At a time when the Huntsville/Madison County community has received nearly unprecedented rankings and recognition for its job growth, technology creation, and quality of life, along comes its most lofty ranking yet – Kiplinger’s Personal Finance #1 city in the U.S. in 2009.
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board Chair Irma Tuder said the ranking is more good news in the community’s on-going workforce recruitment and targeted industry recruitment efforts.

“This ranking illustrates what we have been saying about our community for a long time, that Huntsville is truly a smart place to live, work and play,” Tuder said. “This is a tremendous honor for everyone here – and Kiplinger’s reporter Jane Clark indicated that she not only found Huntsville to be an excellent place for high-tech job growth, but also for its intellectual and entrepreneurial energy.”

The reporter visited Huntsville for several days in April and met with a number of local officials, including Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, and visited several attractions and businesses, including the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville Botanical Garden as well as taking tours of Cummings Research Park, Redstone Arsenal and the historic Twickenham district in Huntsville.

“In just a few days, the reporter was able to quickly see and feel what makes our community so unique,” said Tuder. “As we recruit people to our community to fill our many high-tech jobs, a ranking like this is a wonderful image enhancement tool for us. We will use this information in all of our recruiting efforts and we hope and believe it will be a catalyst for people to take a more in-depth look at our community as a possible place to start or advance their careers.”

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle praised the magazine as well.

“I’d like to thank Kiplinger’s Personal Finance for recognizing Huntsville’s diverse work force and dynamic economy in this year’s rankings. This number one ranking highlights the strength of our entire community and gives another example of why Huntsville remains the bright and shining star of Alabama. We’re very proud of our community and thankful to Kiplinger’s for highlighting our story.”

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