As an Alabamian, we respect that you were able to pronounce the cities correctly. The one issue people ignore about Birmingham, for example, is that there are so many cities near it that can be considered part of Birmingham, weirdly. There are also "unincorporated areas," such as what I'm part of. Which meant that Birmingham took us, despite being much closer to two separate cities. The issue in B-Ham is that closer you get to the center, the poorer the population. The further out you are, the better off you tend to be. The city is attempting to change that by making brand new, upscale apartments in the city center. Mobile is damn sure old. Anything by the water was going to do pretty well for a long time, so it is unsurprising that Mobile was part of different colonies early on. People often forget that Birmingham is similar to Pittsburgh in that we're a leader in steel. But Pitt does still rule that area. Huntsville is so interesting because despite how old it is, the place still has so much room to expand out and do much more. That was why NASA loved the area so much early on, but they could do so much more.
Huntsvillian here. Our geography is quite deceptive. While it looks like we have room to grow, we're low key limited on options. We got lots of tough terrain and mountains to the east. Swamps and marshes to the west. And tornadoes bulldoze the north every few years (RIP Harvest). We've pushed as far into Madison, Athens, and Decatur as we can get. Next is Hobbs Island, New Hope, and Arab.
Childersburg was not a city but rather a village visited and occupied by Spanish Conquistador, Hernando deSoto. Mobile was an actual city, being the Capital of French Louisiana for over 20 years.
Driving through Birmingham it seem so much larger than the other 3. Birmingham has a heavy populated metro and downtown. I'm a truck driver. Mobile seems bigger than Huntsville.
Was not born there, but spent my formative years close to Dothan. Mountains in the North, beautiful beaches in the South, good family people, hard working, love the state!
As a Tuscaloosa native, you almost got the pronunciation right. The Tusc part is pronounced like the Tusks on an elephant. Glad to see you did a video on my home state.
Chief Tuscaloosa would be rolling over in his own grave if he could hear how some people pronounce the county that took his namesake. Also I agree. One of my favorite places is the university mall and midtown village. I especially love the Metro Diner’s menu. This video also reminded me of the couple of field trips I took in elementary school to Moundville. I remember believing I saw the ghost of the woman who I jumped from the waterfall when I was there in daylight. Seeing how tall those mounds as a child inspired me to write stories of ancient cultures that were starting to become more advanced, but were stopped by invaders. I just wish AP wasn’t a monopoly and we had other options for electricity bills.
Alabama born and raised here. We pronounce it Mo-beel instead of mo-bile. I also think Mobile was the first major city, it was founded in 1702. Great video! I’d love to see more content about Alabama, you should talk about how fast Gulf Shores and Orange beach are growing and the factors leading to it.
Awesome upload! A lot of folks complaining, but for talking about a very specific, mostly rural, state in a different country, I think this vid showed a lot of effort and sparked some great convos in the comments. The thing about BHam being so spread out is definitely interesting - I've stayed in a hotel in the middle of downtown and you can't get a sandwich after 8pm, it's wild. Hopefully the urban exodus will begin to reverse itself with time, over-suburbanization has really bad effects on municipal finances, community-building, all sorts of stuff.
I have lived in Huntsville since I was born and this city has changed so much! Every piece of farm land in the area is getting bought up and they are putting new neighborhoods and apartments in there.
Alabamas smaller metros also balance cross state. Tuscaloosa/Northport has a similar population to Auburn/Opelika/Phenix City. Dothan/Enterprise are similar in size to Florence/Muscle Shoals, and to Gadsden to Anniston area. The exception is the Black Belt. Its population is uniformly low. Montgomery is situated North of the Black Belt, not in it, and crucially it is on the Alabama Falls Line. The Alabama river splits just north and east into the Tallapoosa and Coosa and both were only navigable a short ways until the elevation changed and there were waterfalls and rapids. So Montgomery was as far upriver as you could go and the most northerly river port.
I also believe that the Black Belt population decline is tied to the decline of Montgomery. The lack of industry and good-paying jobs have sent people further north. However, Hyundai is helping to reverse that situation a little. a bit. Roll Tide Roll!
Born in Mobile, Tuscaloosa for college and back to Bham in my adult life!!! I love Alabama and didn’t know a lot of what was shared here, so thank you!
A little known fact for huntsville, it will never have giant skyscrapers. It has a lot of rain and limestone, which means there's hundreds of caves all over underground. If you build a big skyscraper there, there's a strong chance it will collapse a cave deep underground.
Photo used for the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center is actually the US Space and Rocket Center, a museum with a replica Saturn 5. You can see it from pretty far away and is quite the landmark along the Interstate.
One note: we all say birming-HAM, and we shorten it to “bham”. Great video! Though I would have had a bit more of a focus on how Alabama’s rural population is spread out pretty evenly as well. Looking at a light pollution map, it becomes clear that it’s pretty hard to get away from people here. I would also suggest that Alabama’s freshwater ecosystem plays a role, as there’s abundant freshwater sources pretty much everywhere here vs most states with just a few major rivers.
I noticed this but then I tried to say Birmingham in a British accent and I don’t feel like it’s possible. I don’t think they can make the short a sound
Car tags in Alabama identify the county they are issued. The numbering is in alphabetical order with the exception that the counties where Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery are located were given the numerical prefix values of 1, 2 and 3. This allows room for these larger counties to expand their assignment with a letter value. i.e. Jefferson county (Birmingham) uses the values 1A, 1B, and 1C for tags where Huntsville (Madison county) is limited to the numeric value 47. Even though populations change this system is locked in.
As an Alabama native myself, it’s always funny listening to out-of-staters mispronounce our town names. Granted, these are rather tame compared to the real head scratchers like Wedowee, Oneonta, Notasulga, Guin, or Lineville.
10:55 "Redstone Arsenal was turned into Marshal Spaceflight Center" is a little bit misleading statement. Redstone Arsenal didn't cease to exist. It's still there, next to MSC
Parts of New York City used to be divided. Brooklyn was its own city for a lengthy period which is fascinating. Brooklyn used to make the old top 10 largest U.S. cities lists. New York City started to gobble up surrounding areas, eventually turning into the 5 boroughs we have today. Philadelphia did a similar thing.
