By David Sher
Don’t set your hair on fire!
Birmingham and Hoover are the two largest cities in Jefferson County and they are not going to merge any time soon.
But let’s suspend judgement for the sake of this article and consider the substantial potential advantages.
Combining Birmingham and Hoover may be the simplest step towards some kind of regional consolidation, but the chance of this happening is somewhere near zero.
I live in Vestavia Hills and I likely wouldn’t vote for a merger with Birmingham, so asking my neighbors in Hoover to do so would be hypocritical.
We’ve been diddling around for decades talking about regionalism and very little has changed.
But how to do it?
Jeffrey Bayer, a well-respected real estate entrepreneur, suggested in a ComebackTown column that we combine unincorporated Jefferson County with Birmingham. This is still a logical solution, but faces its own set of challenges.
Some folks have proposed we combine the over-the-mountain communities.
But much of the discussion has been around merging our 35 Jefferson County municipalities into One Great City.
Getting 35 cities to agree on anything is a daunting task.
I hope you can feel my frustration.
Particularly since the option of merging Birmingham and Hoover, the two largest cities in Jefferson County, would completely change the dynamics of our Birmingham region.
Birmingham-Hoover would immediately become the largest city in Alabama
Combining Birmingham and Hoover would create a city with nearly 300,000 residents, dwarfing Huntsville as Alabama’s largest city.
This larger population would boost our region’s national reputation, make it easier to coordinate large projects, give us greater statewide political influence, and attract more businesses and cultural opportunities.
Fragmentation in the Birmingham metro area has hindered job growth and we’ve lost many of our children and grandchildren to career opportunities elsewhere.
Research shows that unified metropolitan areas often experience faster job growth and greater prosperity compared to fragmented ones. For example, cities like Louisville and Nashville saw significant economic benefits after consolidation, including streamlined government operations and improved business recruitment.
If designed well, the merger could create a stronger, more inclusive regional identity that leverages both cities’ strengths—Birmingham’s cultural and institutional core and Hoover’s affluent residential and commercial base. If successful, this might encourage other cities to join.
Big win for both Hoover & Birmingham
When the owners of the Birmingham Barons made the decision to move to downtown, many people expected the worse.
“Hoover will be stripped of Southern League baseball and Hoover Stadium will be abandoned.”
“No family would risk bringing their children downtown and the Barons will fail.”
The opposite happened.
The Hoover Met Complex has been wildly successful. My family spends way more time at the Hoover Met Complex now than we did when the Barons played there.
And Regions Field has been a winner from day one. The Barons began breaking Southern League attendance records the first year.
All it took was a few community and political leaders from both cities to sit down like adults and plan for the best outcome.
Merging likely unpopular
Of course, there are endless reasons why folks would hate the idea.
It’s human nature to focus on the negative and not consider the possibilities.
One obvious objection would be that the two cities aren’t contiguous to one another.
But there is a precedent.
Hoover’s neighbor, Vestavia Hills, annexed Liberty Park when the two cities weren’t adjacent. They didn’t become contiguous until Vestavia Hills annexed Cahaba Heights.
Why this might be a good time to consider
- The Census Bureau announced this year that there’s been a name change for the Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area. Our new name is just the Birmingham, AL, Metropolitan Area. It’s just a new name for our metro, but it will cause Hoover to lose a good bit of name recognition
- Though Hoover has historically grown quickly, it lost population last year.
- Birmingham seems to be getting a handle on its crime problem. Homicides were down almost 50% during the first quarter of 2025.
No need to combine school systems. When Indianapolis, Indiana merged into one county-city, the school systems remained independent.
Why bring up an idea that is not likely to happen?
As Larry Page, Co-Founder of Google, proclaimed, “Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not.”
Our Birmingham region is never going to progress unless we consider improbable ideas.
Most people thought Railroad Park was farfetched.
Moving the Birmingham Barons to Regions Field downtown was considered preposterous.
Building the Uptown Entertainment district north of downtown was thought to be insane.
Some folks today think it’s crazy to build a world class 9,300 seat amphitheater in North Birmingham. Bet they are wrong.
Every one of these projects was considered unrealistic, but happened or is happening anyway.
