Huntsville's population boom
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Of Alabama's largest cities, only one is consistently increasing in population: Huntsville.
Why it matters: In recent years, especially since 2020, Mobile, Birmingham and Montgomery have been slowly declining in population while Huntsville has soared into the No. 1 spot.
- Between 2019 and 2024, Huntsville grew by 29,828 people. That's more than 16 per day for five years.
Driving the news: Huntsville's population growth is driven by the same factors that consistently rank it high on "Best Places to Live" rankings, including the No. 1 spot in 2023: low cost of living, high quality of life and a strong jobs market buoyed by the federal presence at Redstone Arsenal.
Caveat: Metropolitan Statistical Areas, census-designated regions encompassing more than just cities, tell a slightly different story.
- Birmingham's MSA totals nearly 1.2 million people, more than twice Huntsville's MSA of roughly 543,000, and it's slowly growing, per census data.