Posted on 05/17/2022 10:49:41 AM PDT by simpson96
To some, Huntsville, Alabama, may seem an unlikely metro area to beat out 149 others in the U.S. News Best Places to Live ranking. With a population of less than 500,000, it's smaller than a significant portion of places on the list and it’s off the beaten path when it comes to vacation destinations or typical spots people consider when moving to a new part of the country.
But this northern Alabama metro area offers the affordability and quality of life that people seem to be craving after years of a pandemic that forced them to stay home, opened up opportunities to work from home permanently and urged many people to consider their top priorities in a place to live.
Huntsville ranks as the No. 1 metro area in the Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2022-23 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.
Whether you’re a Huntsville resident, considering a move to the area or wondering if you should include Huntsville in your list of potential hometowns, we’re 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.
Affording Huntsville Is Easy
In a national housing market where home prices are rising fast and buyers are frequently outbid as they compete to purchase a house, starting at a lower price threshold helps – and that’s what you’ll find in the Huntsville market.
Huntsville metro area residents spend 20.12% of the area’s median annual household income on housing costs, including mortgage payments, rent, property taxes and utilities. That makes it the third-most affordable place to live out of the 150 metro areas in the Best Places to Live ranking.
Have been here since 1966 and would not want to live anywhere else. It has really changed over those years.
The Opelika Alabaman I worked with for four years told me that Huntsville is filled with Yankees and doesn’t really count as Alabama.
He is a talented Linux OS guy.
He also had great stories about the numerous Koreans who live near his house, due to the Hyundai plant.
Agreed. But part of the charm of Huntsville is that the life-sucking liberals don’t know about Huntsville. I’d rather they keep being ignorant of Huntsville’s existence than chest-thump to them about how nice it is.
Much of my family lives south of there in Marshall County so have been going to Huntsville since I was a kid. Just enough city with plenty of country all around. Not too far from Guntersville Lake area. Definitely would consider it for retirement.
I’ve been there on business a couple of times. Lots of rocket scientists. 😏
Pleasant place from my brief experiences.
LG had a big solar panel factory there, but the announced its closure for June 2022.
Huntsville,,,?
I picked Prescott AZ.
I’m good.
“I’ve been there on business a couple of times. Lots of rocket scientists.”
...GOOD! I’ve had enough of the “smartest guy in the room” BS!
My Mom and dad lived there for a couple years in the early 60’s. She loves telling her Werner Von Braun grocery store Brush With Greatness story.
Prescott’s nice too. My wife won’t go there as it’s too dry. She likes the humidity.
Plenty of Peoples’ Republics on that list.
Huntsville is in the ~16% percentile in safety meaning that 84% of cities are safer. Hard pass.
Far enough inland to avoid hurricanes, far enough south to avoid most major blizzards and ice storms, hilly enough to be outside of what's generally considered, "tornado alley," rural enough to dodge any potential mass civil disturbances/riots (if you keep it north of Atlanta) and not particularly prone to earthquakes.
Prescott AZ is a good one
Sweet Home AL!
there is that new madrid fault line though... and didn’t that psychic predict that area’s sinking into the gulf...
edgar casey?
Doesn’t it have a street named after a Nazi party member (Werner Von Braun)? I believe it is the only city in the US that has this distinction.
That’s centered in MO, and while some of the seismic zone extends into western TN and NW AL, it’s generally west of the area I described.
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