re: Alabama as a "State"

Huntsville, as a whole has been labeled as "The Silicone Valley of the South" due to the large amount of military contractors, NASA and Redstone Arsenal.
To the west is Madison where the majority of residence work in the AeroSpace/Military field. Very nice area and good schools.
To the north you have Meridianville/Hazel Green, to the east you have New Market. Mainly farming areas with a lot of blue collar workers and some Military/NASA workers sprinkled in.
South Huntsville is where the old money is as well as a lot of Military/NASA people who work on the arsenal or for contractors with ties to aerospace and/or military.