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I really want to vote for my home city/region of Birmingham, but it feels like the area really never takes off despite so many dramatic improvements in the core part of the city. Very low unemployment, beautiful setting, central location in the Southeast, decent climate (if you don't mind hot/humid summers tempered a bit by being at the tail end of the Appalachian region), nice food/bar scene, good healthcare, reasonable cost of living, and more all seem to bode well. But I think the stigma of being in Alabama can be a problem along with legacy challenges from White flight out of Birmingham proper. Also, I'm retiring in 5-1/2 years and want to move much closer to the downtown area, so please delay any booms in real estate prices until after that happens!
B’ham feels like it has the right ingredients and is certainly an interesting place. But I agree, it has a stigma to overcome, both the city (crime, poverty, past racial violence) and the state (standard Alabama stereotypes). The dispersed nature of the metro and concentration of wealth “over the mountain” doesn’t help either. Downtown has great bones and is on a large grid in the valley—if it ever does boom, it’ll be a really cool place. I’m rooting for it.
I’d maybe include Omaha on this list. Relatively inexpensive, plenty of room to grow, old bones, low unemployment, low crime, white collar workforce, not going to sink into the ocean. If crime issues continue to plague other big Midwestern cities (Chicago, Minneapolis), I could see people from those cities looking at Omaha (and Lincoln, ~1 hour away) as alternatives.
Raleigh, SLC (influenced by the strong economic growth brought on by technology), and SATX (which could soon merge with Austin to form the Central Texas Metroplex).
SLC ...NO.. for its lack of water, its isolated locale, its lack of variety.
Tampa ..no because Florida has a lot more issues than DeSantis is letting on.
NC is the next big star of the Southeast due to COL, quality of universities, moderate weather, a crossroads for the south and eastern seaboard, scenery (mountains and ocean) diversity of business and people and moderate political climate. So Raleigh I think will lead the way.
San Antonio may benefit from the overcrowding of its neighbor, Austin, to the north.
I would've assumed Salt Lake City, Tampa and Raleigh would already be in the "boom" status.
Jacksonville, Oklahoma City and Greenville are in the "early stage" parts. Of the three, I'm least sure of Jacksonville's long term prospects based on the transient core nature of the city itself (in Florida and a military town) without a strong identity on the national stage.
I find Richmond, Birmingham, San Antonio and Louisville to be dark horses, but not outside the realm of possibility. While I think all four would like a bit more growth, I don't think any of them want the full unbridled growth of Atlanta, and would take steps of some sorts to have some better planning/preservation. Birmingham would have the hardest time, due to a lot of state and some city stigma it has, but it's rise would probably be coincide with major rises for Huntsville and Mobile, too.
Memphis, I would be highly pleasantly surprised to see turn it around.
From "Macro Trends", here is Raleigh NC growth rates.
The current metro area population of Raleigh in 2023 is 1,591,000, a 2.84% increase from 2022.
The metro area population of Raleigh in 2022 was 1,547,000, a 3.27% increase from 2021.
The metro area population of Raleigh in 2021 was 1,498,000, a 3.74% increase from 2020.
The metro area population of Raleigh in 2020 was 1,444,000, a 4.18% increase from 2019.
For the Salt Lake City metro area:
The current metro area population of Salt Lake City in 2023 is 1,203,000, a 0.92% increase from 2022.
The metro area population of Salt Lake City in 2022 was 1,192,000, a 1.02% increase from 2021.
The metro area population of Salt Lake City in 2021 was 1,180,000, a 0.94% increase from 2020.
The metro area population of Salt Lake City in 2020 was 1,169,000, a 0.95% increase from 2019
SLC is growing but boom ...no
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