Honest Mixed Review about Everything - 3/9/2024

Low cost of living, and all the amenities you need within a short distance. However, the city really hasn't gone through gentrification. There isn't a "nice" part of town except for a few neighborhoods that have larger houses then others. The main shopping area Bridgestreet is next to some very crime ridden areas, and the crowd that comes out after 6pm is very different then the crowd during the day. Additionally, something I've noticed here that I've taken for granted in most other areas is having parks to go and walk at. Dublin park (one of the only parks in the area) is not conducive to walking. The labor shortage also seems to have hit Huntsville more then other places due to a combination of factors. One thing I've noticed is that workers are very lazy here, and unhelpful. You just have to lower your expectations when you live here because the cost of living is much lower then other places in the country. If you want to save money this is the place to be, and you definitely can find neighborhoods that feel safer. One huge pro is the people are overall nice, but very quiet. Another con, is that the city is extremely small. There isn't much to do at all. A pro is that the drivers are overall good and drive slowly. You also won't hit much traffic compared to bigger cities. In terms of the weather, I lived in south Florida, so I'm veryyy happy to have some cool weather in the winter here but it never gets too cold which is nice. The storms are insane though, worse then what I experienced in florida.

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Way to expensive - 11/14/2021

Everyone is always like “Huntsville is so up and coming”, which it is, but it’s forcing people out of their homes. They’ve created more jobs and places to live but not for the people who live here and have lived here for more then half their lives. They’re creating a place for only upper middle class or higher. Who’s going to make your food? Or even be your nurse? Huntsville used to be so diverse but now it’s rich a-holes.

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Way to expensive - 11/14/2021

Everyone is always like “Huntsville is so up and coming”, which it is, but it’s forcing people out of their homes. They’ve created more jobs and places to live but not for the people who live here and have lived here for more then half their lives. They’re creating a place for only upper middle class or higher. Who’s going to make your food? Or even be your nurse? Huntsville used to be so diverse but now it’s rich a-holes.

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Great people moving in, awful people leaving! - 5/26/2021

There are two types of negative reviews here. 1) People are salty about not being able to afford this place anymore because it's growing. 2) The "ol' country southerners" are salty about how the city is diversifying because they have little man syndrome and can't stand the new talent coming into town to replace them.

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Good for employment but not to live. - 11/25/2020

This used to be a decent place, but it has rapidly declined. With the employment boon came the usual problems of increased crime and influx of homeless. Just look at the crime statistics. They're way higher than the national average. At one time the Five Points area was a coveted historic area, but now it's an overpriced haven for the homeless and crime. I've lived in the area for a year and there have been three killings less than a mile from where I live; one was two blocks. I can't wait to get moved out of this city. Housing is way overpriced everywhere because of the demand. If you can find an affordable place it's usually in a very sketchy neighborhood. If you want to be safe and have some money left over at the end of the month, find a place about twenty or thirty miles away.

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Serious review-- 20 years in Huntsville. - 10/25/2020

