I live 60 miles from Birmingham and that's still too damn close.

3 Shelby county cities in the top 10 safest in Alabama, including pelham: http://m.alabasterreporter.com/2016/08/02/alabaster-makes-another-safest-cities-list/

Birmingham ranked 3rd most violent city in the US: http://www.trussvilletribune.com/2016/10/02/fbi-birmingham-is-3rd-most-violent-city-in-u-s/

Show me where anyone has said the entire city of Birmingham is a safe place. No one is suggesting you should move to East Lake, Norwood, North Birmingham, Ensley, West End, Central Park, Roebuck, or any of the areas where crime is rampant.

Look, if you are scared of coming to Birmingham, you are missing out on great food,and a lot of fun things to do with your family. i loved all the people saying the Baron's would go out of business when they moved back to downtown. Instead, they have set minor league records for attendance. they were wrong, just like everyone else who claims going to Birmingham is sure to get you robbed, killed and raped.

You're not likely to get raped. But very likely to spend lots of time sitting in useless traffic jams, suffering from severe road rage and fighting off the strong urges to murder some worthless punks with a cheap stereo blasting jungle jive thumpn bump spear chunker noise.

Yea, the crime is outrageous.

Like many have said, it depends on what stage of life you are at, how much money you have, your family situation, and your personality as to where suits you best.

If you want to have a fun time being single, have access to fun trendy stuff, live downtown or in some of the (well researched) adjacent areas

You need a home with lots of space and surrounded by woods, you got to move out a ways,

You need a good school system for the kids, lots of choices, just depends on how much of nice house you need and how much money you have

If you don't mind commuting, you can have a lot of the best of all worlds

Post up some constraints around what I listed, and people can help you narrow it down pretty well.

Check out the older part of Bluff Park, good neighborhoods and close to downtown

If I was single with no kids and and little spending money, and no outdoor toys storage needs (boats atvs etc) I'd live downtown

If I had a wife who wanted to feel like a part of a community and elliminate most of the commute I'd look at East Homewood and Vestavia

If I needed some space and privacy and wanted to be surrounded by some woods, there are several options (if you don't mind commuting pain): Chelsea, trussville, gardendale, Helena, alabaster, McCalla.

If you are financially able, just move to Mountain Brook.

I live in Hoover since it balanced all the above "OK", but lots of areas are not the greatest. Depends on what you want.

Mccalla would be the only place id live up there. North bibb would be where i wanted to be. Ive been thru jefferson county a good bit and i dont like 99% of it

You ain't gonna convince them doekiller. Their loss.

This subject comes up several times a year, and folks that like to drive their tractor to the grocery store come out of the woodwork to say how terrible Birmingham is. It's home to a large portion of the richest people in the state. It's not all bad. It may not be for you, but go walk around the Piggly Wiggly in Mtn Brook Village or Homewood at 10:30am on a Tuesday and tell me how bad it is. Yoga pants everywhere, rich people everywhere. It's an extremely economically segregated city, for better or worse. Some areas of Jefferson county are the nicest in the state in terms of city living, period.

Well, your an expert then. I mean, you drove through the county. We should defer to you.

Tag offices
Property taxes
Water costs
Occupation tax
Traffic
Disfunctional local government
Private school cost if not in Hoover, Vestavia or Mountain Brook
Criminal activity
Too many flippin' people
Nearly every neighborhood has HOA nazis
The slow azz traffic lights in Hoover.

I'll give you the HOA nazis

Hahaha. Although almost every neighborhood has to have them because of "those 2 or three guys" in th neighborhood. But they still piss me off

My neighborhood doesn't have them. Most HOA are in subdivisions.

After having lived in Jefferson County prior to moving to Tuscaloosa County 11 years ago, I won't move back unless forced to do so. Currently my property taxes and car tags are much less than what they were while living in Jefferson. I've worked in Birmingham for over 15 years now and don't enjoy the city very much. If I was into the whole downtown bar/restaurant thing I might like it more, but it's just not my thing. We live just off exit 100 down near the Tannehill area and love it. Talladega National Forest and Oakmulgee are a short drive away if you want public hunting and there are also a few hunting clubs within a 10-15 minute drive. There are several local lakes for fishing, boating, swimming, etc. Plus gundoc is just down the street! That's worth the price of admission alone.

Doekiller, I know u get upset sometimes when people say you're wrong, but this isn't about lawyer stuff.
A large portion of McCalla is in Tuscaloosa co.
I have lived here in Jefferson co. my whole 36 years. It has always had some of the, if not THE highest taxes of any county in the state. There's lots of corruption that goes on and these idiots had to file bankruptcy in 2011. It's ran by a bunch of democraps that obviously have had their fat fingers in the cookie jar too many times.
The schools that are in Jefferson co. that I know of that are doing good, are NOT Jefferson Co. schools.

If it were me, single or not, I'd look in Tuscaloosa co. or Shelby co. If you're single, I'd Uber my ass to Bham if I wanted to go drink and get a stinky finger.

And while I typed all this crap out, several folks beat me to it. Jefferson co. sucks ass and I'd leave tomorrow if my wife wasn't "married" to Hoover City Schools.

Hot mama's wearing yoga pants all day.

I live in Avondale and love the convenience, but I've had my truck broken into once in three years. I've had to run a crackhead out of my tomatoe/pepper garden for trying to smoke the little yellow blooms on my tomatoe plants. I see prostitutes so often I've started nick naming them. I will say it has cleaned up significantly in the last year.

I don't think many folks would say Avondale is super safe. It's getting revitalized for a reason- because it's been crappy for years. Just because there's a brewery and a pizza restaurant doesn't mean it's great yet. Nobody with kids would live there. I wouldn't let my daughter live there.