By Judith Chi

In 2024 our family visited Birmingham, never having set foot in Alabama before.

It was love at first sight – lush trees, charming neighborhoods, spectacular food, and a culture of collective care. Truly a dream come true.

It’s now 2026 and nothing could have prepared us for our lived reality. For any professional and family thinking about moving here, I want to share with you the real story of what life is like here, beyond the happily ever after.

1. Birmingham-Shuttlesworth (BHM) warps your sense of reality

Before BHM, my home airports were in “top tier” cities, where I was accustomed to delayed flights and  million-miler road warrior wanna-bes nearly trampling small children—often their own—just to disembark thirty-five seconds faster than the rest of us. Meanwhile in Birmingham every landing at BHM feels like a gentle exhale –  passengers wait patiently and help each other retrieve bags. From gate agents to TSA to the rental car counter, every moment feels like a brief visit from a helpful friend. You get used to it fast, making traveling through busier airports somewhat jarring.

2. Birmingham bends time

Everything you need is within a 15 minute drive —school, work, groceries, restaurants, cafes, malls (yes the malls are open and thriving!), state parks, golf courses, lakes, and state parks with golf courses and lakes in them. With everything so close you start wondering is it worth it to change out of my afternoon pajamas to make the 20 minute excursion to Costco? My youngest enjoyed a party where thoughtful hosts organized carpools so no one else had to bear the 25-minute trek to the venue. With so little time trapped behind the steering wheel, you might not get through as many podcasts or audiobooks. You may be compelled into activities that in your past life were a profligate use of your precious time – activities like golf, fishing, mah jong, pickleball, poker, pottery, painting or long walks at sunset.

3. Everybody knows your name

If you avoid eye contact and still social distance, this city will challenge you. How will you cope when a new friend shows up with a gift basket filled with local favorites (pimento cheese, where have you been all my life?), or when an elegant lemon rosemary cake or the best granola of your life appears at your door? Here acquaintances coordinate gatherings just to welcome you and your family. Here there are no strangers; only friends.

4. Your children will succumb to peer pressure

Are you ready for your daughter to get peer-pressured into giving a TED Talk? What will you do when your son, who declared he’d never play the clarinet again so you left it behind in San Francisco, falls in with the band crowd and now runs to school before 7am to practice with his new friends? (yes he can walk to school – you can live near and walk to amazing public schools!). Who will you have left to nag when a different neighbor kid shows up at your door every day to get your kids off their screens and play outside?

The adults are in on it too – setting high expectations for kids to exceed. I’ve witnessed junior high kids gliding through the air in a school production of Peter Pan; and kids who just met form a band, compose a rock ballad and perform it for a packed house in less than a week. You’ll hear “yes, ma’ams” and “yes, sirs” coming from the child who previously only answered you in grunts and shrugs. Before you know it, your screenager will be transformed by the village around you into a curious and engaged citizen.

5. You too will succumb to peer pressure

If you love sitting on the sidelines, complaining, this town will test you. Business leaders and philanthropists here don’t just write checks and give speeches; they roll up their sleeves to get the job done. There is a profound culture of stewardship. UAB recruits world-class minds compelled to build excellence for the good of the state. The Chalker Group connects leaders to fuel economic growth.  Rotary Clubs and other homegrown organizations like Kulture City champion genuine empowerment. Here business and civic duty go hand-in-hand, and doing tangible good is a contagious habit.

6. Can you meet the city’s ultimate demand?

The writing is on the wall. Literally. On the downtown Birmingham police headquarters, written on the wall for all passersby, is a call to action to seek change within ourselves. It was only after moving here that I realized how accustomed I’d grown to environments where everyone was busy keeping score and policing one another was encouraged. Here in Birmingham, I came face to face with a city that instead encourages me to look inward, take responsibility for my own energy, and offer grace to others. That kind of inner shift in perspective transforms everything.

The real story of Birmingham is that it changes you. It draws you in, then permanently elevates your expectations for yourself and your community.

Consider yourself warned. Once you get used to the kinship, the collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of excellence, you won’t just want to stay—you’ll want to build. You’ll find yourself eager to roll up your sleeves, show up more, to help your new hometown evolve. And anytime you leave, you’ll wish you were back, feeling deeply—maybe for the first time ever—that there is truly no place like home.

Having called dynamic cities from New York to San Francisco home, Judith Chi and her family are proud to put down permanent roots in Birmingham. Alongside her husband and three children, she is deeply invested in the Magic City, championing the people and ideas shaping its vibrant future.

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