OK, I have read all the reviews for this place, I think. Most have a grain of truth. I have lived here for 20 years. I grew up in Italy, France, and Germany. I have lived before in Virginia, Seattle, and Orlando, FL. I've traveled all over the US, and have family in at least 5 other states. So I have some basis for a fairly rounded review. I'm going to go through the CONS first, but do stick around for the PROS, because I am of the opinion that this is a good place to live. The BIGGEST CON by far is: pollen. Honestly, I am not sure if its pollen that causes the sinus infections people are always getting here, but its some kind of air thing. From Nashville TN to the north down to Birmingham AL in the south the pollen, or other pollutant, is a problem for everyone here from time to time, usually in the Spring and the Fall, but can also last all summer long to an extent. Even one of my dogs get so allergic in the spring, we have to give her benedryl every night and every morning to get her through it. MY RECOMMENDATION: get a medical grade electric air filter (like from allergybuyers dot com) and run it in the main room of your house or your bedroom in spring and fall. It will be worth every penny, ESPECIALLY if you have asthma. If you have a child that has bad asthma, I have to say that moving anywhere in the south where its humid and hot is a very bad idea, except Florida. Another con: Sprawl. This place is growing so fast, that there are lots of cheaply made houses going up in old cotton fields. Watch out for these builder grade houses if you are moving here. Very cheap, but they will fall apart. If you live in a suburb outside the main city, you will have a long way to drive to get anywhere, and unfortunately it just looks like commercial sprawl. I'm not a fan at all of billboards and store signs for miles on end. I used to live in the Harvest area, but I moved into the town center. Religion is a big thing here. Not sure this is necessarily a CON, but its just a thing. Really, these churches are just big civic centers, social clubs. But there are some folks that get pretty religious. In the downtown area there are more "open minded" churches (?) like the Episcopals, Unitarians, Greek Orthodox, and one Mystery School type church which I absolutely love, full of wonderful highly educated seekers of ancient ideas (sanskrit, astrology, theosophy type stuff). The church buildings themselves downtown are lovely, and fun to visit. Plus pipe organ concerts, choral events, it really is nice. But the mega churches in some suburban communities here ... i dunno. I guess its good for a sense of belonging in many communities. They just seem pretty ---- eh, limiting? Maybe I'm biased. Lots of conservative folks here, but there is a very strong liberal undercurrent, and high tolerance of differences. PROS: If you live downtown (which is full of quaint old mill houses and victorian mansions) this town is really pretty. And from there it takes like 5 -15 minutes to drive to nearly any activity, since all the entertainment is downtown. There's a lot of entertainment, too, and plenty of culture to be had. That is a definite plus for Huntsville. There's always something fun for the family to do. And the "city" of Huntsville is more like a bustling town, its really just perfect right now. Many people here are very highly educated. Having worked at NASA and other space agencies here, I have gotten to know scientists who have discovered amazing things. I've chatted with astronauts, and discussed global warming with actual weather researchers. I'm great friends with an internationally known optical physicist, and you will be too if you move and work here in the space industry, because everyone is known for something. This is where all those folks come to work. So that's a big plus. Interesting people. (That said, many of these very interesting people can burn out, and then they move to Utah to become ski instructors and live like hippies). Another PRO: not so much snow. And I haven't mentioned yet that the nicest NICEST place to live in Huntsville is on Monte Sano mountain downtown. Its gorgeous there in the winter, with a lovely cool fog every day instead of snow, and about three days of snow per year on the mountain, just enough to enjoy and be done with it. Plus the mountain is 8 degrees cooler in the summer, and that's a good thing. The houses on the mountain tend to be more expensive, but not always if you keep looking. There are a few last home lots for sale, but some of them probably won't perk, so the older houses up here just have to be updated and rebuilt. Its easy to start a business here. Because land is cheap to build your restaurant (or whatever) and the customers are ready to try new things. Houses are cheap here, land is cheap, you can get trapped here from the sheer affordability of stuff. Honestly I am not sure how people in other cities afford live with houses costing double what we have here. 10 years ago I bought a farm house plus 20 acres and a pond, with two barns for $95k. Sold it for $170k. It was fun living way out in the country for those years, but I would not do it again. Just too far from civilization, and there are lots of much less educated weirdos out there who don't like newbs in their back country. SO in conclusion: This place ain't so bad. If you move here, move downtown, or onto Monte Sano if you can (especially if you are liberal) (if you're conservative you may be more happy in the 'burbs, but either way folks are pretty nice). Find a neighborhood with sidewalks and trees, seriously, put it on your checklist. You will need both in the summer. Earnings can be high here, and real estate low. Entertainment is constant. I haven't been hiking but I'm gonna check it out. There's also a big mountain biking community here. Never tried it. There are mosqitoes for sure in the summer. But the city sprays for them, and BY THE WAY, never spray your yard for them here (maybe anywhere?) because it literally kills every bug and bird in your yard, I tried it, it was horrible. Even the frogs left. We just use bug spray on the kids now. It took two years for our birds and frogs to return.

