Rocket City!

Huntsville is the largest city in Alabama.

The largest city in Alabama sits on the banks of the Tennessee River. 

As of today, Huntsville became the largest city in the state. The current population of the city is 220,000 residents. It surpassed Birmingham. The city of Birmingham now sits at 195,000 residents.

The city that sits in Appalachian plateau grew over the last decade and it's booming. The city has expanded into more territory and it's now debating over how to draw its bordering.

The city has become diverse.

Inside Madison, Limestone and Morgan Counties, Huntsville grew from its original 158,000 to now the current population. 

North Alabama has also seen rapid growth and it's only giving bragging rights to the once isolated region.

Huntsville, nicknamed the Rocket City for its historical ties to the space industry, has seen rapid growth over the last ten years partly fueled by the tech and manufacturing sectors. The population of the city has jumped by 19% since 2010.

“I’m proud that the great things we have going on in Huntsville have grown our city,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle wrote in a tweet. “To tell the truth, we’re more focused on being the best than the biggest. That is what my team and I are going to continue to work on every day.”

Birmingham got the nickname the Magic City for its rapid growth and had long been Alabama’s largest city. Much of the recent growth around Birmingham has been concentrated in the surrounding suburban areas, rather than in the city itself.

“Growth in any city is good for Alabama, good for Birmingham and for our metro region,” Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin said in a statement in response to media questions about the change to being Alabama’s second-largest city. He said city officials plan to analyze the data.

Heading east on Interstate 565 for six miles takes you to Huntsville.

“Birmingham is the nucleus of the state’s largest metro population and economic center. The Magic City continues to evolve as a diverse urban center and leader in regional growth. Our strength as a medical center, emerging hub for tech start-ups and logistics center keeps Birmingham positioned for positive growth in the future,” Woodfin said.

So with the growth of Huntsville, comes the expansion of highways and roadways. 

Interstate 565 is the main freeway that goes into downtown Huntsville. The secondary highways include U.S. 231/U.S. 431 (Memorial Parkway) and Alabama State Highway 255 (Research Parkway/Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Freeway). They will experience a rapid boom.

The Rocket City will be ranked as No. 105 city in the United States. It is going to surpass Richmond, Virginia soon.