jefferson county

Jefferson County is the most populous county in the United States state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, its population was 658,466. Its county seat is Birmingham, the most populous city in the state. Its rapid growth as an industrial city in the 20th century, based on heavy manufacturing in steel and iron, established its dominance.
Jefferson County is the central county of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In 2011, Jefferson County was $4.2 billion in debt and declared bankruptcy. The financial problems were related to costs of a huge sewer project. Corruption was found among six county commissioners. This was the largest Chapter 9 (municipal) bankruptcy in the United States, until it was surpassed by that of Detroit, Michigan in 2013. Jefferson County emerged from bankruptcy in December 2013, following the approval of a bankruptcy plan by the United States bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Alabama, writing off more than $1.4 billion of the debt.

View More On Wikipedia.org