Best Birmingham Sururbs for Relocation

It is attracting professional and sales/management people because it's barely affordable for many who can't buy into a neighborhood like Mountain Brook yet, or certainly not Red Mountain. Vestavia Hills has very good public schools. Vestavia High has received national honors for the dabating and math competitions and the middle School consistently receives very high S.A.T. scores, some of the highest in the state. That alone contributes to its attractiveness for people relocating to the Birmingham area. It's not uncommon to find pretty homes here for under $250,000 with lots of space and 3-bed, 2-baths.

Mountain Brook, a much more upscale area of professionals in the financial, legal, medical and other businesses, is affordable only if people plan to spend $400,000 and up for the finer homes. Located north of Vestavia and Homewood, it is a super nice place, but really out of range of many people's budgets. But the crime is well down here. Also, the beautiful Birmingham Botanical Gardens is right next door and the zoo is here. This is one of the top 20 richest small cities in the country. It is also where poor Natalie Holloway, the girl who went missing from her class in Aruba, was from. It would probably be one of the first choices for living by physicians working in any of the metro Birmingham area.

Red Mountain is probably one of the oldest upscale neighborhoods in Birmingham, With 1,100 acres, Red Mountain Park is larger than Central Park in New York and has beautiful areas to hike, walk, enjoy the beautiful lake and just to relax. It's here that the famous statue of Vulcan presides over the city of Birmingham. Homes here are Tudors, Mediterraneans, Colonials and even some upscale moderns. Most are brick, stucco or stone. Beautiful landscaped lawns with trimmed hedges, towering trees and pretty flowers every spring. The Red Mountain Expressway connects the area with the suburbs of Homewood and Vestavia Hills, another upscale community. Homewood provides nice housing choices for people who want a small-town feel without paying up to $300,000 to be assured of getting it.

Birmingham sure has had its problems in the past days of segregation and disturbances of the 1960s, but much has happened to change the city into more a representative of the New South. Like Atlanta, there's a lot more progressive attitude
here after decades of struggle. The setting of this city itself is very lovely, nestled as it is into the gentle mountains of central Alabama. And the cultural and civic progress spurred on by some of the most active citizens, is impressive. Schools certainly have a long way to go, like most public schools in the U.S. today. However, for people who have to locate here because of their job or for other reasons, there are some very nice neighborhoods that are truly family-friendly and welcome hard-working involved new residents.

Some of the nicer neighborhoods are Greystone, Highland Lakes, Calera, Homewood, Vestavia hills, Mountain Brook, and Red Mountain.
The setting of Vestavia Hills is very nice, hugging a slope that looks over Birmingham from the south. The median household income of 48,023 is higher than the state average, and a median estimated house/condo value in 2005 was around $209,800 and growing fast, because it's one of the better suburbs of the Metro Birmingham area.