Why Huntsville Alabama is the No. 1 Place to Live in the U.S.A

HUNTSVILLE, AL BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE USA

Huntsville ranks as the No. 1 metro area in the Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 202223 rankings, unseating Boulder, Colorado, after two years at the top.

The Best Places to Live rankings are determined by factoring in housing affordability, the job market, net migration, desirability and quality of life, which includes crime rate, college readiness among high school students, overall well-being among residents, average commute time, access to quality health care and air quality. With particularly high scores in housing affordability and quality of life, Huntsville took the top spot.

We are breaking down what makes Huntsville the Best Place to Live in 2022-23, why it beats out other places and what downsides you may need to compromise on.

Why Huntsville, AL is the #1 Best Place to Live

ABOUT HUNTSVILLE

Huntsville is a city in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama and is the county seat of Madison County. Situated in the Tennessee River valley, Huntsville is partially surrounded by several plateaus and large hills. These plateaus are associated with the Cumberland Plateau, and are locally called "mountains". The city also extends out west into neighboring Limestone County and extends south into Morgan County. The city grew across nearby hills north of the Tennessee River, adding textile mills, then munitions factories, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command nearby at the Redstone Arsenal. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Huntsville to its "America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010" list. In 2005, Forbes magazine named the HuntsvilleDecatur Combined Statistical Area as 6th best in the nation for doing business, and number one in terms of the number of engineers per total employment. In 2006, Huntsville dropped to 14th; the prevalence of engineers was not considered in the 2006 ranking.

There are 57 parks within the city limits of Huntsville. In 2013, for the fifth time in seven years, Huntsville was named a 'Playful City USA' by KaBOOM! (non-profit organization) for their efforts to provide a variety of play opportunities for children that included after school programs and parks within walking distance of home.

HUNTSVILLE

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ABOUT MADISON

Madison is a city located primarily in Madison County, near the northern border of the U.S. state of Alabama. Madison extends west into neighboring Limestone County. The city is included in the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the second-largest in the state, and is also included in the merged Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. Madison was mostly a small city for many years until the creation of Redstone Arsenal, which brought many people to the area and rapidly increased Madison's population and economic growth to the point that Madison is the second largest city north of the Tennessee river only behind neighboring Huntsville (Decatur is mostly south of the Tennessee river). Many of Madison's residents work in Research Park or the Redstone Arsenal. Madison has been one of the fastest growing city of the top 10 cities in Alabama and is one of the wealthiest cities on average. The City of Madison has several greenways and parks within city limits. Madison is working with the nearby cities of Huntsville and Decatur to create a 70-mile bicycling and walking trail.

The Madison City School System, formed in 1998, serves over 10,000 students from the city of Madison and town of Triana. It has consistently been rated as one of the best school systems in the state of Alabama. Nationally, it ranks in the top 5 best school systems.

MADISON

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ABOUT DECATUR

Decatur is a city in Morgan and Limestone counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, nicknamed "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County.

Tourism is a major part of Decatur's economy. Hundreds of thousands of people from in and out of town, and from many other countries and territories, attend some of the premier festivals in the South. The Alabama Jubilee, begun in 1978, is the oldest hot air balloon race south of the Kentucky Derby's Great Balloon Race (from 1973). With visiting populations rising into 100,000, people crowd around more than 60 seven-story-tall balloons as they inflate. Because of the Alabama Jubilee, Decatur has been named "The Ballooning Capital of Alabama" by the Alabama State Legislature. The Riverfest barbeque cook-off at Ingalls Harbor is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society and attracts competitors from across the country. Beginning in 1995, the festival has previously been selected as a top ten tourist event in the State of Alabama, festival goers can expect live, nationally known musical acts, children's activities, and awardwinning barbeque.

Austin High and Decatur High are the two main high schools of the city. With the addition of the International Baccalaureate Program to Austin and Decatur High Schools, Decatur has become the first Alabama school system north of Birmingham and one of five in the state to offer the honors program for juniors and seniors (as of July 2006).

DECATUR

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Athens is a city in Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city is the county seat of Limestone County and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area.

Athens is midway between Nashville and Birmingham on Interstate 65. Athens shares a boundary with Huntsville.

Founded in 1818 by John Coffee, Robert Beaty, John D. Carroll, and John Read, Athens is one of the oldest incorporated cities in the state, having been incorporated one year prior to the state's admittance to the Union in 1819. Limestone County was also created by an act of the Alabama Territorial Legislature in 1818. The town was first called Athenson, but was incorporated as Athens after the ancient city in Greece. Many homes in the central part of modern Athens date to the antebellum period, and are part of historic preservation districts.

Athens was traditionally a cotton and railroad town, but since the local aerospace boom of the 1950s and 1960s, it has increasingly entered the orbit of nearby industry center Huntsville as the area's cotton production has steadily declined. Athens is the home of Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority installation first operated in 1974, that was once the world's largest nuclear plant. It provides many jobs to the area and most of the electricity for the Huntsville-Decatur Metro Area.

ATHENS

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Huntsville Metro

Economic Update

Key Highlights

❖ Overall metro area employment has recovered and surpassed pre-Covid levels for most industry sectors.

❖ Unemployment inside the metro reached a record low of 1.6% in April but has risen to 1.9% in May with the slow down of the U.S. economy. Population is increasing and workers from outside the metro area are commuting to fill local jobs.

❖ Moody’s has projected strong growth for the Huntsville metro which is expected to outpace the growth of the U.S. economy over the next five years.

❖ The Federal Reserve is concerned over record inflation and is taking measures to gradually slow the economy without triggering a recession.

❖ Key economic development projects in the Huntsville market are on track

Market Snapshot:

April 2023

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NEWS

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