ComebackTown giving voice to the people of Birmingham & Alabama.

Click here to sign up for newsletter. (Opt out at any time)

It’s really frustrating.

I feel like I’m continually hitting my head against a wall.

Internet companies keep publishing negative city rankings with Birmingham at or near the top.

But these rankings are complete idiocy because of the way Birmingham is compared.

And yet, I can’t seem to get anyone to pay attention.

Folks just seem to accept them and that harms all of us whether we live in the City of Birmingham or in our suburbs.

To people from outside of Alabama, we’re not from Mountain Brook, Homewood, or Trussville. We’re not from Hoover, Irondale, or Gardendale. We’re from Birmingham.

I live in Vestavia Hills, but when I talk with someone from out-of-state, I tell them I’m from Birmingham.

Telling ourselves we live in a fancy suburb may make us feel good, but it doesn’t mean a thing to someone who lives in Chicago.

These random Internet rankings definitely damage our Birmingham brand.

Families are skeptical of moving to our Birmingham region. It’s more difficult to recruit companies. Less jobs and opportunities are created.

What folks think of Birmingham is what they think of us, our families, and our lives.

They judge us by the city rankings they see when they Google Birmingham.

Internet city rankings must get a lot of ‘clicks’ and be profitable because there seems to be a city ranking for just about everything.

Hold your nose and here’s what you will see when you go on-line.

Birmingham is…

The way these rankings are constructed, Birmingham is like a lamb to slaughter.

The City of Birmingham has a population of 197,575—Jefferson County 667,820.

Birmingham represents only 29.5% of the population of Jefferson County, but when the above rankings are published, they only include the City of Birmingham without its well-to-do suburbs. No Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills or Homewood. None of us who live in the suburbs are included.

Yet Birmingham is ranked against cities like Nashville, Jacksonville, Louisville, and Indianapolis that have county/city governments. These cities represent 100% of the households of their county—with its high-income neighborhoods.

Jefferson County is one of the most segmented urban counties in America with 35 separate municipalities. Compare Birmingham’s 29.5% of Jefferson County’s population to Charlotte, North Carolina which represents 78% of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina’ population.

A look at Atlanta is instructive.

Buckhead, a well-to-do area of Atlanta is considering breaking away from Atlanta.

According to CNN, if Buckhead successfully secedes from Atlanta, “Buckhead City would take nearly 20% of Atlanta’s population and remove more than 40% of the assessed value of its property.”

The City of Atlanta would then be on the verge of being a lot more like Birmingham. Atlanta will likely suffer greater poverty and crime for the specific area measured…and move way up in negative rankings.

I’m not going to make the case we need to have a county/city government to make our statistics look better.

But those statistics are taking a toll on us. It causes an overstatement of crime, poverty, obesity, stress, and unhappiness.

You may have seen the headlines on al.com, Alabama saw big spike in new arrivals from other states in 2022.

But these folks are not coming to Birmingham or Jefferson County.

According to al.com, the “growth isn’t spread evenly across Alabama. In recent years, just a handful of counties have gained significant population from in-migration – the biggest being Baldwin County, home to Alabama’s beaches, and Madison County, home to booming Huntsville. Lee, Limestone, St. Clair, and Tuscaloosa…all also saw significant population gain from migration over the last decade.

Let’s not fall prey to these simplistic and incomplete rankings from greedy profit-seeking websites.

Birmingham folks are generous, caring, and welcoming.

I contend our Birmingham region is #1 for quality of life in the U.S.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Click here to sign up for our newsletter. (Opt out at any time)