Huntsville #1 Best Place to Live: US News & World Report

Huntsville is no stranger to being named to top ten lists, and this morning it was reported that the Rocket City topped the U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Places to live. The rankings page uses the following to describe Huntsville:

Once a sleepy farming town, Huntsville gained national recognition during the Space Race of the 1960s and is now consistently among the fastest-growing metro areas in Alabama.

In the past, the U.S. government relocated a team of German rocket scientists to the area and opened a NASA center that would design the Saturn V, the rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon. Today, Huntsville residents pride themselves on being a nerdy bunch. The metro area has the most educated population in the state, and a large portion of the population works in engineering and defense thanks to the large presence of NASA and the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal.

Huntsville’s city center has undergone a renaissance in recent years. An outbreak of new construction downtown means more shopping, dining and apartment options are available. Just west of downtown, a defunct cotton mill became a bustling arts center, and craft breweries, restaurants and an ax-throwing venue have sprung up in a renovated old middle school.