JEFFERSON COUNTY

Jefferson County, with a population of 660,000 according to 2012 census estimates, is the home to Alabama’s largest city, Birmingham.  The Birmingham metropolitan area is a center for medical research, banking, technology, engineering, higher education, art, and music.  Congressman Bachus represents a portion of Jefferson County including Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Trussville, Hoover, Gardendale, Pleasant Grove, and Hueytown.

The highly-rated University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), with teaching and hospital facilities located in downtown Birmingham, is the largest employer in the State of Alabama.  Other well-respected institutions of higher learning include Samford University, Birmingham Southern, and Miles College.  The financial services industry is another major employer in Birmingham, which has long been recognized as an important regional banking center.

In 2013, Birmingham is commemorating the 50^th anniversary of historic civil rights events that took place in the city.  Educational displays and artifacts from those events, including the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the “four little girls” who died in the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church in September 1963, are on exhibit at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

There is a vibrant arts, recreation, and sports scene in Jefferson County.  Attractions include the Birmingham Zoo, Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Alabama Theatre, Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham Museum of Art, Southern Museum of Flight, and Tannehill Historical State Park.  The Birmingham Barons baseball team plays at the newly-built Regions Field, while one of the team’s former stadiums, historic Rickwood Field, is the oldest professional baseball stadium in America still in active use.