page_title: Birmingham, Alabama
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: Birmingham, Alabama / Education
caption_attribution_description: Blazer Hall at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
context_page_description: Birmingham is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. With an estimated 2019 population of 209,403, it is the most populous city in Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous and fifth largest county. As of 2018, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 1,151,801, making it the most populous in Alabama and 49th-most populous in the United States. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions of the nation.
  Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post–Civil War Reconstruction era, through the merger of three farm towns, most notably Elyton. The new city was named for Birmingham, England, the United Kingdom's second largest city and then a major industrial city. The Alabama city annexed its smaller neighbors as it developed into a major industrial center based on mining, the iron and steel industry, and rail transport. Most of the original settlers were of English ancestry.
context_section_description: The city is served by the Birmingham City Schools system. It is run by the Birmingham Board of Education with a current active enrollment of 30,500 in 62 schools: seven high schools, 13 middle schools, 33 elementary schools, and nine kindergarten-eighth-grade primary schools.
  Birmingham Public Library administers 21 branches throughout the city and is part of a wider system including another 19 suburban branches in Jefferson County, serving the entire community to provide education and entertainment for all ages.
  The greater-Birmingham metropolitan area is the home of numerous independent school systems, because there has been a great deal of fragmentation of educational systems in Alabama and especially Jefferson County. Some of the school systems only have three to five schools. The metropolitan area's three largest school systems are the Jefferson County School System, Birmingham City Schools, and the Shelby County School System. However, there are many smaller school systems.
  The Birmingham area is reputed to be the home of some of Alabama's best high schools, colleges and universities. In 2005, the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Irondale, an eastern suburb of Birmingham, was rated as the No. 1 high school in America by Newsweek. The school remains among the nation's top high schools. Mountain Brook High School placed 250th on the list. Other area schools that have been rated among America's best in various publications include Homewood High School, Vestavia Hills High School, Hewitt-Trussville High School, and the Alabama School of Fine Arts downtown. The metro area also has three highly regarded private college-preparatory schools: Saint Rose Academy, in Birmingham proper; the Altamont School, also in Birmingham proper; and Indian Springs School in north Shelby County near Pelham.
  Noteworthy institutions of higher education in greater Birmingham include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University (including the Cumberland School of Law), Birmingham School of Law, Miles College, the independent Miles Law School, Jefferson State Community College, Birmingham-Southern College, University of Montevallo (in Shelby County), and Lawson State Community College.
caption: University of Alabama at Birmingham
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