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The census says that Montgomery and Mobile's MSAs both lost population and OKC alone grew about as much as all of Alabama's MSAs combined.
The Census says that Oklahoma has five MSAs and four of them grew. Alabama has 12 and only seven of them grew.
Total growth of MSAs in Oklahoma was 237k to Alabama's 173k.
Oklahoma is growing because it has Kansas to its north and Arkansas to its east, neither are big job markets compared to OKC and Tulsa. Alabama borders more desirable states in TN (Nashville, Memphis )and GA (Atlanta, Savannah) and to a lesser extent Florida (Panhandle Beaches). However, Oklahoma's growth is hindered to some extent by bordering Texas to the south. Texas opportunities and pay have dwarfed that in Oklahoma.
Yep, it's hard to make a fair comparison between two core cities when one spreads out over 500+ square miles and the other one doesn't. OKC was obviously able to annex much more of its suburban sprawl into the city, while Birmingham wasn't. In Birmingham, a short ride over the Red Mountain ridge from downtown puts you into the innermost White flight suburbs of Homewood and Mountain Brook.
I don't know much about Oklahoma in general, but my impression is that it is on a more upward trajectory than most of Alabama and more like Texas in that regard. Alabama is still held back by poor reputation. This state almost put Roy Moore into the US Senate, and my hunch (possibly very wrong) is that Oklahoma would be less likely to install that much of a looney whacko into a high political position. So many of the bad stereotypes about Alabama get confirmed over and over.
Choosing one location over another is obviously very personal and subjective. I'm very affected by natural setting and climate. For those reasons alone, I personally would never choose OKC or Tulsa over Birmingham. I also would never choose cities like Dallas or Houston, which have much better amenities, over Birmingham because I personally want the better setting, outdoor activities, proximity to places I really like, etc.
I lived in Birmingham over 20 years ago and found it a little slow for my taste but not awful. Northern Alabama was very nice. But that said, having visited Oklahoma cities several times the last 20 years, its proximity to Texas has not been a big benefit outside it having casinos close enough to get Texas patrons. and for Oklahoma companies to expand into Texas because growth in their home state pales.
It's unfortunate that the scenic parts of Oklahoma are in the least populated areas of the state and some of the hardest to get to. Oklahoma City is probably in the ugliest part of the state.
As someone whose from Alabama, and lives in Dallas, and goes to Oklahoma so often.
Alabama in a landslide… Mountain and Beach culture is something that’s very missed out here in the Plains.
I'm originally from Alabama (Montgomery area) as well and now live in Austin. Heck, yeah, the Alabama's beach culture is hard to beat. You are much closer to nice vacation spots in Alabama, too. If you live in North AL, you're close to Nashville, Smoky Mountains, and other great scenic areas. If you live near the coast, you are close to Mobile, Biloxi, Pensacola, etc.
That being said, I think Oklahoma's beauty is very under-appreciated. It has so much potential in that department for its size.
Yes but those are the only two metros that seems to be growing the rest of the metro/micros are shrinking, most metros in Alabama are growing, Birmingham MSA, Mobile CSA, Tuscaloosa MSA, Huntsville MSA/CSA, Auburn MSA, Dothan MSA, Even Montgomery MSA. According to my calculations Mobile CSA and Birmingham MSA may have actually grew a little more than Huntsville MSA/CSA based on my calculation (my calculations was less than 1% off of what the actual census said was correct so I’m confident in my math) even Montgomery MSA gained about 20k. So again Oklahoma has had two big cities that’s growing but Alabama but has at least 7 metros that are growing and this total growth is much larger than the total growth of Tulsa and OKC together
Just no.
With the real census numbers this is very wrong. The Mobile MSA lost population. Montgomery's MSA grew by only 11k. Tulsa and OKC alone outgrew all 13 Alabama metros by 251k to 248K
OKC grew by 13.8%
Tulsa by 8.6%
Birmingham only grew by 5.1%.
Oklahoma's two large metros make up 62% of the state's population with 2.4mm people compared to Birmingham making up only 22% of Alabama with 1.1mm people. Oklahoma's large metros grew by a combined 11.4% to Alabama's large metro growing 5.1%, 54k in growth in Alabama vs 251k In Oklahoma. Not close.
Oklahoma's ten largest cities have 1.74mm people compared to 1.26mm in Alabama and grew by a combined 11.3% compared to Alabama large cities growing by 6.3%. In fact, three of the four largest cities in Alabama lost population while none of the top four in Oklahoma did.
Oklahoma is just far more urban and its urban areas are more healthy and growing more.
Rural Oklahoma is in an awful place, which has been true basically since the dust bowl. But the big metro cities are the large majority of Oklahoma and are doing well.
I'm originally from Alabama (Montgomery area) as well and now live in Austin. Heck, yeah, the Alabama's beach culture is hard to beat. You are much closer to nice vacation spots in Alabama, too. If you live in North AL, you're close to Nashville, Smoky Mountains, and other great scenic areas. If you live near the coast, you are close to Mobile, Biloxi, Pensacola, etc.
That being said, I think Oklahoma's beauty is very under-appreciated. It has so much potential in that department for its size.
Yeah, but nobody wants to move to Lawton where the Wichita Mountains are.
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