Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama and is the county seat of Jefferson County. It also serves as the primary nucleus for a sprawling urbanization known as Greater Birmingham with over 1,000,000 inhabitants constituting roughly one quarter of the state of Alabama’s entire population.
Today, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the U.S. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to two Fortune 500 companies: Regions Financial and Saks Incorporated. Birmingham has been recognized as the South’s top city for income growth and among the top ten nationally over the last 20 years.
Metropolitan Birmingham has consistently been rated as one of America’s best places to work and earn a living based on the area’s competitive salary rates and relatively low living expenses. One 2006 study published at Salary.com determined that Birmingham was 2nd in the nation for building personal net worth based on local salary rates, living expenses, and unemployment rates
Through the middle of the 20th century, Birmingham was the primary industrial center of the Southern United States. The astonishing pace of Birmingham’s growth through the turn of the century, earned it the nicknames “The Magic City” and “The Pittsburgh of the South”. Birmingham’s major industries centered on iron and steel production. Over the course of the 20th century, while industry declined nationwide, the city’s economy diversified. Though manufacturing is still a strong sector, Birmingham has also become a major medical research center and a regional banking and publishing power. In recent years, biotechnology and information technology have begun to grow rapidly to complement other sectors of Birmingham’s economy. In recent years Birmingham has been named by various groups as one of the best U.S. cities in which to live.
[insert_php]
$market = “BIR”;
global $market ;
[/insert_php]
[insert_php]
$market = “BIR” ;
[/insert_php]