About Huntsville
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Huntsville is a city of 330,000 people situated on the northern edge of the state of Alabama near the Tennessee River. The race of its residents are comprised of approximately 80% white, 17% African-American and 3% other. Since its earliest times up to the present, agriculture has remained one of Huntsville’s major industries; however, in current times its industry is very diversified, covering a variety of trades from car manufacturing to restaurants to software engineering.

Huntsville is a modern metropolitan area, which includes a number of hospitals, the Redstone Arsenal military base, Cummings Research Park, an international airport, five major colleges and universities, over 15,000 individual apartment units, three shopping malls and over 40 shopping centers, a central library with eight branch libraries and NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. From its humble beginnings as a cotton-producing community through its post-World War II period of technological and social progression to its now mature state of current development, Huntsville is positioned to continue in its role as a prosperous, modern community well into the 21st century.

Huntsville’s economic roots lie within the city’s historical context. In 1856, a railway stop was established in the Madison area relating to the then expanding cotton industry. Toward the end of the 19th century, Huntsville was experiencing an economic boom, which played an important role in its process of development. Huntsville had become a city with a strong link to the cotton industry. West and northwest Huntsville in particular were comprised of many workers related to this industry as well as textile workers. Huntsville experienced a second boom in the late 1940’s through the 1950’s and into the 1960’s. this boom was due to a number of conjunctional factors. First, shortly after the end of World War II, the U.S. Government’s space and military research relocated German rocket scientists to Huntsville, ushering in a new kind of industry to the area. Second, the establishment of the Redstone Arsenal had a significant economic impact. the creation of Cummings Research Park in 1962 has played a significant role in establishing Huntsville as a leader in technology-based industry. Finally, the developments of Huntsville's international airport and the establishment of the interstate I-565 highway both played a role in further advancing Huntsville’s economic status.

Today, Huntsville enjoys economic prosperity. Its median family income is cited at $49,187, well above the national average. Madison, the county within which Huntsville is located, is itself the highest-ranking county in the entire state of Alabama in terms of median income at $39,264. This is second only to Shelby county at $42,549. According to Madison County and the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, in 1997 the average median household income for Huntsville was $45,989 and Huntsville’s per capita income was $27,171. Madison county has enjoyed a progressively decreasing amount of unemployment as well, going from 5.8% (compared to the national average of 6.8%) in 1993 steadily decreasing to 2.7% (with the national average being at 4.9%) in 1997.

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