Top 10 Reasons to Live in Huntsville, AL
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Lifestyle and Cost of Living:
Like most of Alabama, Huntsville is exploding with popularity, growth and expansion. It has surpass Birmingham to become the largest city in Alabama by population. In many aspects, it is the melting pot of the south, with a large population of diverse and mixed multicultural groups you typically see in larger cities, but don't let this misguide you as Huntsville is enriched with kindness, generosity and that old fashion southern hospitality. In some respect, Huntsville feels more like its metropolitan neighbor of Nashville or Atlanta. This is not to sound disparaging to the rest of Alabama, but I am rather pointing out the diverse atmosphere of Huntsville which is uniquely different than to rest of the state.
In most cities, traffic jams have become a normal disruption in life, but surprisingly, this is not so in Huntsville as there are shorter commute times and congestion compared to most cities of similar size. The average commute in Huntsville is 19 minutes, which overall beats majority of U.S. cities with an averages 26.4 minutes.
Affordability continues to be Huntsville’s best attribute. According to U.S. News and World Report, Huntsville was ranked #1 as most affordable city to live. While low home prices, taxes and cost of living are great reasons to move here, Huntsville also host a variety of high-tech jobs with many technological companies making the average pay scale much higher than the rest of Alabama and surpassing much of the Southeastern region of the US.
Future Challeges:
As of January 2024, the typical rent for 944 sqft aparment in the Huntsville area was $1,212 a month with an average around $1000 for a small two-bedroom apartment. With the sudden growth of the city's population and skyrocketing job market, the demand for new construction and rental units have driven the prices for both rental and home ownership. Just last year, rent increased a modest 4.74% over the year while home prices only increased about 1% due to rising interest rates.
A decade ago, Huntsville was one of the best kept secrets of the South. It was rather unknown to most people but with the reuniting of the great space race, Huntsville, also known as “Rocket City,” has caught on fire, meaning it is now a popular destination for those who are seeking high tech and STEM jobs. This has caused a shortage of homes and the attention of many national home builders. While most of these builders see Huntsville as a great opportunity to expand here locally, many were frustrated with the lack of local construction laborers. This has led to a new initiative called, North Alabama Homebuilding Academy, funded by $20 increase in the building permit fee. The academy offers free training to 18 or 17-year-old with a high school diploma. Graduates are expected to earn around $16 per hour. Each 6 classes run 4 weeks during the day or 8 weeks for evening classes. This includes $200 of free gear and equipment to jumpstart their bright future. With classes already being full by the first day of school, it has brought a welcome hope to new home builders. A few months ago, I interviewed one of the home builders from the Tennessee area. He had hoped to start a small home building operation in the Huntsville area, but said there was just not enough talented construction workers to get his business off the ground. He hinted that he would like to try again if talent was more available. Let's hope these programs become successful in the short term.
Darin Buelow, a global location strategy leader for Deloitte gave a presentation which, according to his numbers, Huntsville area must fill about 25,000 new jobs by 2023. This demand comes at a time when the area is seeing a historic unemployment rate of 2.1 percent. Many of these jobs will come from engineering, cyber and the technology industry. Not only will these jobs be new positions but also the area is dealing with a local aging and a retiring workforce. Although University of Alabama Huntsville is known for their top-notch STEM programs, which boast an 88 percent job placement, there still seems to be a short fall in finding good talent. Huntsville has no choice but to expand their outreach in search for experience talent from other states across the U.S. While this is being advertised by companies that have a large footprint in other tech states such as California, a greater effort needs to be made among state and local leaders.
