Surprised that nowhere is negative actually.
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Growing up, my father was in the military, so we moved every 3 years. One of our locations was northern Alabama, and I remember crying about it at the time because I really didn't want to live there and had always heard bad things about it.
Actually living there, it's fine. The Huntsville area has NASA and a lot of aerospace jobs, and is generally a nice and pleasant place to live. You can buy houses within a 30-45 min commute of pretty good jobs for surprisingly cheap (was just looking at a 3000+ sq ft brick house with a couple acres for $120k, needed a new AC unit and some work, but nice enough to live in while you fix it up). The people are really friendly compared to most other states I lived in, and the countryside is pretty beautiful.
I can't speak for most of the rest of the state, but in general I think Alabama gets a worse reputation than it deserves. Biggest issues with it are the tornados and humidity.
Alabama is way nicer than it's given credit for. I drive most of the way through the backcountry highways and it's great. We stop at a great many small towns and they're surprisingly clean and charming.
I noticed a lot of public works improvements and activity. Turns out they finally put a tax on gasoline and put that into the new Rebuild Alabama Act. The results are most impressive.
Another neat thing, Alabama is the most heavily forested state in the union. Nice!
I've been to Huntsville before and was surprised at how charming it was. It felt like one of those idyllic suburbs from a movie.
Having Huntsville atop the rest of Alabama is kind of like having Canada atop the rest of America.
Also, the most common thing you'll hear anyone in Alabama say is "Thank God for Mississippi," because at least that way they still have someone to look down on.
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I guess Huntsville is a bit off the path, but there's a fuckoff big Confederate flag on the I-65 between Birmingham and Montgomery. Friendly is a matter of proximity and perception: you were either not close enough or too respectable to meet the sort that give Alabama its reputation.
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As I often find myself saying, yes, New Jersey is terrible, please don’t visit.
Yes yes, absolutely horrible, no need to come and check, nightmare here constantly, just the worst. Yes yes yes.
...
Are they gone yet???
Oh thank goodness!
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