Mobile, Alabama

If Southern culture is something you can see yourself embracing Mobile might be the next city for you. The original home of Mardi Gras (they call it “The Little Easy”), the city knows how to throw a party to celebrate its southern history, and their resident World War II battleship the USS Alabama, and the Spanish moss lining Mobile’s buildings year-round are just two visual introductions to how they honor their past even when the party isn’t going. Mobile’s politics also tend to swing right, another more modern southern staple that Mobile sticks to.

The biggest challenge Mobile faces is improving the school system. Cities that aren't too far away including Madison and Huntsville have much higher-rated schools and pull families from Mobile. This impacts the tax base and the cycle spires downward. Families that have the resources will often send their kids to expensive religious private schools.

Downtown Mobile is lined with a mix of small businesses, art museums, and great seafood restaurants. Being right on the Gulf of Mexico is great for more than just seafood, however. A plethora of beaches sit waiting on one of Alabama’s many hot and humid days, and fishing is a popular pastime in nearby streams, lakes, and the Gulf. Mobile is known for feeling more like a small southern town than a city with a population hovering around 200K. It’s a tight-knit community that supports each other, which can be a good or bad thing depending on where you fit in with that community. Residents in Mobile are notoriously stubborn about transplants from pretty much anywhere else other than the South.

If you want to see what happens in Mobile check out the calendar of events.

We highly recommend visiting Mobile and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our partnership with Expedia as well.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but the economic situation in Mobile has been heading in the wrong direction in recent years. It’s definitely not a bad idea to have a job offer in the bag before deciding to move to the area. As for the specifics, there isn’t a industry that rises to the a notable level in Mobile. Infirmary Health is both one of the largest healthcare companies in the state and one of the largest employers in town. Austal is another large employer that designs, constructs and supports commercial and defense vessels.