In a local interview by AL.com, Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle was quoted as saying, "It is a challenge. As we continue to grow and we continue to prosper, we'll be able to keep up with the growth and we'll be able to build ahead of the growth so that we can keep that same quality of life tomorrow that we have today. Our greatest asset is our (average) 18-20-minute commute to and from work. If we can keep that and keep those other quality of life issues in place, we'll grow and we'll prosper." 8 A few years ago, John Cooper, director of Alabama Transportation recommended $250 million to improve traffic flow in the Huntsville area. While this sounds like a lot of money for improvement, Huntsville was on the hook to raise $125 million in own local taxes to pay half of the road improvements. 9 Also dipping in our newly increased gasoline tax, Governor Ivey did allocate some money to expand an additional lane on interstate 565, but in all honestly, this was a drop in the bucket as the cost ($17 million) to widen the road was minimal, especially when comparing Mobile's request for a billion dollars to build a new bridge. All this money being proposed to the fourth largest city with a declining population.
Population and Growth
Huntsville is the fastest growing city in Alabama. It added more people to its population than any other city in Alabama since 2018. In 2010, the metropolitan area grew to a population of 417,593, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan in Alabama. Eight years later, Huntsville metropolitan grew to 492,000 which propelled city's population beyond Birmingham making it the largest city in the state. Forecasters believe Huntsville's strong growth will continue to increase and outpace Birmingham growth by greater margin over the next decade.
Since the Space Race of the 1960’s, Huntsville has grown from being a rocket city, to defense, biotech research, hypersonic propulsion, cyber security, radar, aerospace engineering, weapons, combat systems, rotor-wing technology and intelligence. What was once known as the capital of rocket science has now become a mecca for many STEM careers. It is also home to the Toyota and Mazda car plant and owns one of the largest Biotech Research Facility, the HudsonAlpha Institute. Some of the biggest and most well-known defense and technology companies operate out of Huntsville, they include companies such as; Boeing, Blue Origin, Aegis, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Leidos, Jacobs Technology, Aerojet-Rocketdyne, BAE Systems, L3 Harris, Huntington Ingalls, Facebook, SCI Technology, SAIC, DRS Technology, NTS, Colsa, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bell Textron, Sikorsky, Kratos, Sierra Nevada, Radiance Technology, Teledyne Brown, Dynetics, Torch, Intergraph and Adtran just to name a few.
Things to do
Huntsville is home to the U.S Space & Rocket Center, also considered as Alabama’s most favorite attraction to visit. The Saturn V draws spectators from around the world! Not only is there a replica of a space shuttle but many space and military exhibits, along with interactive science can be found checkered throughout the museum. Huntsville’s Botanical Garden is also a local favorite. The garden is a 112 acres of exquisite manicured gardens, leading trails guiding you around to the Children's Garden, a place for your kids to enjoy and discover.
For those of you like the outdoors, Monte Sano sits on 2,140 magnificent acres with spectacular views from atop the mountain, attracting people with the 20 miles of hiking trails and the 14 miles of biking trails to enjoy. From picnic areas, camping, planetarium observations at the VBAS, to special events atop the mountain, the beautiful Monte Sano Park is a place full of adventurous things to do.
The Von Braun Center, also known as the VBC, is Huntsville's largest comprehensive event space with more than 170,000 monumental square feet of flexible meeting, exhibit and performance areas. If that’s not enough, it’s centrally located in the beautiful Downtown Huntsville near hotels, shopping and restaurants, while overlooking the stunning beauty of Big Spring International Park. The original site where the city of Huntsville was built around over 200 years ago. This large pond filled with 10,000 colorful koi fish, ducks and geese! Special events are held in the park such as; the Panoply Arts Festival, and Concerts in the Park. At Big Spring Park, you're in the middle of everything.
For a complete list of things to do in Huntsville see my website.
Weather
Huntsville winters are generally mild, with a few weeks of really cold weather and by this, I mean, low teens. Rarely do we see single digits and if they do occur, it surely doesn’t last more than a few days. Overall, I would say a typical winter day has a high in the 50’s and a low in the lower 30’s.
