possible relocation from northeast - suggestions please (Lexington, Louisville: real estate, violent crime)

[MishaMommy]

My family and I are interested in moving from NJ, where we have lived our entire lives (DH and I are both in our thirties) - Kentucky has come up often in our discussions as a friend of mine in college was a native and spoke wonderfully of it.
I am wondering where a one income family with three young children can live safely and happily. We would like to buy land, and just live quietly and peacefully. Safety is of paramount importance to us, given our children.

Any suggestions greatly welcomed and appreciated!

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by MishaMommy

My family and I are interested in moving from NJ, where we have lived our entire lives (DH and I are both in our thirties) - Kentucky has come up often in our discussions as a friend of mine in college was a native and spoke wonderfully of it.
I am wondering where a one income family with three young children can live safely and happily. We would like to buy land, and just live quietly and peacefully. Safety is of paramount importance to us, given our children.

Any suggestions greatly welcomed and appreciated!

Safety is a relative issue, but I suppose you are speaking of safety in the form of violent crime. Kentucky is generally free of most violent crime against strangers. Most of our crime involves people who have at least a passing knowledge of each other. You will want to stay away from sections of Jefferson, Fayette, Daviess, McCracken, & Christian to mention a few areas with hot spots.

Rural Kentucky is having its share of Meth labs, but as of now, few secondary crimes related.

I would look first at this point in your search for a career position, then take then corresponding step to investigate the community.

[MishaMommy]

I should add the following information...
My husband would be able to transfer. He works for Blockbuster, so we would need to be near one those. Good schools are a plus, although we are still discussing homeschooling. Shopping for food is important, other stuff we can take or leave; I do most of my clothes shopping online (I hate to shop).
We would like to be be near cities, but not live there.
Houses where we are in NJ are about $389,900. for a 3 bedroom, 1-2 baths. We cannot afford that. We do not want a big house, land is more important to us.

[censusdata]

The best area of Kentucky is generally along I-64 from Louisville to Lexington - Geographers refer to this as Kentucky's "Golden Road". Every county in this area has median household incomes from $78-$45k, poverty rates below 5%, and rapid population growth. Land here is still reasonably cheap.

You can look at Louisville area real estate w/ this link: (E Jefferson, Shelby, Oldham are best)
Courier-Journal.com - Map Search

Louisville has a GREAT park system (parts designed by Olmstead - designer of NYC's Central Park
A 110 mile bike path is currently being built around the city

A few KY pics:
Louisville Metro Bike Loop

Woodford County

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by MishaMommy

I should add the following information...
My husband would be able to transfer. He works for Blockbuster, so we would need to be near one those. Good schools are a plus, although we are still discussing homeschooling. Shopping for food is important, other stuff we can take or leave; I do most of my clothes shopping online (I hate to shop).
We would like to be be near cities, but not live there.
Houses where we are in NJ are about $389,900. for a 3 bedroom, 1-2 baths. We cannot afford that. We do not want a big house, land is more important to us.

You can pretty much take your pick of any part of Kentucky. Educationally I would tend to lean west of I-75. I would focus on the Bowling Green area and bordering counties.

[MishaMommy]

Thanks for the replies!

[onthamove]

i think you may like one of the smaller communities outside of lexington such as nicholasville or georgetown or midway or winchester or richmond all safe and lexington itself is safe but you can commute from all these areas to lex in 30min or less

[wheresthereef]

There are Blockbusters everywhere. Lexington is a nice place. We like to call it a city, but it's really just a big town. My personal favorites of the small town are Danville, Berea, and Harrodsburg. With Danville being my favorite. Harrodsburg, however, is building what folks say is going to be one of the nicest high schools in the state.

[censusdata]

More Louisville area pics:

Waterfront Park



Historic Portland:


Lou. Skyline


Ohio River Sunset


4th Street Live

[censusdata]

To search for home prices, here are two links:

Louisville area: Courier-Journal.com - Map Search
Lexington area: <url>http://kentucky.homescape.com/kentucky/map_search.jhtml?v7=true</url>

My pick for outlying counties would go as follows:
Louisville Area:
Oldham County: median income $68k, college graduates are 30.8%
Shelby County - median income: $48k, college graduates are 18.7%
Spencer County - median income: $54k, college graduates are 11.1%
Nelson County - median income: $43k, college graduates are 13.4%

Lexington Area:
Anderson County median income: $48k, college graduates are 12.2%
Woodford County median income: $51k, college graduates are 25.9%
Scott County median income: $51k, college graduates are 20.3%