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SWEET HOME HUNTSVILLE. - 1/23/2020

I'VE BEEN HERE SIX YEARS AND I LOVE THIS CITY.

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Huntsville is a fun place to live ,work and play - 8/21/2019

Huntsville,Alabama is "firing on all cylinders" you could say. It's job market is pretty hot with a new 1.6 billion dollar Mazda-Toyota plant with about 4 to 10,000 jobs expected to generate from it along with about 4,000 FBI job transfers over a 5 year plan to the Redstone Arsenal. The city has worked very hard to diversify its workforce. Cummings Research park is the 2nd largest in the US and when you combine a NASA center (Marshall Space Flight Center) , a Military base (Redstone Arsenal ) you have a very strong economy. The downtown is on the move with expansion of a new concert hall at the VBC , a new banking headquarters is going up (Redstone Federal Credit Union), over five new hotels are in the works , Hospital expansion, a new Federal courthouse, city hall are in the planning stages .Big retail and entertainment developments such as Bridge Street ,Mid City, and Town Madison are attracting the national scene with Top Golf , High Point Climbing, Dave and Buster's, Duluth Trading etc. On the sports and recreation scene you can enjoy the Huntsville Havoc Hockey at the VBC and a new Double A Baseball stadium is going up for 2020 in it's suburb of Madison "Rocket City Trash Pandas " with a Margaritaville hotel coming later. The city has built a new Aquatic center , as well as sand volleyball , soccer fields etc in John Hunt Park. Tourism places to visit are the U.S Space and Rocket center, Alabama's Constitution village, Botanical gardens, Burrit Museum. My favorite getaways in the city are taking a hike on one of Monte Sano's many hiking trails, evening walks in Big Spring park downtown, during the holidays take a horse drawn carriage ride through the historic district , going on one of the many Historic Ghost walk tours downtown are pretty cool too. Hope this helps and Welcome to the Rocket City !??

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Great small town--but VERY spread out - 7/31/2019

We are military that retired here. Yes, it's conservative & lacking in strong municiple mgmt, but we are fairly liberal from the North. I tell people to give Huntsville 1.5-2 yrs, & you will begin to see its a great little town as you meet friends & enjoy activities. We've lived her for 12 years & raised kids here. We are very active in the athletic community (running, biking, hiking, swimming, golf). NEVER buy a house before you live here--deal with the inconvenience and little added expenses and RENT for at least a year. It is VERY spread out, & I became a realtor just because so many military folks made choices in home buying that they regret (ie, traffic patterns, distance from cultural activities, etc).

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Happy in Huntsville - 5/1/2018

Huntsville, AL is my home, and I love it here! The culture is a mix of Southern Hospitality and limitless innovation. The traffic is not bad at all compared to other places my friends live. We have some of the best schools in the Nation. There are fun events going on all the time to include family activities, music, arts, food & beverage and more. There are restaurants with unique and delicious selections and a large selection of craft beer. Huntsville has been recognized by Forbes, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications as one of the Top Ranked Cities in the US related to cost of living, salaries, STEM, business climate, growth and innovation. I also feel tremendous pride about living in a place where the Defense of our Freedom is a central focus. There are literally rocket scientists everywhere. There are young professionals working on innovative solutions that will change our world. It is a pleasure to live in place where I feel safe and have opportunities to thrive.

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No longer a southern town - 4/24/2018

You will read hundreds of reviews about Huntsville, which are from people that aren't from here. About 2 in 10 people you meet are actually residents here. 10 years here doe s not make you a local. I have been here 38 years and I am 3rd generation. Most of the complaints on here about driving and bubba's are from sheer ignorance. Most of the staff I work with are from California, New York, New Jersey and so on. There are only 3 of us that are from here out of 288. If you are an engineer this place Is for you. We have watched our society degrad over the last decade. Rude behavior and arrogance are not a southern tradition. Most residence have left due to the shift and Huntsville is no longer a southern town, but a town in the south. We are not dumb hillbillies, myself, brothers, sister and parents have advanced degrees. We can't help but see the values go down the toilet, but all government cities are this way. Aniston has just recovered from that after McClellan closed. If you are a young engineer aspiring to be a government contractor or employee, then this is the place for you. Is you cherish values, honesty, hard work and fun, then pass on by.