True Metro populations are closer than what they appear, Baldwin County is only a mile from Downtown Mobile yet isn’t considered part of the MSA, the MSA currently only includes Mobile County, the real metro area is very much Mobile and Baldwin Counties, which would be approaching 700k residents Just like Mobile, Huntsville should also be higher, Huntsville shares a physical city limit border with Decatur in Morgan County, a county not part of the MSA but like Baldwin into Mobile, has a 25% commuter rate, Huntsville MSA should also be around 700k
Enjoyed the video. I recently read that Baldwin County, the county across the bay from Mobile, is the 7th fastest growing metro area in the United States.
That’s correct. We have Californians pouring in here like crazy. It used to just be Midwestern snowbirds, but soon we’re going to be CaliBama. I’ve never seen anything like this. They’re everywhere.
yeah we all collectively agree theyre ruining this place. theyre cutting down all the pretty tree areas for more subdivisions. it doesnt look as open and pretty as it used to, but thats just how it goes i guess. everyone here says the place isnt the same anymore.
This is a bit misleading, Huntsville is the biggest city proper, but the area surrounding it is the middle of nowhere. The Birmingham Metro area has most of the Alabama population of over 1 million people.
While you’re right that Birmingham is a much larger metro, the part about Huntsville is also misleading. Huntsville definitely has a suburban sprawl that’s continuing. Just look at highway 72 in Madison County(the county where Huntsville is) and there’s been tons of development. Huntsville metro is about half the size of Birmingham’s.
Madison (the city) is completely surrounded by Huntsville, which I find kind of funny. Huntsville city limits extend east along US 72 past Shield Road, and a lot of construction work is being done along the highway. Owens Crossroads is a suburb of Huntsville that everyone forgets about because there is a mountain between them. Real estate agents project Gurley to be considered a suburb of Huntsville by a 2035
@@bellart_ramana I didn’t say it was a contest. I’m just pointing out the flaw in saying anything about a metro area. Spanish Fort’s city limits border Mobile’s along the causeway, and yet, not even Baldwin county is counted as in Mobile’s metro area, but Birmingham has counties in their metro that don’t even touch Jefferson county.
@@natebryars732do you understand what defines a metro? It isn’t just whatever is close by. It’s literally how the region functions. Business, commerce, commuters, etc all depend on each other within the metropolitan area. There are significantly more cities, towns, and rural communities that depend on the Birmingham metro than in other alabama metros. If you lived in the Birmingham area you would see it.
Opelika native here and it’s kinda ironic how my city name is derived from a “muscogee” or creek nation word which means “big swamp”. I believe it was settled in the 1830s by a few white settlers and by the 1840s the natives had been pushed out. But in the late 1800s the railroad was ran from Montgomery to Atlanta through Opelika thus cotton warehouse and gins were all throughout. With the early 1900s textile industry was built along the railroad and that created another economic boom. Present day Lee county is one of the fastest growing counties in the state assumingely helped by the University which is not county in population but definitely makes it a logistical challenge.
Birmingham metro is 32 of my 39 years of life. Love all of you Alabamians here as well as those elsewhere! Our State has a lot of good/bad history (and who doesn't) yet what was is not always what still is... I've been all over Europe, the States, and Central America. Alabama is where I have chosen to come back to raise my kids and exist til I don't anymore. I hope all of you have your "Alabama" like I do... Wish you the all best!
People are fleeing Montgomery and Birmingham due to costs and violence. Huntsville absorbed many of these people, hence its staggering growth over the last decade, but Huntsville's infrastructure can't handle the influx and prices have skyrocketed. Huntsville doesn't have a big surrounding metro area, but it will someday since people need somewhere to go.
@@stampoutup-talking1436Real. People here will do anything but take care of what’s right in front of them. They just pack up and move the moment they hear a window break.
As an Alabamian, I just want to list the correct pronunciations of these city names: Mobile is pronounced MO-bill Tuscaloosa is TUSK-uh-LOOSE-uh Birmingham is BUR-ming-HAM
@8:20 Correct about Iron ore, coal, and Limestone being found in abundance . But, also dolomite is found in abundance. Birmingham is the only place in the world where all four raw materials for steel manufacture are found in abundance.
Mobile Native here. One of the contributing factors for the even spread of people, is the fact that Alabamans will move if an area begins to get too crowded and will move where it is less crowded. Most people treasure their privacy and elbow room. So it's not a surprise to me at all. I've moved 3 times myself because of overcrowding.
This video was quite interesting. It’s funny hearing this accent narrate my home state’s history. I’m a little bias being born and raised in Birmingham, but I must say, we are developing a lot more innovative and modernized projects outside of the four major cities listed in this video.
Huntsville Alabamian here, my family were founding settlers of Alabama. I’d say from based on visiting all 4 major cities on a regular basis, it’s clear Huntsville has the most growth out of them all. Not only construction wise but in 2023 we had almost 10,000 new people move to Madison County/ Huntsville. Although I will say Huntsville is playing catch-up with the others, infrastructure wise.
Good review and outlook. As a native of Montgomery, Alabama. I approved, and in reference to Montgomery's population. Well true people maybe leaving Montgomery city proper, but they are moving to nearby cities that are consider suburbs and are apart of Montgomery Metro which is Millbrook, Wetumpka, both in Elmore county, Prattville (Autauga County) and Pike Road AL. (Montgomery County).
Mobile County, with its population of around 415,000, combined with Baldwin County and the surrounding areas, brings the total to about 1.3 million people within a 60-mile radius. It’s crazy how they split Mobile and Baldwin counties into different metropolitan areas, which can make Mobile seem smaller compared to Huntsville. The way these areas are divided doesn’t always reflect the true size and influence of the region. It’s definitely something worth considering when comparing cities!
Really enjoyed the video. I did notice that at the 6:38 mark you showed a picture of what looked like fruit trees while talking about the cotton trade. I am sure that farmers probably would love thier cotton plants to grow that large, but I have never seen a cotton tree before. 🙂Great video!
