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.  During the space race, the US government relocated a team of German rocket scientists to the area and opened a NASA center that designed 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 US Army's Redstone Arsenal.

In recent years, Huntsville's city center has undergone a renaissance. An outbreak of new construction downtown means there are more shopping, dining, and apartment options available. Just west of downtown, a defunct cotton mill became a bustling arts center, and a renovated old middle school has been transformed into craft breweries, and restaurants!