Tennessee Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP: Considering A Move To TN
Hello ladies,
I posted this in the TN baby board also...
My DH and I are considering a move to TN within the next 3 to 5 years. We are in Northern California and have been our entire lives. CA is going down the tubes fast. It is very hard to provide a good quality life for our children. I am so over video games, snotty teenagers with no respect, outrageous home prices and no jobs. What can you tell me about TN? How is the weather? What about the school systems? Are there "bad" areas to live in? How has the economy affected your state? Do you see any improvements in the job market. Does it seem to require 2 incomes to provide for a family?
Thanks in advance for all the input.
Casey
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Re: XP: Considering A Move To TN
It all depends on what part of TN you will be moving to. Chattanooga is a nice small town with low cost of living. If you're into doing things outdoors it's a great place to be. Cost of living in Nashville is much higher.
What sort of jobs are you looking for?
Training Roxy
We are not sure of what part we want to be in. I know that my parents and siblings and grandmother are all coming with....within time anyway. Probably a place that does not get tons of snow. We love the outdoors...I want at least 1 acre with a nice home for all my kids...current and future. I work in the medical field. Medical biller, so somewhere near a hospital or medical offices are great. But I figure those are all over. My DH has worked for Comcast here in CA. He also is a custom closet, kitchen cabinet and finish man...like crown mouldings etc. We just want a place for our kids to grow up and appreciate space, nature, people, parents and get a good education. Jobs are so scarce here. My DH is currently unemployed...and it sucks big time.
I love living in Tennessee. The road systems are wonderful! I have grown up in the state moved from Manchester to Cookeville for college and now in Murfreesboro for graduate school. Tennessee has been effected by the economy, and the school systems are not the greatest. Money wise, my husband and I are currently attending graduate school and surviving. Neither of us have a full time jobs. We are getting by with assistantships, and I have a retail job. The weather is unpredictable. We don't get a lot of snow in the winter (although this year we got a significant amount), and our storms are mild at best.
Hope this helps.
I don't think you'll have much issue at all finding work in the medical field. I live in West TN (Memphis), and we have St. Jude, LeBonhuer, St. Francis, Baptist, and Methodist, and the Med here. If you're looking for an area with a lot of land, you'll need to be outside of the Memphis, possibly even county limits.
The cost of living is low here. You can get a decent house for not a lot of money, but as with any area, you'll need to select your neighborhood with care.
We've been in TN for a little over a year and I'll be honest with you - I don't like it, but I can see why people do. We're in Knoxville which seems nice enough, but coming from Charleston, SC and NOLA it just doesn't seem to have any spunk to it.
My main problem here is that people that grew up here still live here, are all here and already have their friends and their set things they do. It's a bit hard to break into the group when you don't have kids and you're not religious. You may have better luck with the kids. If my whole family moved here with me I'm sure I'd like it tons better.
Cost of living here is really, really good. The best thing about Knoxville is probably the traffic - there is none (although those that have only lived here will tell you otherwise!). We were also told that it NEVER snows in Knoxville - also not true since we've been here, but we've been told this is sort of a freak accident. Even when it does snow here it's not major - a few inches at best, but thing will shut down as they're unequipped and roads are hilly.
As far as people go, I do find them to be friendly, but no more so than Charleston or NOLA - in fact probably a little less so. When they get to know you everyone is super nice, but walking into stores and things the workers hardly even say hello at times. It's really odd and really hit or miss, but that may just be my opinion compared to what I'm used to.
There are lots of hospitals here in Knoxville and tons of corporate headquarters - HGTV, Talbots, Ruby Tuesday...probably others. I'm office manager at a real estate office and I LOVE my job. (If you get serious about moving and want an agent to look up some stuff for you page me on the F&B board and send me a PM).
Other than that the only thing I hear about TN from friends is that they LOVE Nashville, but I think that's more of a younger scene. (Haven't been there myself).
HTH!
Oh, and sorry - just re-read and have a few more "answers" for you. You can live off one income in the Knoxville area for sure - as long as that one income is $60-$70K+ IMO. Less if you don't like to shop and don't spend a lot on entertainment budget. More if you want a really, really nice house.
As far as "bad" areas I hear that Memphis is terrifying.
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If you are looking for a place with acerage that is still close to things to do, than Chattanooga is your place. Land in Nashville is expensive. I live in Harrison. It's 20 minutes to downtown Chattanooga. It is 1 mile to a large lake and state park. It is also near the foot of White Oak Mountain. Very pretty. Not too populated. Still convenient to go shopping, etc... There are a lot of farmer's markets.
You can get a nice house in Chattanooga from 125k- 160k. That price in Nashville will more than likely put you in a bad part of town. It's also a city where you could live off of 1 income. Lots of medical jobs to be had here. Plus... Blue Cross is headquartered here too, and they always need billers.
Training Roxy
The other Nesties are right. Chattanooga sounds like your best bet for what you want. I actually live in Georgia, but I live 45 minutes from Chattanooga, and I can see the appeal.
I am a teacher, and as far as education goes, you really don't have to worry about the school systems nation wide at this point. Most of the states are in the process of adopting The Common Core Standards, which is a curriculum guide that everyone will have across the nation, so that you can move from California to Tennessee without worrying if your child will be ahead or behind. Although the adoption is not happening until 2014, Tennessee has recently undergone a more rigorous standard overhaul, so they are getting better.
As far as weather, you will see some snow, but not a lot. There will be the occasional "blizzard". This year we had one foot of snow, but in the years past, we had no more than a couple of inches.
Chattanooga is definitely ahead of the rest of the state, as far as I can tell, in job situations. They have a lot of companies coming in, like Volkswagon, Amazon, Wacker, etc. You're best bet is to have a few job prospects before you come, because there is still a lot of poverty. Let me know if you have any other questions.