Looks like cotton to me. Maybe that's just what it looks like if you don't prune it down. Edit: Nevermind, someone else explained that it's a flowering peach tree!🎉
I haven’t read this article but I am pretty sure… NASA in the north, University of Alabama in the west, beach in the south and Auburn/Kia in the east. Very diversified state.
Kia is in Georgia, The West Point/La Grange micropolitan area. However because of its proximity to the Alabama line, I’m sure they commute into GA for the jobs with Kia.
Birmingham's metro and suburban area is larger than the video makes it seem. Birmingham is basically baby Atlanta. You are correct about Huntsville, its one of the fastest growing cities in recent years, its basically Alabama's equivalent to Austin, Texas (but to a much lesser extent). Its proximity to Tenn. helps a lot too. Otherwise, good video.
Birmingham grows to over a million, during daylight hrs. The city is wierd! Like it has a curfew or something? Probably does? I use to work in Bessemer/Hueytown. Pretty much Birmingham. There are lot's of smaller city's encircling Birmingham.
One thing to note with Birmingham is that the actual population is deceptively small on paper. In reality, it is quite a bit larger than the other cities in Alabama. The main reason to city population is so small is that all suburbs of Birmingham incorporated into their own cities leaving basically just downtown in the city proper. The main reason for this actually was the civil rights movement and school integration. The suburbs incorporated in order to form their own school districts to avoid integration with the city proper. South of the Red Mountain is some of the richest neighborhoods and Alabama and best schools, while in the city proper, the worst schools in the state are found. There was a great amount of white flight, but it’s also notable that the destinations for it was previously part of the main city, and when compared to say, Mobile, are just as close to the city center as the suburbs within the city limits of mobile.
Huntsville resident of 16 years here, very nice and informative video! I love living here for the most part. Though the infrastructure of the city hasn't caught up to the massive increase in population in the last decade. But plenty of job opportunities for jobs that involve STEM (science, tech, engineering, math), nursing, doctor, or lawyer. And you're only 1.5 - 3.5 hours to cities like Bham, Nashville, and Atlanta.
The Alabama river meets the Tombigbee River at the 45 mile marker. Creating the Mobile River. Source: Alabama resident and work on a towboat on the river.
Poor Tuscaloosa with its metro of 'bout 200,000 (in the county). Barely mentioned. Well you hardly mentioned Auburn either, so it's fair, I guess. Roll tide.
In Alabama you’ll meet Roll Tide or War Eagle, but you will occasionally stumble upon the Go Blazer.. who is the bitter sister of Roll Tide. If you know, you know.
Birmingham is over double the size of the other metro areas. Unlike Alabama metros, comparisons between the South Carolina metros are accurate, as the three metros of Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston are close to the same size. Huntsville and Mobile are fairly similar in size, while Montgomery is smaller.
LOL, while talking about cotton, the video showed peach trees in full bloom with white flowers. I guess it could be mistaken for cotton, but cotton grows on small bush-sized plants, planted in rows, not on trees.
I moved to Huntsville multiple years ago and can attest to how much the city is growing. A lot is changing here over the past few years. I imagine the population will greatly grow in the near future considering the immense amount of apartments they are building everywhere.
Maybe not your race of people. But as a black Alabamian I am drawn to Montgomery because that’s where I’ve learned the most about slavery and civil rights in Alabama. Least whitewashed city in Alabama.
Having lived here all my life, and knowing a great deal about Alabama history, I will say I'm impressed with your research. However, and minor points of course, the H is pronounced in Birmingham (which takes its name from Britain's Birmingham btw) and Mobile is pronounced Mo-beel. Additionally, Birmingham was also know as "The Pittsburg of the South".
Thanks for pointing how large the Birmingham Metro population is...a lot of people forget/gloss over that. And we don't even try to stretch the metro area to include random cities.
Only when you count the metro area. When you count the population in the actual city limits/borders, then it is about the same as the other big three in Alabama. Most of the people are outside of the city limits, so in the metro area. I'm in the metro area, but not in the city. My address does not include B'Ham. It is one of the cities surrounding B'Ham.
@@laurie7689 You might be right but the Census Report Said there's Over 1.2 Million people that haven't done the Census that's why it's a big decline on paper but Birmingham Numbers is Bigger than the other Mobile , Montgomery , Huntsville.
The Arsenal is still the Arsenal. The Marshall Space Flight Center is an addition. The base is still a base and always buzzing with tanks, helicopters, aircraft, and weapons testing. Space flight was just a little tacked on.
@@The_Laser_Kittens "Objectively false" is just a term that most people use when they want to argue against something but have no argument to back it up with. They say that like it is a mic drop. If there is a single tank on base then it is at the museum. Stop spreading misinformation. edit: MLRS and HIMARS are not tanks if that is what you are thinking of.
@@mapsgoonthewall5396 There may not be as many held in other bases, but there are definitely a full suite of tanks and other armored fighting vehicles. Don’t forget the amount of R&D that occurs in and around the base. It’s entertaining to watch a couple dudes in hoodies doing donuts with a Bradley (not quite I tank, I know). Slightly more frustrating whenever someone drives an Abrams across the parking lot. They may use rubber tracks when not “in service” to reduce damage, but they leave little bits of rubber everywhere. You might have me on a technicality that most of the tanks are outside of the base, but they get to the contractors through the base, so… Everything ok? You seem angsty. Be better.
@@acidicwater4263 won’t argue with that. We mostly had to memorize geology, like mountain ranges and their heights, and river systems and their depths and how much water flow etc.
It’s truly interesting to see just how populated Huntsville is, but there’s almost no urban sprawl/surrounding major suburbs like you see in the south side of the state!
Holy shit, he pronounced mobile correctly! But dear god tuscaloosa was not lol. That gave me a chuckle. Tuscaloosa is pronounced like tusk-caloosa. Whether it’s the origin or simply ironic, the state’s name sake sports team has an elephant as its mascot. I don’t mean to pick on ya, it just caught me off guard to pronounce it almost like you’d pronounce Tucson Arizona. Great video, glad to learn more about my state.
