the place as Atlanta. Birmingham's also noticably faster than Jackson/Little Rock (even if there is one person on the planet who feels they're practically identical in terms of vibrancy).

So to respond to the OP's question, I'd never compare Birmingham and Charlotte. They're in two different leagues to me, but I can see how one could consider them to be a part of the same sub-tier. But here's the problem with that, I know of at least one person who feels that Birmingham and Jackson are almost equally yolked, so does that mean Jackson would also fall into that same category as the rest?
You make the call...

[sleepless in Bham]

ATL, I knew from the beginning that Birmingham probably wouldnt measure up to Charlotte, and it be insane to argue otherwise. Its sad and kinda depressing that not all that long ago Bham, ATL and Charlotte were all on the same tier. Oh and BTW Birmingham and Jackson are not on the same tier, if anything Jackson is on the same tier with Montgomery and maybe Shreveport.