A new analysis by a small business fintech platform shows that two Alabama cities have seen a substantial rise in commercial activity over the last year.
BILL, a provider of cloud-based financial software, says that Birmingham and Tuscaloosa are among the fastest growing cities for small business activity in the U.S., both since the beginning of 2025 and in the past year.
The analysis also shows that business activity in some mid-sized American cities is outpacing that of larger cities.
BILL looked at accounts payable spending, or business-to-business (B2B) payments, sent by businesses with two to 200 employees from the largest 342 U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more.
In the survey, a mid-sized city is defined as one with a population of between 499,000 to 100,000, with a large city having more than 500,000 residents.
According to the analysis, two regions have seen the fastest growth in payments by city: the South and the West, with the South leading the way.
What’s driving the growth?
What’s driving that? In part, migration since the COVID-19 pandemic. The South has drawn 2 million people from other regions—more than any other part of the country. And of the 2.1 million people who moved to the U.S. from other countries in 2022, 904,000 settled in the South.
Among the reasons are climate, business-friendly government and more affordable housing, as well as the rise of remote workers.
Birmingham, in particular, showed:
- 50% growth in B2B payments since tariffs were announced in January of this year.
- 131% growth in B2B payments year-over-year.
- 84% growth in B2B payments since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Other Alabama cities have seen similar numbers. Mobile, for example, has recorded a whopping 437% growth in B2B payments since March 2020, and 5% growth since this January.
Montgomery has seen a 50% growth since 2020, while Huntsville has registered a 128% growth since the beginning of the pandemic.
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