Mobile and Birmingham are the only 2 compact cities buth smaller than Huntsville in physical size. If Mobile was geographically the size of Huntsville, it would have 300,000 people, and Birmingham would be around 350,000. Same is true of Metros. Huntsville's Metro includes multiple counties. meanwhile Mobile is just Mobile County, even though Baldwin County, which is next door is nearing 300K.
The census bureau determines metropolitan areas based on how many people from a county are commuting to a city to work. A large metropolitan area indicates como if impact over a wider area.
Correction: Montgomery is not that far East or south of the river. The Alabama river literally runs through Montgomery. Also, if you include the Birmingham-metro area, Birmingham has around a million people in the area
Your "British pronunciation of Birmingham and Mobile" are comical to hear, lol. You did overlook another important unique feature of Alabama, we also have smaller yet other metro areas besides the Big 4 cities.
If I'm not mistaken, Huntsville serverd as the first Capital of Alabama before moving to Cahaba. If only temporary until 1920, it was the location of the constitutional convention which drafted our first constitution and declared our statehood.
you edited and re-uploaded the video to include the correct pronunciations for the cities. that’s dedication 💛.
I now want to know which ones were said wrong and how?😂😊
@@piperjaycieI bet mobile
Birmingham is still wrong.
Mobile always mispronounced. “Mo-beal” 😊
Yea I cringe when I heard him pronounce Tuscaloosa.
Alabama Mentioned!!
we take what we can get
@@GrabASpriteB hell yea
Same lol
Roll Tide compadres
🔥
As an Alabamian, we respect that you were able to pronounce the cities correctly. The one issue people ignore about Birmingham, for example, is that there are so many cities near it that can be considered part of Birmingham, weirdly. There are also "unincorporated areas," such as what I'm part of. Which meant that Birmingham took us, despite being much closer to two separate cities.
The issue in B-Ham is that closer you get to the center, the poorer the population. The further out you are, the better off you tend to be. The city is attempting to change that by making brand new, upscale apartments in the city center.
Mobile is damn sure old. Anything by the water was going to do pretty well for a long time, so it is unsurprising that Mobile was part of different colonies early on.
People often forget that Birmingham is similar to Pittsburgh in that we're a leader in steel. But Pitt does still rule that area.
Huntsville is so interesting because despite how old it is, the place still has so much room to expand out and do much more. That was why NASA loved the area so much early on, but they could do so much more.
Huntsvillian here. Our geography is quite deceptive. While it looks like we have room to grow, we're low key limited on options.
We got lots of tough terrain and mountains to the east. Swamps and marshes to the west. And tornadoes bulldoze the north every few years (RIP Harvest). We've pushed as far into Madison, Athens, and Decatur as we can get. Next is Hobbs Island, New Hope, and Arab.
Native Mobilian here.. Mobile is by far the oldest City in Alabama. Founded in 1702.
Home of mardi gras
Childersburg is the oldest. Been continually inhabited since 1540
Childersburg was not a city but rather a village visited and occupied by Spanish Conquistador, Hernando deSoto. Mobile was an actual city, being the Capital of French Louisiana for over 20 years.
Is it pronounced mobeeelian or mobilian?
@@parsnipproductions8875 I don’t think it matters how you pronounce it 🤷♂️
Driving through Birmingham it seem so much larger than the other 3. Birmingham has a heavy populated metro and downtown. I'm a truck driver. Mobile seems bigger than Huntsville.
It’s the biggest metro city in Alabama so you’re right.
Birmingham Metro is huge. Over a 1 million people. Maybe even close to 2 million
Huntsville is a military city, there is an arsenal here. Half of the city a citizen can’t even access.
Also you won’t pass through Huntsville if you’ve only traveled down I-65. Huntsville is a couple miles off the interstate
Because Huntsville is just a large urban sprawl, not a dense city like Birmingham.
Was not born there, but spent my formative years close to Dothan. Mountains in the North, beautiful beaches in the South, good family people, hard working, love the state!
What part of Dothan? I'm in Daleville right now !! that's so cool :)))
@@-spacedout--spacebound-7438 enterprise
I was born in Dothan and lived there for 13 years until my family decided to move.
As a Tuscaloosa native, you almost got the pronunciation right. The Tusc part is pronounced like the Tusks on an elephant. Glad to see you did a video on my home state.
Roll tide!
Chief Tuscaloosa would be rolling over in his own grave if he could hear how some people pronounce the county that took his namesake. Also I agree. One of my favorite places is the university mall and midtown village. I especially love the Metro Diner’s menu. This video also reminded me of the couple of field trips I took in elementary school to Moundville. I remember believing I saw the ghost of the woman who I jumped from the waterfall when I was there in daylight. Seeing how tall those mounds as a child inspired me to write stories of ancient cultures that were starting to become more advanced, but were stopped by invaders. I just wish AP wasn’t a monopoly and we had other options for electricity bills.
Alabama born and raised here. We pronounce it Mo-beel instead of mo-bile. I also think Mobile was the first major city, it was founded in 1702.
Great video! I’d love to see more content about Alabama, you should talk about how fast Gulf Shores and Orange beach are growing and the factors leading to it.
Baldwin county's growth is crazy
Dude it’s a game I play to see how British will pronounce mobile, will they pronounce it correctly or will it be mo-bile.
What up fellas. Stopping by to join the native club. Representing Pell City. Born, raised, still here. Same county, new farm. What's happenin.
@@ChrisAnderson-ik8bo born in Montgomery, raised in Hoover, lived in Tuscaloosa for a year, back in Hoover for now.
Raised outside of Jasper, I’m sure
There are people even in Alabama who haven’t heard of it.
Montgomery, AL here, thanks for making a video about our state.
