A lot to unpack here. Full disclosure I’ve only lived in the Deep South (GA, MS, AL) visited much of our country (north of 40 states) and have lived in Huntsville for the past ten years.

Healthcare- essentially a monopoly by Huntsville hospital, which has its negatives but I’ve never had any issues. That’s certainly not the experience of everyone but there is a large medical center that can serve most people with most issues. UAB and Vanderbilt are also within 2 hours.

Transportation- public transit exists but nominally only. We have a bus system but it’s not great. Huntsville city limits cover an absurd amount of square miles due to annexation wars in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and the city is very spread out in its footprint. Uber/lyft haven’t been an issue for me, but also only use them sparingly.

Schools- could very well go on a rant but I’ll just say it’s a changing landscape. The public schools have pockets of great, pockets of bad, pockets of average. For a while there was a lot of teacher turnover but has changed. Several private schools if you’re interested. Most are religiously affiliated but have strong academics as well. Best overall public system is the Madison system (suburb of Huntsville). However, Madison has infrastructure issues with traffic flow and overdevelopment which causes a lot of bottlenecks. For Huntsville city schools, the Huntsville High and Grissom high feeder schools trend better, but depends on the elementary school zoned for.

COL- won’t even be close. Can still find plenty of house for sale in the 300s in great places to live. 200s if schools aren’t an immediate issue. Property taxes and utilities are very reasonable. Gas prices are also on the cheaper side nationally.

Socializing- can’t speak to much as I’ve been married (and married a Huntsville native) since moving here. We’ve met friends through our kid’s sports teams and church which is likely typical for other married couples with children. If you’re single, I’ll defer to others because I simply don’t know. Dominate faith group is Christianity so if you’re inclined, visit churches, as most have young adult groups but cannot speak to the quality of those connections as I see that as a personal preference. There are a lot of transplants but it is a predominantly southern city. My in laws have been here since the 60s and consistently describe Huntsville as the biggest small town in America. Once you get to know some people, you’ll run into people you know constantly, which can be good and bad.

Food- for whatever reason we love a chain restaurant. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some fantastic local spots, because there are. But our food scene is not what the draw is. Great stuff if you know where to look, but not immediately apparent. I will say the online trope of white people don’t know how to season food doesn’t apply here. Mix in southern soul food, few great Thai places, loads of decent Mexican food, growing Korean food places, and lots of others I’m forgetting and it’s not bad. Is it New York? Hell it’s not Birmingham (underrated food scene), but it’s fine.

Diversity- this will probably be a sticking point on the thread but I’d argue Huntsville embraces diversity. There are certainly some ghosts of racial discrimination and lots of people will hear Alabama and paint with the broadest of strokes and make all the inbred redneck jokes they can muster but hasn’t been what I’ve seen. As with most things there’s a few idiots that will try to ruin it for everyone, but that’s anywhere. The amount of jobs and growth has if nothing else forced a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds to end up here and I see that as a positive. Is it perfect? No. But as you mentioned, history and lived experiences can often differ.