Northern KY Pro's?? Con's?? (Lexington, Louisville: house prices, neighborhoods, high school)

[night_express02]

We are looking at moving to Union, KY. Can anyone tell me anything about this area?????? We are moving from the Twin Cities, MN

[jak88]

I'm from Northern Kentucky. The pro's are the beautiful hills, all four seasons, and close proximity to a couple larger cities.

Cons are the beautiful hills sometimes in terms of snow, because they are hard to get to so you may have trouble driving at times. But this isn't something I would worry about.

House prices in Kentucky are relatively cheap compared to a lot of neighbors like Illinois. You can get a real nice one for 200k while in Illinois it is roughly 300-400k for a nicer home in the area I live in (Chicago suburbs).

People are friendly in the Northern part in my opinion. Not a lot of hillbillies either, which is a misconception about the state.

Not too many cons, but a lot of pro's.

[lisanew]

My family is also moving to the Covington, KY area. I've been researching neighborhoods, etc. like you. Have you checked out nationalalertregistery.com. I found it very helpful if you know zip codes that you are interested in. It really narrowed our search. Hope this helps. Goodluck with your move.

[teebird1012]

I'm from Lexington, but frequently make trips up to Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. N KY doesn't have nearly the "hillbilly" reputation that much of the state has. Pros are:
- The rolling hills as mentioned above, the bluegrass region of the state is quite beautiful.
- You have great access to one of Delta's 3 main hubs at Cincinnati Int'l airport (much better than Atlanta).
- KY has four distinct seasons; spring, summer, and fall are very pretty, but it does freeze here, probably not to the extent that you're used to though.
- Union area is about 20 minutes from Cincinnati and the Florence/ Covington area, 45 minutes from Lexington, probably about 1:15 from Louisville, and about 1:45 from Indianapolis. It's a great location.
- There's just so much to do in Cincinnati, it's a metro of about 1.2- 1.5 million and there's always something going on.

Cons are:
- Snow can be a problem sometimes, but seeing as you're from Minneapolis/ St. Paul, the snow here will not be an issue for you.
- Traffic from Florence- Covington can get very heavy during rush hour, especially on I 75/71- it seems 5 lanes are not enough...
- I don't know about Northern KY, but Lexington has the dubious distinction of consistently ranking in the top 5 worst cities for allergies in the US.

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by night_express02

We are looking at moving to Union, KY. Can anyone tell me anything about this area?????? We are moving from the Twin Cities, MN

I don't know alot about Union other than it is a suburban area near Florence, so my opinions generally apply to the NKY area. I'm more familiar with Newport, Covington, Fort Thomas, Fort Mitchell...

Pros: Hilly terrain, scenic views of downtown Cincy, Newport on the Levee, Skyline chili, 4 nice evenly divided seasons, the revitilization of Newport and Covington

Cons: Hot and humid summers, inland location far from any ocean or Great Lakes, slightly too conservative politically for me

[RuralGuy]

I grew up on the edge of Florence just a couple of miles from Union. Union and adjoining areas of Florence and Richwood have been seeing explosive growth in the past few years, with subdivisions springing up everywhere. The schools in Boone County are all pretty good, the county has an excellent park system, and you're near to virtually every retail chain known to mankind. I'm not a big fan of subdivisions or traffic, which is why I moved out of the area. But if you like the standard suburban lifestyle, Union would be a good choice.

[cincyUK]

These guys all said it pretty well, and I would second all of it... beautiful place to live, once you set foot in the bluegrass you'll never go back. One heads up is that it's much hotter here in general than up there, but i'm sure you'll be fine with the nicer weather (except when its 100 degrees and burning up with river valley humidity!)

[MikeKle]

jak88 Are you crazy? Northern KY is full of hillbillies! Everytime I go out I see at least one jacked up pickup truck with a huge rebel flag on the back window! I think it must be a pre-requisite to have at least 5 missing teeth to live in northern KY.Just look at the facts,one study I read stated only 6% of northern Ky is college educated,while only 45% finish high school!

[cincyUK]

yet another ridiculous comment from MikeK... do you even know what a hillbilly is? A truck with a rebel flag does not make you a hillbilly, it makes you a great american. I vote MikeK moves to New Jersey... whose with me?

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by MikeKle

jak88 Are you crazy? Northern KY is full of hillbillies! Everytime I go out I see at least one jacked up pickup truck with a huge rebel flag on the back window! I think it must be a pre-requisite to have at least 5 missing teeth to live in northern KY.Just look at the facts,one study I read stated only 6% of northern Ky is college educated,while only 45% finish high school!

This is a flat out lie. If you can prove your numbers, please do. Otherwise, go away and troll somewhere else.

Here are the real numbers for anyone considering NKY. These numbers came straight from the US Census website for 2006. Three counties are generally considered NKY: Boone, Kenton and Campbell. The data I copied is for those 25 years or older.

Boone
90.3% HS diploma or higher
24.7% Bachelor's or higher

Kenton
87.3% HS or higher
27.4% Bachelor's or higher

Campbell
87.9% HS or higher
28.1% Bachelor's or higher

State of Kentucky
79.9% HS or higher
20.2% Bachelor's or higher

US
84.1% HS or higher
27.0% Bachelor's or higher