334 stand up ....Carver 08
Gump here TRA 06
@@Maya-Elijah-Simmie-Kam_Dad_ Park Crossing class of 2027
@@RideWithJizzleayyy I pass there omw to hs also, class of 2026
Montgomery is such a shithole
Awesome upload! A lot of folks complaining, but for talking about a very specific, mostly rural, state in a different country, I think this vid showed a lot of effort and sparked some great convos in the comments. The thing about BHam being so spread out is definitely interesting - I've stayed in a hotel in the middle of downtown and you can't get a sandwich after 8pm, it's wild. Hopefully the urban exodus will begin to reverse itself with time, over-suburbanization has really bad effects on municipal finances, community-building, all sorts of stuff.
Mardi Gras started in Mobile... not New Orleans. that's a fun fact that ruffles feathers. :-)
True I love when I’m at a Cajun restaurant at home and they say home of Mardi Gras and I say not wrong but that was on accident
I have lived in Huntsville since I was born and this city has changed so much! Every piece of farm land in the area is getting bought up and they are putting new neighborhoods and apartments in there.
Huntsville is a different city than it was 20 years ago
Was NOT expecting a video on my home state! Very pleasantly surprised!
ALABAMA MENTIONED RAAAAAAAAA🦅🦅🦅🦅ROLLTIDE🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥
real
Alabamas smaller metros also balance cross state. Tuscaloosa/Northport has a similar population to Auburn/Opelika/Phenix City. Dothan/Enterprise are similar in size to Florence/Muscle Shoals, and to Gadsden to Anniston area.
The exception is the Black Belt. Its population is uniformly low.
Montgomery is situated North of the Black Belt, not in it, and crucially it is on the Alabama Falls Line. The Alabama river splits just north and east into the Tallapoosa and Coosa and both were only navigable a short ways until the elevation changed and there were waterfalls and rapids. So Montgomery was as far upriver as you could go and the most northerly river port.
Good analysis, war eagle!
I also believe that the Black Belt population decline is tied to the decline of Montgomery. The lack of industry and good-paying jobs have sent people further north. However, Hyundai is helping to reverse that situation a little. a bit. Roll Tide Roll!
Roll Tide 😉
@@BamaHoopsBoi Fax’s
Roll tide 🐘and lank 🖕🏿
Born in Mobile, Tuscaloosa for college and back to Bham in my adult life!!! I love Alabama and didn’t know a lot of what was shared here, so thank you!
I never hear anyone not from here pronounce Mobile correctly. Good job! I live in Gulf Shores.
A little known fact for huntsville, it will never have giant skyscrapers. It has a lot of rain and limestone, which means there's hundreds of caves all over underground. If you build a big skyscraper there, there's a strong chance it will collapse a cave deep underground.
Photo used for the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center is actually the US Space and Rocket Center, a museum with a replica Saturn 5. You can see it from pretty far away and is quite the landmark along the Interstate.
Understandable. Kinda hard to take a picture on the Arsenal.
One note: we all say birming-HAM, and we shorten it to “bham”. Great video! Though I would have had a bit more of a focus on how Alabama’s rural population is spread out pretty evenly as well. Looking at a light pollution map, it becomes clear that it’s pretty hard to get away from people here. I would also suggest that Alabama’s freshwater ecosystem plays a role, as there’s abundant freshwater sources pretty much everywhere here vs most states with just a few major rivers.
I noticed this but then I tried to say Birmingham in a British accent and I don’t feel like it’s possible. I don’t think they can make the short a sound
Car tags in Alabama identify the county they are issued. The numbering is in alphabetical order with the exception that the counties where Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery are located were given the numerical prefix values of 1, 2 and 3. This allows room for these larger counties to expand their assignment with a letter value. i.e. Jefferson county (Birmingham) uses the values 1A, 1B, and 1C for tags where Huntsville (Madison county) is limited to the numeric value 47. Even though populations change this system is locked in.
These British pronunciations are fun, love too see Bama native’s reaction. Great video
As an Alabama native myself, it’s always funny listening to out-of-staters mispronounce our town names. Granted, these are rather tame compared to the real head scratchers like Wedowee, Oneonta, Notasulga, Guin, or Lineville.
Doesn’t feel that way on hwy 280 12pm-6pm
Hahah truth
😂😂😂
*hwy 280 anytime
Which stretch lmao
LMAO so true
I think Huntsville was actually the first capital after AL became a state. It was a temporary designation, but it was the first one.
Yes, but it was called Twickenham back then
I hear it was the old ghost city (Cawhawba) close to Selma first then Huntsville
@@Tziguene I never would have known that if not for Alabama history back in the 4th grade 😆
10:55 "Redstone Arsenal was turned into Marshal Spaceflight Center" is a little bit misleading statement. Redstone Arsenal didn't cease to exist. It's still there, next to MSC
Mobile is now the 2nd largest city in Alabama after annexing some suburbs, it’s now at 204,000
Parts of New York City used to be divided. Brooklyn was its own city for a lengthy period which is fascinating. Brooklyn used to make the old top 10 largest U.S. cities lists. New York City started to gobble up surrounding areas, eventually turning into the 5 boroughs we have today. Philadelphia did a similar thing.
Still behind my city, Huntsville🗿
@@brandoncameron2686Yea Brooklyn used to be the 4th largest city in the 70s
Birmingham still and will always be the biggest metro area in Alabama
@@brandoncameron2686 Los Angeles is really a megalopolis constructed of multiple cities that come together as one.
I’m relatively new here to Alabama, and I don’t plan to stay here long. But it’s great to learn about this beautiful state! Great video!
East Montgomery resident here, Outstanding video! RTR!
True Metro populations are closer than what they appear, Baldwin County is only a mile from Downtown Mobile yet isn’t considered part of the MSA, the MSA currently only includes Mobile County, the real metro area is very much Mobile and Baldwin Counties, which would be approaching 700k residents
Just like Mobile, Huntsville should also be higher, Huntsville shares a physical city limit border with Decatur in Morgan County, a county not part of the MSA but like Baldwin into Mobile, has a 25% commuter rate, Huntsville MSA should also be around 700k
Great point! I try to explain this to people from Huntsville
Enjoyed the video. I recently read that Baldwin County, the county across the bay from Mobile, is the 7th fastest growing metro area in the United States.
