By David Sher
One minute we are at the top of the world.
The next, we hit rock bottom.
Where is our confidence?
Where is our self-esteem?
Why do we think it’s okay to be judged by people who don’t know us and don’t care about us?
The Milken Institute — a respected nonpartisan economic think tank — ranks Birmingham 158th out of 200 large cities in their Best-Performing Cities index. We think we’re toast.
Then we see a headline like “Livability.com ranks Birmingham the 6th best place to live in America” and we feel proud and share the news everywhere. Social media lights up. Political and civic leaders quote it in speeches. Those of us who have lived here our whole lives are suddenly typing “Birmingham is great!”
Yes, we are okay. We can be proud.
Then RoadSnacks — armed with a Census spreadsheet and an algorithm — names Birmingham the single worst place to live in America. And just like that, the air goes out of the room again.
Then ADP Research crowns the Birmingham-Hoover metro #1 in the entire country for recent college graduates — best wages, best affordability, and best opportunity. We’re back. Share that one everywhere too.
You get the idea.
We’re on a permanent emotional roller coaster, and the people operating the ride don’t know us, most have never visited us, and they sure don’t care about us.
They care about page views. Every one of these platforms — the ones that make us feel great and the ones that make us feel terrible — is in the business of generating readers. The methodology in many cases is questionable and the rankings fiction. Move a few data points and Birmingham jumps from 40th to 1st, or falls from 6th to last. Nobody actually knows.
It makes no sense to take these rankings personally.
Birmingham is my home and here is what I do know.
We are a beautiful region with gorgeous autumns and springs. We have a world-class medical center that draws patients from across the Southeast, wonderful neighborhoods, and smart and generous people.
The mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina are just a short drive away. When you want the beach, the Gulf Coast is equally close. And when you crave a big-city experience, Atlanta is close by — without the burden of living in its overbearing everyday traffic.
We also have stubborn poverty, inadequate public transit, and some schools that many families are trying to escape. Both descriptions are true simultaneously, and no ranked list captures either one honestly.
Does this happen in Charlotte? Nashville? Austin? Probably not. Because people in those cities don’t need a website to validate where they live. They already know. The rankings wash over them like background noise.
Yes, celebrate the good news. Share it. Let it fuel civic pride and momentum. But let’s not collapse when the next negative ranking rolls in. These measurements don’t define us.
Birmingham is special. A place to be proud of — not because ADP Research said so, and not in spite of what the Milken Institute said.
Let’s not depend on the Internet to tell us who we are.
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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