(Read an expanded version of Birmingham "Quick Facts" such as famous Birminghamians)

1. Metropolitan Birmingham ranks #15 in 2005 as one of "America's 50 Hottest Cities" ahead of Salt Lake City, Chicago, Miami, Memphis and Raleigh-Durham. (Source: Expansion Management magazine, January 2005)
2. Birmingham enjoys the nation's best record of long-term income growth according to a new Bizjournals study that looks at 25 years of changes in per capita income in the 100 largest metros in the country. Birmingham climbed in the income standings by diversifying. It boosted its per capita income by 98 percent between 1990 and 2005, the largest increase registered by any major market over that span. The national average for the same period was 77 percent. (Source: BizJournals, June 4, 2007)
3. Birmingham is listed among the 150 most affordable cities in the US and is praised as a city "that hasn't lost its Southern soul." Birmingham, home to six Fortune 500 companies, is given high marks for its diverse residents and housing prices that "are affordable but appreciating quickly." (Source: Life 2.0: How People Across America are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness, Rich Karlgaard, July, 2004)
4. In a ranking of the top 1,000 high schools nationwide, Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School (with 325 students) was named the top public high school in the nation. The ranking was based on the number of students who took Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in 2004, divided by the number of seniors. Additionally, Alabama School of the Fine Arts ranked 61 (down from 4th in the nation a year ago) and Mountain Brook High School ranked 248. (Source: Newsweek Magazine, May 7, 2005)
5. Birmingham's Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival was named one of "ten fantastic film festival vacations" along with New Orleans, Austin and San Diego. Film Festival Today, Spring, 2003.
6. Alabama ranks #3 in the nation in most runners per capita, according to Runner's World magazine, November, 2001.
7. We're #1! Following U. S. Steel's donation of $1 million plus a commitment to sell land at a $9.5 million discount, a 1,108 acre tract has been put together by the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust that will result in the establishment of Red Mountain Park. This large park will extend for 4.5 miles along ridgetop and adjacent lands in southwestern Birmingham. With the creation of this park, according to the Trust for Public Land, Birmingham will have 17.9 acres of public green space per 1,000 residents, ahead of top ranked Minneapolis with 14.3 acres per 1,000 residents. The Birmingham News, January 28, 2005.
8. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) drives the metro economy. Its medical center ranked #3 in the nation (behind only Mayo Clinic and Mass. General) in overall quality of health care. (Source: The Best in Medicine). Meanwhile, Birmingham was rated #1 in the nation in Health by Ladies Home Journal in its issue of "The Best Cities," April, 2002.
9. Birmingham is a major banking center. Birmingham currently ranks seventh in the nation for headquartered banking assets, despite being ranked 48th in population. The city employed 39,900 in financial services as of the end of 2006. The Regions/Amsouth merger created a Top Ten bank headquartered in Birmingham with the potential to become one of the ultimate U. S. national banks. Furthermore, the amount of total assets currently headquartered in Birmingham exceeds that of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Tampa and Miami. Lance Nail, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Finance, Economics and Quantitative Methods at UAB School of Business, The Birmingham News, February 25, 2007
10. Birmingham's water quality received an "A" ranking (only 13 of 101 cities nationwide were as highly ranked and none higher; 7 cities failed including Houston, Las Vegas and Wichita) by a joint study of the Environmental Quality Institute at UNC, Rutgers University and the National Defense Institute, Men's Health, January, 2004.