My wife and I like Birmingham a lot. Although it is a fairly large city (2+ million in the metro area), it has a very small town feel to it.

South of town is where all the growth seems to be. Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Hoover are all great places, and each has their own character.

There is also a big loft and condo boom going on in downtown.

Some sites to check out:

http://www.birminghamal.org (Convention & Visitors Bureau)

http://www.bhamwifi.com (wireless internet in birmingham)

I really like Birmingham a lot too. In my opinion it is a great place to raise kids. My neighborhood is very safe and the housing prices are still very affordable (depending on where you decide to live). I live in a southern suburb called Alabaster. Last time I checked, the suburbs around here were the sixth fastest growing communities in the US.

The weather here is fantastic (that’s coming from ex-Chicagoan). There are real seasons here, and this I enjoy.

My husband used to live in Mobile, and he enjoyed it there as well, although I’ve only visited on my way to the beach ;)

for a southern city, bham is pretty cool. a lot of families live in hoover, homewood, vestavia or helena suburbs for the school systems (hoover probably has the biggest reputation). for me though being in 20s and single, i like the downtown- southside/forest park area – its artsy and young. birmingham is much better than mobile – more activities, museums, and more of a metropolitan feel than mobile offers.

there are alot of nationwide stores opening in birmingham (usually its the first city to get stores that are typically located in cali, up north etc) ie they are finally building a whole foods market in alabama and it will be in bham.

Also nice about bham is it is close to atlanta, only 2 hrs away. cost of living is reasonable, real estate is plentiful, a car is a must!

hope this helps! :)

Birmingham is a great city indeed, and the city itself (as opposed to the Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area) is among the most liberal in the country according to voting patterns, according to a recent study. I work in Birmingham and live in Pelham, where housing is more affordable. The whole area has a very low cost of living.

Birmingham is to Mobile as Virginia is to South Carolina. I grew up an hour from Mobile, and it’s really the pits down there. Birmingham is so different from the rest of Alabama. It’s become known as a culinary paradise, a well-earned reputation. We have world-class Thai, Persian, Lebanese, Jamaican, and just about every other type of restaurant. Most menus have a smattering of Greek influence, as the city’s restaurant scene was founded by Greeks.

The southern suburbs in Shelby County are nice & livable, but beware of traffic if commuting downtown. Do not commute on Hwy. 280! Other great areas are Homewood, Mountain Brook (pricey), and according to what I’ve heard, Trussville.

My wife and I lived in Atlanta for a few years before we moved to Birmingham, and hands-down Birmingham is a better place to live. We have great restaurants, concerts, etc., without the hellish traffic & cost of living. There’s less to do than in Atlanta, but it’s so much easier to get where you’re going that we can do so much more here than we could there.

Y’all come!
shqippy

Short philosophical answer—

A city or community will only be what you bring to it.

Longer, more mundane answer—

Birmingham proper is, like all big cities, rife with it’s internal problems. However, there are many wonderful people and attractions. Cost of living is really low, compared to other larger cities, and crime is (if I have read the stats correctly) on the decline—has been for the past several years.

The Birminhgam of the suburbs has everything available to you outside of big city living. You can find apartments from the $300/month range to homes in the $10 million plus range. Of course, with real estate, as with anything, you really do get what you pay for. Take care! Hope to see you in the Magic City soon!

jedaniel

At the least you’ve learned the people of Birmingham are mostly helpful and friendly. :)

I agree with everything said in the earlier posts… I have a slightly different perspective, however, as I live within the city (not the ‘burbs). I live in a neighborhood called Crestwood, which is a great little diverse, artsy, mostly liberal and well-established neighborhood. We call it “Mayberry with a Twist”. Raising kids here is not bad, but there are drawbacks – the schools are questionable, for one thing, and while they’ve changed over the past few years, they are still not a good reflection of the neighborhood. If you have to have public schools, you might prefer the ‘burbs. We are considering one of the many available private schools.

I particularly agree with what was said about the restaurant scene here. We have everything. I’m always disappointed when I travel, because I invariably have better food choices here at home. We have tons of independent restaurants (the chefs are like rock stars!) and probably all the national chains.

And it’s easy. You can generally get anywhere in 30 minutes… but beware the rush hour on 280 and 1-65 coming into the city. Yikes. I’m glad to live so close to work!

We’re also within 6 hours of: the beach, the mountains, New Orleans, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Mobile, etc. etc… So you’ve got lots of long weekend vacation options, not to mention the activities here in town.

If you’d like more specific information, feel free to email with questions.

I was raised in Vestavia, south of Birmingham. In my opinion Birmingham is a fantastic place with its major weaknesses rooted in a collective psyche of guilt and underconfidence. Loving Birmingham is a lot like loving that perfectly beautiful girl who didn’t know she was pretty and constantly badmouthed herself and tried to break up with you to spare you the embarassment of being seen with her.

That said, it is a fine city and there are zillions of great things for kids to do in and around Birmingham. You’ll never run out of little trips and supportive friends. Socially you might run into more backwardness and less diversity of opinion than in Northern Virginia, but trust me, there’s a community here for you no matter what your views.

If I could compare Birmingham to Mobile, I’d say Birmingham has a little more of everything except we’re four hours further away from the beach. To make up for that, we are four hours closer to the Smokies. Mobile is growing fast and seems to suffer less political infighting and petulance than Birmingham does these days.

There is a huge disparity between individual neighborhoods and the quality of schools and the occurrence of violent crime. There are some wonderful neighborhoods in the city proper which provide great views and natural beauty, access to fantastic parks and short walks to vibrant streetlife and culture. The downtown area itself is a booming residential district.

At the same time, here are certainly plenty of areas struggling with serious social ills that you would be well-advised to avoid. The prevalent view on the Birmingham School System is that you would need to consider private schools in the city proper, or move to a suburb with a good system. There are public magnet high schools, such as the Alabama School of Fine Arts and the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate which put out some truly outstanding graduates.

Oh, and we believe strongly in personal automobiles here. Busses are for commies. Make sure you have a reliable car with air-conditioning and something better than an AM/FM tuner. You’re going to spend some time in the car (not as much as L.A. or Atlanta, thankfully), and we don’t have a lot of great radio stations to pick from.