City Praise and Nonstop Growth Debate Among Huntsville

By: Noah

average of ranking position for each individual metric.

In the website’s rankings, Huntsville is slotted in as the fourth most prosperous city and is the only Alabama city to make the top 25. Mobile, with its population decline and 18% poverty rate, did make an appearance in the website’s rankings for 25 least prosperous cities for 2023.

According to the analysis, Huntsville had experienced a 9% population growth over the last five years, the median household income had increased 25% along with value of owner-occupied homes going up 20% over the same time period. The analysis also reported Huntsville having an incredibly low unemployment rate of only 2% in 2022 while 43% of its residents have at least one college degree. The city’s poverty rate was 10% in 2021.

However, when the news was announced, not all Huntsville residents agreed.

This story predictably brought out citizens who wished to celebrate the city’s good placement in another ranking, but the amount of people who thought the complete opposite was resounding.

A large portion of those engaging with the news had negative things to say for a variety of reasons. Some people feel the city is getting too big, and way too fast.

Others thought that the city’s growth is primarily benefiting only a certain few people, and not lower income residents.

Major complaints from people who engaged with this new accolade, primarily in online discussions, stated rising costs of housing, lack of night-life activities, increase in wealth inequality and poverty, lack of proper infrastructure, and an influx of outof-state transplants as reasons for why Huntsville was, in fact, nowhere near a prosperous city.

This prompted a series of questions from the Huntsville Business Journal:

1) What are the purposes for city rankings, and what other rankings have Huntsville placed in around the country?

2) What are the reactions from city officials regarding not just that specific ranking but also the trend of high ranking placements in general?

3) What were the city leader’s reactions to the passionate discussion brought on by that story?

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce makes a nswering the first question easy. It’s doubtful that every single internet ranking that involves cities and includes Huntsville is listed in their “Huntsville Metro Media Recognition,” but the list includes an impressive 68 entries.

The Huntsville Business Journal was able to speak with Lucia Cape, who serves as Senior VP of Economic Development at the Huntsville/ Madison County Chamber, about how these high profile rankings affect the city.

“Rankings are incredibly helpful as we share Huntsville's story with people in other parts of the country or world,” Cape explained.

“When we place high among our peer cities, it keeps Huntsville on the minds of decision makers and people looking for new opportunities. This can include better jobs, quality of life or entertainment options. Affordability is also important -- and several recent rankings have confirmed we are still very affordable compared to other cities. These rankings are helpful to our employers as they recruit talent. We want our companies to have