What about Hopkinsville? Nice area? (Lexington, Louisville: sales, crime, new home)

[bishard2]

Hi -We would love to hear some takes on Hopkinsville...from what I understand, the weather is a bit warmer than say L'ville, and the housing a little more affordable? Any input would be great! Thanks isn advance

[censusdata]

Based on what I've heard and seen, you'd probably be better off in Paducah or Bowling Green if you are wanting to live in Western KY. Hopkinsville has much higher crime and poverty rates. Due to these problems, it is worst for all KY counties in population loss (declined 7.4 percent or 5,265 from 2000 to 2006)

[JMT]

Or, if you just had to live in that area, check out Clarksville, Tennessee, just across the border. Hopkinsville and Clarksville are part of the same metropolitan area. Clarksville is booming, whereas Hopkinsville is withering on the vine. The main employer in the area is Fort Campbell, and much of the population shift is because Tennessee has much lower taxes than Kentucky. Even with Kentucky's lower sales tax, the bulk of retail in the region is still in Clarksville and not in Hopkinsville.

Whereas Christian County (Hopkinsville) has lost population between 2000-2006, Montgomery County (Clarksville) grew from 134,768 in 2000 to 147,114 in 2006. And according to city-data.com stats, new homes in Clarksville are cheaper than in Hopkinsville, too.

So, in Clarksville you have a better economy, lower taxes, and cheaper housing than in Hopkinsville. It might be worth checking out.

[Davart]

Clarksville lower taxes??? About 9% sales tax, higher property taxes and city taxes and tax on food. TN is not always cheaper on taxes just because they have no income tax they make it up elsewhere.

I lived in Hopkinsville, I moved do to poor school and what Censusdata said, I'd agree Paducah is a far better choice, even Murray or Benton. The schools are far better in the JP and Graves has the highest rated schools in the area, if you have children. Over lower crime and cheaper cost of living in the JP (Jackson Purchase)

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Davart

Clarksville lower taxes??? About 9% sales tax, higher property taxes and city taxes and tax on food. TN is not always cheaper on taxes just because they have no income tax they make it up elsewhere.

I lived in Hopkinsville, I moved do to poor school and what Censusdata said, I'd agree Paducah is a far better choice, even Murray or Benton. The schools are far better in the JP and Graves has the highest rated schools in the area, if you have children. Over lower crime and cheaper cost of living in the JP (Jackson Purchase)

Over all, Kentucky has much higher taxes than Tennessee. According to The American Legislative Exchange Council, it takes the average Kentuckian 13 months to make the same amount of take-home money as it takes the average Tennessean 12 months to make. Kentucky is ranked 46th in the country, Tennessee is ranked 5th for low tax burdens.

Clarksville does have higher property taxes than Hopkinsville. But Hopkinsville, according to its web site, has much higher taxes on your personal property (Tennessee has 0) and cars (Tennessee is a flat $24/year no matter the vehicle).

Another financial advantage to living in Clarksville vs. Hopkinsville: if you have kids, as long as they maintain a B average and have graduated from a Tennessee high school (public or private or even home schooled), they get essentially a free ride (minus activity fees and textbooks) at Tennessee state universities or cash to go towards tuition at Tennessee private universities. That could save thousands of $$ for some families.

I personally don't care for Clarksville. But there's got to be a reason why people are not moving to Hopkinsville but are flocking to Clarksville. It certainly can't be because Clarksville is more beautiful. In 1970, Montgomery County (Clarksville) and Christianm County (Hopkinsville) were about the same size. Today Montgomery County has more than twice the population of Christian County. For most people, money talks, so the only reason for Clarksville's growth at the expense of Hopkinsville has to be the financial benefits of living in Clarksville over Hopkinsville.

[censusdata]

Clarksville may be outgrowing Hoptown, but there are other KY border towns which area growing much faster than the areas across the border in TN.

The Tri Cities are of Somerset-London-Corbin is growing rapidly, adding people over 10,000 since 2000, while Scott, Campbell, & Claibourne Counties in TN have added only 2,500 combined

[JMT]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Clarksville may be outgrowing Hoptown, but there are other KY border towns which area growing much faster than the areas across the border in TN.

The Tri Cities are of Somerset-London-Corbin is growing rapidly, adding people over 10,000 since 2000, while Scott, Campbell, & Claibourne Counties in TN have added only 2,500 combined

Uhm, Pulaski and Laurel counties don't border Tennessee. In fact, it's over 100 miles from Somerset KY to La Follette TN, two of the cities you're trying to compare. Nice try.