Spring and Fall are the most enjoyable weather seasons here. In general, Spring begins in late March and last till May. Fall occurs sometime in early September and continues all the way through November. Both Spring and Fall temperatures peak around 70 degrees in the daytime and dip in the 60’s at night. The Fall colors here are beautiful with red oak and maples checkered all throughout the northern part of Alabama. It is definitely my favorite time of the year and a great time to enjoy the outdoors. Below is a map of Huntsville annual weather averages:
Huntsville Annual Weather Average
Huntsville Weather Average (Jan - Jun)
| Averages | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high in ºF | 51 | 56 | 65 | 74 | 81 | 88 |
| Average low in ºF | 32 | 35 | 42 | 50 | 59 | 67 |
| Av. precipitation in inch | 4.89 | 4.84 | 5.21 | 4.32 | 5.11 | 4.29 |
| Av. snowfall in inch | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Huntsville Weather Average (Jul - Dec)
| Averages | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high in ºF | 91 | 91 | 85 | 75 | 64 | 53 |
| Average low in ºF | 70 | 69 | 62 | 51 | 42 | 34 |
| Av. precipitation in inch | 4.05 | 3.61 | 3.72 | 3.59 | 4.94 | 5.77 |
| Av. snowfall in inch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Restaurants and Leisure Time:
Huntsville is known for its local food, sporting some of the most well-known franchises and locally owned and well-respected restaurants. Many of these restaurants create dishes that's out of this world, with mouthwatering flavors that satisfy the palate, but they also host many local bands bringing a fun atmosphere to the area's eateries and establishments. A lot of Huntsville's restaurants and cafes support local businesses and farmers, buying locally grown produce, herbs and meats. Most of the restaurants can be found in downtown Huntsville, near the airport, Bridgestreet Mall, MidCity, Five Points, Madison and throughout the city.
While you sit back and enjoy a meal or sip on some local home brewed coffee, make sure to check out the many bar side establishments that offer adventurous experiences such as Top Golf or Dave Buster's. Don't forget about the dozen or so local breweries and sport bars that offers delicious and favorable side dishes. Here in the valley you'll discover our amazing local music artist performing at one of the many favorite venues and festivals. With local tunes that light up the night and cuisines that are fresh and local, Huntsville has it all. As you begin to explore the city, you'll quickly discover and realize that Huntsville is well-known for those wonderful flavors & tunes.
National Rankings
Huntsville is nationally recognized for many awards. Here are some of the top awards given to Huntsville in the past few years:
- US News ranks Huntsville as #1 for the Best Affordable places to live.
- Huntsville is ranked 3rd for the STEM jobs in the U.S. by 24/7 Wall Street.
- The Milken Institute ranks Huntsville as having the seventh largest concentration of High-Tech jobs.
- The financial company Motley Fool has ranked Huntsville as #2 for High Salary and Low Cost of Living.
- Wallet Hub ranks Huntsville as the Top 25 Most Educated in the Nation.
- Wall Street Journal says, "Future of Tech is in Three Cities, including Huntsville."
- Livability named Huntsville as the top 10 Best cities for STEM jobs and N0. 2 as the Up-and-Coming Tech Hotspots.
- Nerd Wallet Ranks Huntsville as #2 for the Best place for Tech Jobs also ranks Huntsville as #1 for STEM Grads.
- ZY writes, "Huntsville is the New Age of Aerospace."
- Smart Asset ranks Huntsville as the #2 city for Tech Jobs in the U.S.
- According to Forbes, Huntsville is amost the Top 25 best-paying cities for Software Engineers.
- CBS Money Watch named Huntsville as the fastest-growing tech city.
- Indeed ranks Huntsville as the Top Metro area for Game Developers.
- Kepler ranks Huntsville as on of the best cities for Manufacturing Jobs.
- Huntsville Internation Airport is ranked the Best Small Airport in the U.S. by USA Today
- Business Insider ranks Huntsville as the 11th Best Place to Live in the U.S.
- US News also ranks Huntsville as the 11th Best Place to Live in the U.S.
- Livability list Huntsville as #40 as the top 100 Best Places to Live.
- For the 11th year in a role, Huntsville earns an "A" on their Financial Report Card.
- 24/7 ranks Huntsville as #6 for job growth.
Any question or need further information? Send me a note.
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Jennifer Gates (256)755-4989
For those who are interested in buying or selling a home, as a realtor with Legend Realty, I can help you with all your real estate questions or needs.
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