Huntsville ~ Top city for engineering!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/02/24/the-top-cities-for-engineers/

1 Huntsville, AL

Engineers per 1,000 employees: 60.771
Mean engineering salary: $102,766.07
Median gross rent: $725

Which cities offer engineers the greatest combined opportunities and compensation?

To determine the best cities for engineers, personal finance site NerdWallet looked at 350 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., analyzing the size of the engineering industry therein using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as annual mean salary for engineers, and media gross rent.

“All 20 locations have larger engineering industries than the national average of 12 engineers for every 1,000 employees,” states the report. “Engineers in 13 of our top 20 places earn more than the national mean engineering salary, which is $92,170, and 14 places have lower median rents than the average U.S. metro area, which is $905 per month.”

Many of these cities are concentrated in warmer climes. Six of the top 10 and 11 of the top 20 cities on this ranking are in the south, with northern locales in Michigan, Ohio, and Washington also joining the top 10.

At the top of the list is ”The Rocket City” Huntsville, Alabama. The city is home to a NASA flight center and an Army arsenal, and scores big with the trifecta of a high concentration of engineers, a high average salary of $102,766.07, and low median gross rent of $725 per month.

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And just across the river and west of Huntsville is Decatur, Alabama, #8 on the list.

No. 8 Decatur, Alabama
Engineers per 1,000 employees: 20.249
Mean engineering salary: $96,229.35
Median gross rent: $589

Home to 124 plants of such diverse companies as General Electric (refrigerators), 3M (industrial chemicals), United Launch Alliance (rockets and, soon, rocket engines), Wayne Farms (chicken processing), Nucor Steel (steel), BP (plastics), Ascend Performance Materials (nylon and metallurgical grade coke), Daikin America (fluropolymers), Baker Industries (wood reels), Toray Carbon Fibers (polyacrylonitrile), Meow Mix (pet food), and Hyosung USA (nylon tire cord).

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All those high tech companies and…Meow Mix.

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We can use Linkedin to get a sense of UA alumni involvement in Huntsville. Not all Alumni use Linkedin, but it does give you a sense of where they work and in what jobs.

It’s ranked 4th by number of Alumni.

Where they live by location:

United States=87,230
Birmingham, Alabama Area=15,735
Tuscaloosa, Alabama Area=12,960
Greater Atlanta Area=8,650
Huntsville, Alabama Area=3,755
Mobile, Alabama Area=3,087
Greater Nashville Area=2,477

Overall UA had 3,755 grads working in Huntsville:

What they do:

Engineering=448
Sales=280
Operations=275
Education=234
Entrepreneurship=228
Information Technology=205
Finance=164
Media and Communication=154
Program and Project Management=137
Community and Social Services=122
Support=121
Legal=118
Research=116
Consulting=116
Administrative=108
Healthcare Services=104
Human Resources=104
Arts and Design=99
Marketing=97
Accounting=91
Real Estate=79
Business Development=79
Quality Assurance=66
Military and Protective Services=39
Product Management=22

Of the 448 engineers (those in an engineering role) working in Huntsville, below are the top companies:

Where they work:

Boeing=35
NASA =32
US Army=23
ADTRAN=21
Northrop Grumman Corporation=15
SAIC=11
Dynetics, Inc.=11
Missile Defense Agency=10
Lockheed Martin=7
Intergraph=7
Teledyne Brown Engineering=7
Jacobs Technology=6
Tennessee Valley Authority=5
Digium=5
Raytheon=4

Keep in mind that Linkedin is under-counting the true number of alumni, but this does give you a sense of what companies are recruiting in Huntsville.

For comparison:

Auburn has 3,852 Alumni working In Huntsville, 754 in Engineering
Georgia Tech has 526 Alumni, with 234 in Engineering
Purdue has 244 Alumni with 85 in Engineering
UF has 289 Alumni, with 72 in Engineering

And UA-Huntsville has 9,479 Alumni (no surprise!) with 2,034 in Engineering.

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^ Lol, all those high tech companies…and chicken processing! ~:>

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Are the chickens processed into Meow Mix?

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DD and I have our eyes on UA-Huntsville, she is building solid study habits and wants to live away for college. Merit money is a must!! She is not a rah-rah kinda kid, introvert and a little nerdy. UT-Dallas and UA-Huntville are our top picks. She is leaning towards CS degree.

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CANURSEPRAC: Your daughter could find UAH a perfect fit if she is a little on the introverted side. The students enjoy their sports teams – my son loves going to the ice hockey game. But they also study, because classes are not a breeze. And the merit money is excellent. My son has a full tuition ride.

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Cats gotta eat. Cats eat birds. We’ve had a grain processing plant since the 1930s, and we have one of the biggest poultry processing plants in the country. Synergy, baby!

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http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2015/03/which_alabama_college_gives_st.html#incart_river_news
Nice article about UAH -