So why am I proposing Birmingham and Hoover merge when I know it isn’t likely to happen.
Because improbable and surprising things continue to happen in Birmingham.
I don’t know which ones will come to fruition–and neither do you.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com
Without Birmingham there is NO OVER THE MOUNTAIN. Also, if your zip code start with 352, you are Birmingham, 351 is the suburb. Birmingham and Jefferson County should merge as ONE GOVERNMENT. It would be the best thing for the region and state for government funding.
I think it would be a wonderful idea for all the reasons you give. And isn’t it true that Birmingham and Hoover are contiguous? Isn’t the 280 corridor all the way to Hoover, or at least close to it, Birmingham? Admittedly that’s a very slender connection, but Los Angeles has a similar connection to its southern sections near Long Beach.
The move of the Barons from Hoover to Birmingham is an example of what is at the root of the problem: Failure to think as a metro area. The move out of decrepit Rickwood Field in 1988 was absolutely necessary. However Birmingham should have taken into account that the Barons already had a great home in Hoover before building a baseball park downtown.
I just read about the demolition of Oak Mountain Amphitheater which may be another example of this.
I think you are right Michael, good example Fulton county Ga. Larger as a lot of small states steady growth, Atlanta survival includes all the surrounding suburbs let’s go Birmingham, Jefferson county , Hoover the past still in the past it’s only present in you minds
Larry Page is the co-founder of Google, not the former CEO of Facebook. There is no former Facebook CEO. Mark Zuckerburg was the founding CEO in 2004 and is still the current CEO.
Mr. Hardy you have proven once again what a poor proofreader I am. You are 100% correct and I’ve made edit. Thanks for letting me know.
While this may be an intellectual exercise for polite cocktail conversations at fashionable Bham salons, I will offer this as a starter – remember the 90’s and the attempts to make Birmingham and Jefferson County look like Portland Oregon? Nothing good happens in Portland and the unified government is powerless to stop the deterioration of the overall quality of life.
Facts and reality should limit the reach of these so-called utopian ideas to protect schools and communities.
Birmingham has a role. Hoover has a role. The other municipalities have their roles. Mutual interest and mutual support does not require collective suicide to derail the best of each community.
I contend a unified metropolitan area does not equal a better city or quality of life for it’s residents. Just as Mr. sher wouldn’t vote for his town of Vestavia to part of a unified metropolitain area, I doubt many people of the suburbs want back in to the hellscape that is Birmingham metro (unsafe streets, failing schools, and incompetent leadership within infastructure org.). Show me the positives again…I’ll wait. Oh the Barons moving to southside (not downtown) was a good idea, so was moving them from Rickwood in the late 80’s. There are 140+ cities/towns in the Atlanta metro area which doesn’t have a unified metro government, yet the metro area continues to grow. It isn’t the form of government or number of suburbs that make a vibrant city.
As I have stated several times in the past, there are legitimate reasons why people fled from Birmingham to the suburbs. There are legitimate reasons why folks do not want their suburb to combine with Birmingham. Until those reasons are identified and addressed, all these talk about unifying cities is just putting the cart before the horse. You have to devise a plan and give people a reason to WANT to combine/unit cities/governments. Why does Atlanta and Huntsville continue to grow but neither have unified metro governments? Why does Nashville grow when it does have some unified metro departments? It aint the governments.
The idea is wonderful, but the biggest problem is the schools, if you become one large city then each student should be able to go to the school they want. Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Trussville have the great school systems, do not think they will allow their success will be lowered by admitting Jefferson County Schools or Birmingham City Schools, those systems have a long ways to go toward success. The other schools districts would work like Hoover, Pelham, etc. because they are on the right track. I know from experience as I had children who went to Jefferson County Schools and Trussville Schools. It is like turning a light switch off and on the academic differences.
The ONLY thing different between the school systems is property values. It is easy for you to say that your when your area of town is not affected by red lining nor are you being cheated out of your property value and labeled not a good “fit” when the neighborhood is clearly just as pristine as yours. Send your children to one of the City of County schools and you will see that he or she will get a quality education. it also sucks when Birmingham City money go to your schools because of ZIP CODES! 👀