Every time I visit home I can't believe how big it is getting.
That’s correct. We have Californians pouring in here like crazy. It used to just be Midwestern snowbirds, but soon we’re going to be CaliBama. I’ve never seen anything like this. They’re everywhere.
BALDWIN COUNTY MENTIONED WOOOOOOOO
@@slightlyuncomfortableYESSS I LIVE THERE TOO
yeah we all collectively agree theyre ruining this place. theyre cutting down all the pretty tree areas for more subdivisions. it doesnt look as open and pretty as it used to, but thats just how it goes i guess. everyone here says the place isnt the same anymore.
This is a bit misleading, Huntsville is the biggest city proper, but the area surrounding it is the middle of nowhere. The Birmingham Metro area has most of the Alabama population of over 1 million people.
He literally mentions this around 12:00
The area surrounding it to the west is Madison. The pop of Madison is 60,000, so it's not in the "middle of nowhere".
It literally talks about that in the video.
While you’re right that Birmingham is a much larger metro, the part about Huntsville is also misleading. Huntsville definitely has a suburban sprawl that’s continuing. Just look at highway 72 in Madison County(the county where Huntsville is) and there’s been tons of development. Huntsville metro is about half the size of Birmingham’s.
Madison (the city) is completely surrounded by Huntsville, which I find kind of funny.
Huntsville city limits extend east along US 72 past Shield Road, and a lot of construction work is being done along the highway. Owens Crossroads is a suburb of Huntsville that everyone forgets about because there is a mountain between them. Real estate agents project Gurley to be considered a suburb of Huntsville by a 2035
birmingham metro is over a million - way more than anywhere else
Yeah, give Mobile 7 counties in a metro area and we’d have over a million as well
@@natebryars732 its not supposed to be a contest, ive lived in mobile. its very nice i love being so close to gulf shores/orange beach
@@bellart_ramana I didn’t say it was a contest. I’m just pointing out the flaw in saying anything about a metro area. Spanish Fort’s city limits border Mobile’s along the causeway, and yet, not even Baldwin county is counted as in Mobile’s metro area, but Birmingham has counties in their metro that don’t even touch Jefferson county.
he said that in the video
@@natebryars732do you understand what defines a metro? It isn’t just whatever is close by. It’s literally how the region functions. Business, commerce, commuters, etc all depend on each other within the metropolitan area. There are significantly more cities, towns, and rural communities that depend on the Birmingham metro than in other alabama metros. If you lived in the Birmingham area you would see it.
I’m so glad you did a video on this! I grew up here and always thought about this
Opelika native here and it’s kinda ironic how my city name is derived from a “muscogee” or creek nation word which means “big swamp”. I believe it was settled in the 1830s by a few white settlers and by the 1840s the natives had been pushed out. But in the late 1800s the railroad was ran from Montgomery to Atlanta through Opelika thus cotton warehouse and gins were all throughout. With the early 1900s textile industry was built along the railroad and that created another economic boom. Present day Lee county is one of the fastest growing counties in the state assumingely helped by the University which is not county in population but definitely makes it a logistical challenge.
As someone born and raised in Montgomery, this was pretty interesting to watch! Thanks!
Cahawba is misspelled. The abandoned city is spelled this way even though the river doesn’t have the W.
Birmingham metro is 32 of my 39 years of life. Love all of you Alabamians here as well as those elsewhere! Our State has a lot of good/bad history (and who doesn't) yet what was is not always what still is... I've been all over Europe, the States, and Central America. Alabama is where I have chosen to come back to raise my kids and exist til I don't anymore. I hope all of you have your "Alabama" like I do... Wish you the all best!
you pronounce alabama so beautifully 🤍
People are fleeing Montgomery and Birmingham due to costs and violence. Huntsville absorbed many of these people, hence its staggering growth over the last decade, but Huntsville's infrastructure can't handle the influx and prices have skyrocketed. Huntsville doesn't have a big surrounding metro area, but it will someday since people need somewhere to go.
No one is "fleeing" Montgomery for "Huntsveeel". It's white flight to surrounding suburban cities like Prattville, Wetumpka, Millbrook, and Pike Road.
@stampoutup-talking1436 if I lived in Birmingham I too would try to get tf out. Huntsville is ideal to be honest. It's such a nice city
@@stampoutup-talking1436Real. People here will do anything but take care of what’s right in front of them. They just pack up and move the moment they hear a window break.
@@lainey6474 Well, to be fair, they're not really allowed to do much else.
The growth of Huntsville did not come from Birmingham or Montgomery folks. It came from other states.
Minor correction: the Mobile River is only called that from the point where the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers converge, not too far north of the city.
Ok I was about to say is he talking about the Alabama river? Never seen it called mobile river before especially on any maps
As an Alabamian, I just want to list the correct pronunciations of these city names:
Mobile is pronounced MO-bill
Tuscaloosa is TUSK-uh-LOOSE-uh
Birmingham is BUR-ming-HAM
Always appreciated learning something new with these videos.
Nice. The title seemed a bit misleading but you definitely explained it all accurately in the video. Well done
Bham metro is massive compared to everything else. Abt 1.2 million
What do your expect from someone who pronounces it birmingum
Do yall watch the videos or just comment? Dude said this in the video
Facts
@@xxjordoreally, he quoted this exact thing
@8:20 Correct about Iron ore, coal, and Limestone being found in abundance . But, also dolomite is found in abundance. Birmingham is the only place in the world where all four raw materials for steel manufacture are found in abundance.
Mobile Native here. One of the contributing factors for the even spread of people, is the fact that Alabamans will move if an area begins to get too crowded and will move where it is less crowded. Most people treasure their privacy and elbow room. So it's not a surprise to me at all. I've moved 3 times myself because of overcrowding.
Thank you for teaching me a few things about my own state! ❤
This video was quite interesting. It’s funny hearing this accent narrate my home state’s history.
I’m a little bias being born and raised in Birmingham, but I must say, we are developing a lot more innovative and modernized projects outside of the four major cities listed in this video.
