Tennessee Nesties
greetings from Philadelphia
Hi Ladies! I am hoping you can help me out with some research I am doing for DH. Long story short his ex is trying to move to TN (Knoxville area) with his DD so she can be with her FI. So here are my questions . . .
1. how easy is it to get a job as an elementary school teacher? (here they are a dime a dozen)
2. They say they will have an income of approx. $30-35,000/year. Will that allow a family of 3 to live comfortably? They will be renting a 2 br. apt. and have no debt (right now).
Re: greetings from Philadelphia
It really depends on what part of TN she is moving too. In Middle Tennessee the schools were growing like crazy, but with the recession people aren't moving to the area like they used to. My county had been growing by over 1,000 students a year for the last 10 years, but then last year it only grew by 800 and 500 of those 800 were kids returning from private and home schools.
COL is cheaper in TN, but again it depends on what part. It is cheaper in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga than Nashville. I can't imagine living comfortably on $35k year but my definition of comfortable may be different.
To give an example, I pass a trailer park on the way to my sons' school every morning. Someone is advertising a trailer for rent for $200/mo. I can't imagine finding anything so cheap in a major northeast metro area. I know what my sons' teachers make. One makes about $33k/yr and her husband works and she has 2 daughters. I helped her find an apartment last summer so I know she is paying about $1k/mo for a nice 2 bed/2bath apartment in a "luxury" style apartment complex in a town that is probably the most expensive in TN. Her old apartment was in a sketchy part of Nashville and she was paying $750/mo for 2bed/1bath. She's paying more in rent now, but she is saving a tonne on gas and her daily commute has gone from 50 minutes each way to 10 minutes.