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Do not move here - 5/1/2017

This place is one of the worst places I have lived being former military. It sucks big time.

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Good town for conservative families. - 3/30/2017

If you like religious folks, conservative values, and southern culture this is the place for you. There's a lot of young professionals and military families that move here mainly for work first off. A lot of people I talk to don't really care to live here but, it's where work is. On that note i've lived in Huntsville from 2013 to now and 2009-2010. The city has taken huge steps to try and improve the quality of life with new buildings upgrades, and amenities trying to appeal to the younger people moving into the city in hopes of keeping them. The new mid-city development where madison square mall was and the City Centre development downtown. They've become rather eccentric about the artisan and craft goods movement that every other town has. Good thing is even working retail one can afford to live here a house doesn't cost very much and cost of living is cheap. The weather can be a bit extreme here as of the last few years we've had 70 degree days in December and 20 degree days in February. The summers are very long and very hot and it can be very humid on years we don't have a drought. This is a good town to raise kids if you want to raise them around southern values and there's lots of religious schools if you're interested in a private school instilling the morals of the bible. The culture here tends to veer between southern conservative to young liberals with all the young professionals living here. I don't think Huntsville really knows what it wants to be at this point and it's striving to make a large city identity for itself. If you're an LGBTQ couple there are far better places to move to let me say that now. Stay away from Alabama if you fall in that category the resources and things to do for LGBTQ couples is rather abysmal. It's nice that Huntsville seems to be rather accepting or just flat out doesn't care if you're LGBTQ.

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Behind the times - 2/1/2017

Too much crime for population. Not progressive enough has the potential to be great but falls short. Not welcoming to transplants. Lacks true diversity and culture. Poor health system and economy lacks growth. Lots of building of fast-food chain businesses and houses, however ot does not match the growth. Traffic is senseless, people drive like they lack the gumption to keep moving. For example the signal may turn green and there is nearly a minute delay before cars move resulting in only 3 cars making the light. There may appear to be traffic but it is really just slow moving vehicles. People tend to leave nearly 2 car lengths when stopped at a light. In the last week alone I have seen 2 drivera make improper left lanes obstructing the flow of traffice. They turned from the outside lane instead of the center lane designated for turning. Oh yeah drivers hesitate then pull out in front of you as you are approaching. They don't want to stop for emergency vehicles or school buses. People aren't very friendly, no Southern hospitality found most times. Why is everyone so angry here they got their prayers answered Obama is out and Trump won.

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Huntsville, mediocrity is thy name. - 5/24/2016

Huntsville used to be a very progressive town. Back in the days of the space race, the town had a very high content of engineers and scientists from other locations within the United States as well as other countries. Over time, the culture has degraded significantly. If you are looking for an environment that has a very high Evangelical Christian content then this is your town. If you are looking for the type of cultural events that are common in the more progressive areas of the United States such as the Pacific North West or New England, you will be sadly disappointed. The economy is primarily based around the defense industry so if you like making bombs this is your town. Most of the other industry has vanished, moved either to Mexico or China so you're pretty much relegated to the housing industry (which is dominated by the illegal immigrant population), fast food worker or the aforementioned bomb making. While Huntsville used to have stellar representation in the US Congress here again they have fallen on hard times. The current representative does pretty much what the Republican leadership tells him to do, nothing more, nothing less. I would say that he rides low and in the middle of the posse. Overall the weather is substandard with cold wet winters and hot humid summers. The pollen count is extraordinarily high so if you suffer from allergies once again this isn't your town (the Native Americans used to call this place "The Valley of Death"). The only saving grace from an environmental perspective is Monte Sano Mountain but the real estate is scarce and expensive as well. Most of the people that live are stuck here as a result of there ties to the defense industry or their families. Mediocre to abysmal is a pretty good summation. Oh bye the way, if you're planning on moving here, buy a large number of firearms as every one here has them.