Hey just so you know when you were talking about the capitals of Alabama, we have actually had 5 different capitals.
Huntsville Alabamian here, my family were founding settlers of Alabama. I’d say from based on visiting all 4 major cities on a regular basis, it’s clear Huntsville has the most growth out of them all. Not only construction wise but in 2023 we had almost 10,000 new people move to Madison County/ Huntsville. Although I will say Huntsville is playing catch-up with the others, infrastructure wise.
If we could just get past these darn housing and infrastructure bottlenecks.
Good review and outlook. As a native of Montgomery, Alabama. I approved, and in reference to Montgomery's population. Well true people maybe leaving Montgomery city proper, but they are moving to nearby cities that are consider suburbs and are apart of Montgomery Metro which is Millbrook, Wetumpka, both in Elmore county, Prattville (Autauga County) and Pike Road AL. (Montgomery County).
Should of mentioned Tuscaloosa also. They have over 100,000 people
The working man’s Montgomery!
Mobile County, with its population of around 415,000, combined with Baldwin County and the surrounding areas, brings the total to about 1.3 million people within a 60-mile radius. It’s crazy how they split Mobile and Baldwin counties into different metropolitan areas, which can make Mobile seem smaller compared to Huntsville. The way these areas are divided doesn’t always reflect the true size and influence of the region. It’s definitely something worth considering when comparing cities!
Lived in bama my whole life, really interesting to learn some of the history behind these cities I’ve been to so many times! Great video!
We're just built different 💪💪💪
Really enjoyed the video. I did notice that at the 6:38 mark you showed a picture of what looked like fruit trees while talking about the cotton trade. I am sure that farmers probably would love thier cotton plants to grow that large, but I have never seen a cotton tree before. 🙂Great video!
Looks like cotton to me. Maybe that's just what it looks like if you don't prune it down.
Edit: Nevermind, someone else explained that it's a flowering peach tree!🎉
I haven’t read this article but I am pretty sure… NASA in the north, University of Alabama in the west, beach in the south and Auburn/Kia in the east. Very diversified state.
Kia is in Georgia, The West Point/La Grange micropolitan area. However because of its proximity to the Alabama line, I’m sure they commute into GA for the jobs with Kia.
@@neox9369 Hyundai-Montgomery is the 3rd largest car factory in the US, Honda-Alabama is 11th plus Mercedes-Tuscaloosa and Toyota-Huntsville
Mobile is the 2nd largest city now after annexation 20,000 residents last year, population has about 204,000 now
Birmingham's metro and suburban area is larger than the video makes it seem. Birmingham is basically baby Atlanta. You are correct about Huntsville, its one of the fastest growing cities in recent years, its basically Alabama's equivalent to Austin, Texas (but to a much lesser extent). Its proximity to Tenn. helps a lot too. Otherwise, good video.
Nuhhhhhh bro no cap fam Birmingham and Atlanta not nowhere near a like fr fr it used to be back then but Atlanta was to fast to keep up with fr
Yeah investors left bham for Atlanta during the civil rights movement
Sweet home Alabama
We from Alabamaaaah with this one
Montgomery Alabama in the building 🏢💪💥💣
Birmingham grows to over a million, during daylight hrs. The city is wierd! Like it has a curfew or something? Probably does? I use to work in Bessemer/Hueytown. Pretty much Birmingham. There are lot's of smaller city's encircling Birmingham.
One thing to note with Birmingham is that the actual population is deceptively small on paper. In reality, it is quite a bit larger than the other cities in Alabama. The main reason to city population is so small is that all suburbs of Birmingham incorporated into their own cities leaving basically just downtown in the city proper. The main reason for this actually was the civil rights movement and school integration. The suburbs incorporated in order to form their own school districts to avoid integration with the city proper. South of the Red Mountain is some of the richest neighborhoods and Alabama and best schools, while in the city proper, the worst schools in the state are found.
There was a great amount of white flight, but it’s also notable that the destinations for it was previously part of the main city, and when compared to say, Mobile, are just as close to the city center as the suburbs within the city limits of mobile.
Huntsville resident of 16 years here, very nice and informative video! I love living here for the most part. Though the infrastructure of the city hasn't caught up to the massive increase in population in the last decade. But plenty of job opportunities for jobs that involve STEM (science, tech, engineering, math), nursing, doctor, or lawyer. And you're only 1.5 - 3.5 hours to cities like Bham, Nashville, and Atlanta.
St. Stephens was also a former Alabama capital. Interesting little place.
Great video! Just letting you know, it is called the Alabama River not the Mobile River.
This is untrue. The tombigby river turns into the mobile river north of Mt Vernon. Alabama born a raised here.
The Alabama river meets the Tombigbee River at the 45 mile marker. Creating the Mobile River.
Source: Alabama resident and work on a towboat on the river.
Damn i guess he told you. Im from montgomery and its called the "alabama river"@johnyoung4163
as someone who lives in alabama i can confirm
Just moved to Birmingham Metro from California. Great city
Hope you left your political views back in California. Remember, you left, because it was ruined. Don't try and come ruin Alabama. Fair warning.
good thing your not in Huntsville!
Welcome to America
Just as long as you don’t bring California with you.
Go back to the shit show y’all made on the west coast. Y’all are driving our house prices up and making crime worse.
You talk about Alabama History, You best mention Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa here, I was butt hurt...
I’m just trying to figure out where Twoscaloosa is?
@@ccvcharger 😂 loved his pronunciation
Poor Tuscaloosa with its metro of 'bout 200,000 (in the county). Barely mentioned. Well you hardly mentioned Auburn either, so it's fair, I guess. Roll tide.
Roll Tide
In Alabama you’ll meet Roll Tide or War Eagle, but you will occasionally stumble upon the Go Blazer.. who is the bitter sister of Roll Tide. If you know, you know.
Having 2 quarterback sons, and a lesbian shortstop daughter😂
Very well done! Nice job!
South Carolina is also like this with its population getting spread around 3 metros; Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville-Spartansburg
Birmingham is over double the size of the other metro areas. Unlike Alabama metros, comparisons between the South Carolina metros are accurate, as the three metros of Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston are close to the same size. Huntsville and Mobile are fairly similar in size, while Montgomery is smaller.
