Huntsville’s reign over the rest of the United States is, presumably, in its last day.

On Tuesday, U.S. News & World Report will release its 2023 rankings of the “Best Places to Live.” And given that Huntsville sat atop that list last year, it’s perhaps logical to expect another city will assume the No. 1 spot, though Huntsville could grab back-to-back titles.

In a sense, though, Huntsville says it doesn’t matter. Once you’re No. 1 on a list like that, you’re always No. 1 – even if you’re not.

“Twenty years from now, we’ll be saying, ‘In 2022, we were the No. 1 city in the world,’” Mayor Tommy Battle said.

Well, maybe not the world but you get the point.

“There’s a residual to the whole process,” Battle said. “Knowing that you are a No. 1 city, even if next year, it’s going to be somebody else’s turn. But we’ll still be landing in those top 10s teams of, you know, best place to retire, best place to start a new company best place to do this or that. All that is satisfying to you because it tells you that you’re doing the right thing.”

Indeed, Huntsville frequently shows up on most any “best city to …” lists that come out these days – regardless of how much or how little they may mean. At the same time, Huntsville is the fastest growing large city in Alabama and in 2021 surpassed Birmingham to become the state’s largest city. City officials estimate that population growth has now exceeded 220,000 people.

Factors that pushed Huntsville to the top of the list last year included housing affordability and the job market. And last year’s crowning may have seemed as the next step for a city lauded for years from a national perspective.

“We’ve bounced around in the top 20 on the U.S. News and World Report Best Places to Live list for the past few years,” said Lucia Cape, senior vice president for economic development, industry relations and workforce at the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce. “Huntsville was No. 7 in 2018, No. 11 in 2019, No. 15 in 2020, No. 3 in 2021 and No. 1 in 2022. And though being No. 1 is great, in the long run it’s more meaningful to be consistently among the best cities.”

Still, No. 1 is No. 1 and Huntsville embraced it.

“The number one ranking did give us a great platform and exposed us to a broader audience, which helps with our talent attraction,” Cape said. “We have certainly used it in our marketing efforts and it probably got us a second look from people who might have otherwise not considered Huntsville.

“It also enabled us to talk about things that weren’t part of the methodology that make us special, like the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, The Orion (Amphitheater), the Trash Pandas, Lowe Mill and our amazing natural resources.”

Said Battle, “It’s been a great year. We made a lot of new friends through the process, but the great thing about it is that it tells us that we’re on the right track.”

The work goes on, Battle said. He noted that the city council at last week’s meeting approved $249,500 for work to create a master plan for rural land annexed in Limestone County along the Interstate 65 corridor. Such planning in the past provided the groundwork for Mazda Toyota to locate in Huntsville.

“As I told everybody, the first day that we got the award, that’s history,” Battle said. “Now we’ve got to work on the next year, the next year, the next year. There’s never an end to try and improve your community and make your community better.”