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Nice a Place to Visit - 9/23/2015

If you belong to the Tea Party, then this is the place for you. They are still fighting the Civil War here, so Yankees will have a hard time fitting in. These people are very conformist and only talk about church, football, guns, Alabama, the South, their hatred of Obama, and their kids and grandkids. God forbid if they should have a deeper thought. I have seen throughout the community a desire on the part of people who don't know what they are talking about to run things, and they will cause fights and disruptions in order to be in control. There are some nice people here, but they have become harder and harder to find. The people here don't carry on discussions, instead think they are debates, will interrupt you because they're not really listening, will try to impose their views on you, are only concerned about themselves, and may even talk at the same time you're talking to them, even when you are trying to give them important information they need. They don't seem to know how to be good friends unless you're a conformist like them. Prejudices and self imposed segregation are also still strong here. On the plus side, it is a beautiful area, and if you like history, there are many Civil War battlegrounds nearby. At one time, there was some excitement about the space program here, but now it's all about the military. The comments other people have made on Huntsville are spot on.

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Average Southern City - 2/2/2015

Huntsville, AL is a mid-sized city in north-central Alabama. It has a great economy/job market. The weather consists of hot, humid summers and mild, grey, wet winters. There are 2 minor league sports teams (just lost baseball in 2014) and several small college sports teams. There are lot's of things to do here if you know where to look. Nashville, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Gatlinburg, Gulf Coast and Savannah are all weekend destination cities within a 2-7 hour drive. However, after living here since 2000 I am bored with this city and looking for a change after my daughter graduates high school in 2017. It's a great place to raise a family, get a college education and build a strong career but I wouldn't want to live here forever.

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Bad for Allergies and Asthma, really bad. - 11/3/2014

I am really floored that no one has commented on the fact that Huntsville is the worst place for allergies and asthma. I've been here 10 years. The air quality is horrific. Pollen gets so thick in the air here you can see it in the Spring. It piles up on the cars. I have had to use my windshield wipers to scrape the pollen off in the morning before. But the worst air quality arrives in the Fall. Every Fall I end up in the hospital with some respiratory complication. And the medical staff always say the same thing, "It's this area. Everyone is sick". Apparently the Native American name for this valley translates to "Valley of the Sick". Huntsville will shorten your life for this reason. DON'T bring your asthmatic or allergy prone child here, they will suffer terribly. I have been so sick that I haven't had the ability to move... but I am about to crawl out of this place... looking 30 years older than when I arrived here from Seattle. (Oh, and I have lived in 17 places, never sicker than here in the Fall.) You can live on Monte Sano, pollution issue is better there because of the elevation. Other factors to consider: Its hot and muggy in the summer. No breezes. Huntsville sprawl is really not pretty. Just the plain truth. Lots of missionaries coming to the door. Half the people here are very religious. But there IS an underground current of secular folks here. You can find many of them in secular homeschooling facebook groups for north Alabama. They live in the historic district, usually. The less religious people here tend to be very friendly. The more religious ones seem to be less so. Great city for job hunting. 8 hours to the beach.

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Not the pretty picture it is made to seem - 10/20/2014

Things in Huntsville, Al are not as lovely as they are made to seem. The cost of living is fair on apartments. I feel that most of the houses are over price for the area when considering, the crime, location, and neighborhood. The grocery prices are outrageous my in laws lived in New York and just recently relocated here and they spend so much more money here and get so much less in grocery. Rape, homicides, home invasions, robberies are up, the crime hear is much higher than some of the neighboring cities that are so much bigger. Then is not a lot of opportunity for people without degrees if you are an engineer, are in the military, work for the military, and etc. then you will have it made, but there is no work above min. wage for people who do not come from money or are not part of this good old boy system.

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DDT in soil - 8/15/2013

Years ago The army buried DDT in the ground in metal drums and the DDT leaked out nad got in the water table. IS NOW IN THE TENNESSEE RIVER. DON'T MOVE TO HUNTVILLE ALABAMA.

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