Is Spartanburg a Good Place to Live (Greenville, Greer: crime, new home)

[kscottdog4]

I have been doing a lot of research on the areas to live around Greenville. I have been really looking into the area of Spartanburg, I was wondering what anyone has to say about that area. Is Spartanburg a safe, good area with good schools (high school,middle and elelmentary) and jobs.

[motonenterprises]

Why not just move to Greenville or many of the suburbs around it? Simpsonville, Greer, Mauldin, TR just to name a few.

[christopherinsc26]

don't know much about spart but been there a few times it is ok but not as good as greenville and it seems to be more run down but thats just my thought...

[Skyliner]

edit: sorry, I jsut posted my answer here to a question in another thread.

[ShadowCaver]

Having spent some time in that area due to work, I liked Spartanburg. And, actually looked at living in that area when offered position abit north of there. Depends on what you like and want, along with what you are bringing with you. Funny, seems that quite few folks from Greenville look down upon S'burg, as being back waterwater, cowtown. However, I enjoyed both cities, in their differences, and preferred the Spartanburg area more. Besides, its closer to the home of the great Marshall Tucker Band... And, there was a quite good Mexican buffet restaurant there too, along w/ nice micro-brew place also. But, overall, yes, Spartanburg and its area is good place to live, IMHO, with good schools around.

[motonenterprises]

Shadow, no one is looking down on Spartanburg. Just stating the truth. Greenville is a great deal larger and does offer more. I work with many people from Spartanburg and they will tell you the same thing. If its your preference then thats good.

[pommom]

As someone already posted, your perception depends upon what you like & want. We personally fell in love with Spartanburg. We did extensive research & visited both cities many, many times before choosing Spartanburg over Greenville as our new home. Coming from Cincinnati, OH we both liked that to us Spartanburg had more of a "small town" feel to it than Greenville did. To us, Greenville felt alot like Cincinnati (a bigger city) and we didn't want that. Now if that's what you're looking for, by all means, Greenville is more for you. For someone to state that basically Greenville or Spartanburg is the only right choice, let's just say in my opinion - YOU'RE WRONG!!!!! It really just depends on what each person wants & is looking for!! It really gets old hearing all of the biased crap sometimes, can't people just reply by stating why they love where they live without bashing the other places???

[Skyliner]

oops. I just realized which thread this was. Please forgive my ignorance, if you read my reply.

I will say that I have been to Cinci many times and it in no way looked or felt like any place in this state to me. But you are correct in stating that Inman/Boiling Springs is more "small town" than the city of Greenville. There are many quiet small town suburbs around the Upstate.

[Tommy1981]

I've lived in Greenville and my Wife is from Spartanburg. There are some folks in Greenville who may look down on Spartanburg, but the two cities are actually quite comparable in my mind. Greenville is a good bit bigger, and has more social outlets (better downtown, better shopping, better festivals/events).

As for schools in the area, I'd give a slight nod to Spartanburg. Dorman and Spartan High seem to be on a higher plane than the (public) schools in Greenville. From the folks I've run into through my college years, I'd say the ones from Spartanburg were generally more inteligent/successful than ones from Greenville. That could be slanted by the small sets of folks that I knew. I knew two girls that graduated top 5 (individuals not %) from Spartanburg highschools, where the folks I knew from Greenville weren't nearly that high in their respective classes. Greenville is the home to the Upstate Governor's School, which is a supurb boarding highschool for 10th-12th graders. Its very hard to get into.

As noted before, It really comes down to your personal preference. You may want to visit a few schools if you're interested in buying property with a good school district, if you have the time/resources.

Greenville probably has a better job market. The business in Downtown Greenville is definitely stronger than the Business in downtown Spartanburg (Take a look a pictures of the skylines if you want visual evidence). Both are part of the I-85 Corridor which is becoming a very popular settling place for companies trying to cover Atlanta and Charlotte. Rather than building 2 facilities, they choose to build near the interstate around Greenville/Spartanburg and are only 2 hours or so from both. Depending on the industry, you could probably find a job in either place. It really just depends on your specific expertise and specific job openings.

I'd say both cities are equally safe. There's no place with no crime, but I wouldn't think of either place as particularly dangerous or un-safe. Some areas are better than others. East Greenville is safer than West Greenville. I'm not sure about which side of Spartanburg is safer, but I believe there's a similar thing in Spartanburg.

[Skyliner]

I always recommend the top notch private schools in Greenville over the public schools, unless someone specifies that they are looking at public schools only. There is a significant gap in the education levels from what I have seen, but again, that will depend on what the students intend to use their high school education for. One of the most disappointing and even scary statistics is the rising drop-out rate in public high schools these days. That may be one cause for the rise in crime (this is happening nearly everywhere), since it is highly unlikely that these individuals have all dropped out to work full time.