Leaving my mark as Alabamian
War Eagle from Birmingham 🦅
Roll Tide from Huntsville
Go jags from mountain brook
Ozark, Alabama here right next to Fort Rucker. Thanks for featuring our beautiful state!
LOL, while talking about cotton, the video showed peach trees in full bloom with white flowers. I guess it could be mistaken for cotton, but cotton grows on small bush-sized plants, planted in rows, not on trees.
Oh that's what those are lol. I was thinking maybe that's what cotton looks like without pruning
I moved to Huntsville multiple years ago and can attest to how much the city is growing. A lot is changing here over the past few years. I imagine the population will greatly grow in the near future considering the immense amount of apartments they are building everywhere.
No one has ever been "attracted" to Montgomery because of the Civil Rights Movement. It does not add to the charm.
Maybe not your race of people. But as a black Alabamian I am drawn to Montgomery because that’s where I’ve learned the most about slavery and civil rights in Alabama. Least whitewashed city in Alabama.
@@geezyeskabanteLet me guess, you're also owed "reparations"? 😂
@@geezyeskabante Mobile is pretty diverse, not as culturally rich though.
@@chandler1473 probably not to white people. Black Alabamians go to mobile to turn up!
@@luckyarmstrong6940 No?
Birming[uhm] is in the UK. Alabama it is Birming[Ham}. Pronunciation wise
Thank you, British Man, for the information on our state!
Every state in the Union is fascinating.
Having lived here all my life, and knowing a great deal about Alabama history, I will say I'm impressed with your research. However, and minor points of course, the H is pronounced in Birmingham (which takes its name from Britain's Birmingham btw) and Mobile is pronounced Mo-beel. Additionally, Birmingham was also know as "The Pittsburg of the South".
Thanks for pointing how large the Birmingham Metro population is...a lot of people forget/gloss over that. And we don't even try to stretch the metro area to include random cities.
This is inaccurate. Birmingham has 1 million people.
Only when you count the metro area. When you count the population in the actual city limits/borders, then it is about the same as the other big three in Alabama. Most of the people are outside of the city limits, so in the metro area. I'm in the metro area, but not in the city. My address does not include B'Ham. It is one of the cities surrounding B'Ham.
@@laurie7689 You might be right but the Census Report Said there's Over 1.2 Million people that haven't done the Census that's why it's a big decline on paper but Birmingham Numbers is Bigger than the other Mobile , Montgomery , Huntsville.
The Arsenal is still the Arsenal. The Marshall Space Flight Center is an addition. The base is still a base and always buzzing with tanks, helicopters, aircraft, and weapons testing. Space flight was just a little tacked on.
There are no tanks on Redstone.
@@mapsgoonthewall5396 that is objectively false.
@@The_Laser_Kittens "Objectively false" is just a term that most people use when they want to argue against something but have no argument to back it up with. They say that like it is a mic drop.
If there is a single tank on base then it is at the museum. Stop spreading misinformation.
edit: MLRS and HIMARS are not tanks if that is what you are thinking of.
@@mapsgoonthewall5396
There may not be as many held in other bases, but there are definitely a full suite of tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.
Don’t forget the amount of R&D that occurs in and around the base. It’s entertaining to watch a couple dudes in hoodies doing donuts with a Bradley (not quite I tank, I know). Slightly more frustrating whenever someone drives an Abrams across the parking lot. They may use rubber tracks when not “in service” to reduce damage, but they leave little bits of rubber everywhere.
You might have me on a technicality that most of the tanks are outside of the base, but they get to the contractors through the base, so…
Everything ok? You seem angsty. Be better.
Mobile is the 2nd largest city now.
This 14 minute video explains Alabama history better than the current Alabama school system does in a whole term.
That must be a horrible school you went to. We were taught all of this.
@@acidicwater4263 won’t argue with that. We mostly had to memorize geology, like mountain ranges and their heights, and river systems and their depths and how much water flow etc.
It’s truly interesting to see just how populated Huntsville is, but there’s almost no urban sprawl/surrounding major suburbs like you see in the south side of the state!
I’m from Huntsville!
It’s BirmingHAM. The Ham.
Holy shit, he pronounced mobile correctly! But dear god tuscaloosa was not lol. That gave me a chuckle. Tuscaloosa is pronounced like tusk-caloosa. Whether it’s the origin or simply ironic, the state’s name sake sports team has an elephant as its mascot. I don’t mean to pick on ya, it just caught me off guard to pronounce it almost like you’d pronounce Tucson Arizona. Great video, glad to learn more about my state.
Mobile and Birmingham are the only 2 compact cities buth smaller than Huntsville in physical size. If Mobile was geographically the size of Huntsville, it would have 300,000 people, and Birmingham would be around 350,000.
Same is true of Metros. Huntsville's Metro includes multiple counties. meanwhile Mobile is just Mobile County, even though Baldwin County, which is next door is nearing 300K.
Huntsville Metro consists of Madison and Limestone counties. You are correct in that it's more than one, but barely.
The census bureau determines metropolitan areas based on how many people from a county are commuting to a city to work. A large metropolitan area indicates como if impact over a wider area.
Correction: Montgomery is not that far East or south of the river. The Alabama river literally runs through Montgomery. Also, if you include the Birmingham-metro area, Birmingham has around a million people in the area
Birmingham has over a million. 1.3 million
Your "British pronunciation of Birmingham and Mobile" are comical to hear, lol. You did overlook another important unique feature of Alabama, we also have smaller yet other metro areas besides the Big 4 cities.
Huntsville native here 👍
If I'm not mistaken, Huntsville serverd as the first Capital of Alabama before moving to Cahaba. If only temporary until 1920, it was the location of the constitutional convention which drafted our first constitution and declared our statehood.
Birmingham here. That was great.
Huntsville is my stomping grounds! Love the city!
Wait I swear I've seen this vid like 2 days ago or am I experiencing deja vu?
Wanted to fix some things haha