Claiborne County Tennessee DOES border Kentucky. The Kentucky county on the other side is Bell County. From 2000-2006 Bell County lost 600 people (-1.7%), Claiborne County grew by 1,400 (+4.8%).

Hopkinsville and Clarksville are part of the same metropolitan area and have been for years. They also share the same common employer, Fort Campbell. As Fort Campbell has grown, people have chosen to live in Tennessee instead of Kentucky.

So if you want to compare border counties between the two states, please pick counties that actually border each other and have economic and historical links, such Hopkinsville and Clarksville. And in the case of Bell County KY and Claiborne County TN, the dominant town and most of the region's retail are in Kentucky (Middlesboro), yet the population growth is still taking place in Tennessee.

This doesn't mean that Tennessee is better. It just means that there has got to be an underlying reason why more people are choosing to live in Tennessee's border counties than Kentucky's border counties. It can't be because of beauty (they're essentially the same). So it must boil down to what motivates most Americans to do what we do: money.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by JMT

Uhm, Pulaski and Laurel counties don't border Tennessee. In fact, it's over 100 miles from Somerset KY to La Follette TN, two of the cities you're trying to compare. Nice try.

Claiborne County Tennessee DOES border Kentucky. The Kentucky county on the other side is Bell County. From 2000-2006 Bell County lost 600 people (-1.7%), Claiborne County grew by 1,400 (+4.8%).

Hopkinsville and Clarksville are part of the same metropolitan area and have been for years. They also share the same common employer, Fort Campbell. As Fort Campbell has grown, people have chosen to live in Tennessee instead of Kentucky.

So if you want to compare border counties between the two states, please pick counties that actually border each other and have economic and historical links, such Hopkinsville and Clarksville. And in the case of Bell County KY and Claiborne County TN, the dominant town and most of the region's retail are in Kentucky (Middlesboro), yet the population growth is still taking place in Tennessee.

This doesn't mean that Tennessee is better. It just means that there has got to be an underlying reason why more people are choosing to live in Tennessee's border counties than Kentucky's border counties. It can't be because of beauty (they're essentially the same). So it must boil down to what motivates most Americans to do what we do: money.

Clarksville has, for years, been a much larger town than Hopkinsville with more to offer in the way of the arts, parks, recreation, and shopping. Of course, that's to be expected since it's a larger town. That said, I think part of its growth can be accounted for by its proximity to Nashville; it's only 45 minutes from Clarksville to downtown Nashville on I-24. I think the city's blessings and Nashville's growth have coincided. It's not just military growth. Also, it's just a little bit too far to make that commute from Kentucky's "Hoptown," Cerulean, or even Oak Grove into Nashville.

Kentucky's property and sales taxes are cheaper, I'll grant. Kentucky does not tax food, and I'm not sure whether Tennessee does (I think they do.) Housing in Clarksville is much more in high demand because of the cheaper pricing, which translates into greater supply and demand going hand in hand. Gasoline, utilities, and automobile taxes are generally cheaper in Tennessee than in Kentucky; the only way you will pay next to nothing on auto taxes in Kentucky is if you own an unrestored 1971 Dodge Dart or something.

Clarksville is cleaner, generally has better (and I use that term loosely) race relations than Hopkinsville and Christian County, and has a more diversified industry. I go to Hopkinsville, a not-so-friendly, -clean, and -inviting town, and I don't want to live there. But that's just my experience, and I'm sure somebody here is a strong proponent of Hopkinsville. I respect that. On the other hand, Hopkinsville-Christian Co. is a more rural environment, and land is generally cheaper in Kentucky for anybody that wants to own it.

You decide which one you like the best.

[kygman]

I'll take Hoptown over Clarksville anytime!

[censusdata]

As for the weather, actually Louisville is typically as warm as South Central KY (Hoptown, Bowling Green, Somerset, etc) due to the effect of its Urban Heat Island. This is because the core of the city sits in a low, flat valley- about 400 feet below two plateaus situated to its West and East- which traps the heat in.

By comparison, Cincinnati (a larger city) has less of an urban heat effect because of its hilly and more forested terrain.
Louisville is typically about 3-5 degrees warmer than Lexington, and 5-8 degrees warmer than Cincinnati.