Should Kentucky be on our list? (Lexington, Louisville: high school, contractor, university)

[Carolinemoveswhere?]

First of all, thank you for reading my post!

My husband and two children, 5 & 8, are looking to move out of central California. There are several states on our list of possiblilites and Kentucky is one of those.

We are looking for:
1. Good school system. Our children have exceled in school, both are very bright children. We have them in a private, Christian school right now, where they are challenged academically. Also, for their personal safety, which brings me to....

2. Safe city. Our area has been overcome with gang violence and meth. We can't even go to the park on the weekend because of potential drive by shootings. (especially as the weather warms)

3. Jobs. My husband is a commercial contractor. He specializes in medical remodels. He has his MBA in finance and would like to work for someone else for a while. (it ain't easy having your own business...we want our life back!)

4. Active community. Our kids are into everything, from music lessons, ballet, baseball, karate..... We want a community that has festivals and other fun things to do.

5. A big church. We are non-denominational Christian and our church regularly has about 3,000 in attendance. That suits us fairly well.

6. Some space, but large enough. Does that make sense? We hope to have a couple of acres, but I can't live too far away from a mall. Plus, and this is a little silly, but bugs and snakes scare me. Ideally, we'd like to spend around $250,000. We could go higher for the right area.

7. Clean air. Our air quality is terrible. Even the schools raise air quality flags to let you know what kind of day it's going to be.

8. Well educated populus. We aren't expecting everyone to have their PhD's or anything. But, we do want to live in an area in which most people have their high school diplomas and maybe even some college. I am actually a part time adjunct faculty member at our local university.

9. Good health care. Our area is awful, very behind. You have to beg borrow and steal to get a referral to a respected medical center.

So, I think that's it. We really just want a better quality of life.

What do you think? (Kentucky in general and what towns/areas?)

[InLondon]

Sounds like you're looking for an area such as Lexington, Louisville, or northern Kentucky. Those areas have everything that you're looking for. As far as a big church is concerned; Southland Christian in Lexington has nearly 7,000 members and Southeast Christian in Louisville may be larger than that.

[censusdata]

Sounds like the Eastern suburbs of Louisville (including Oldham County) to me. Louisville is the 24th safest city out of th 75 largest in the US and 8th safest large city.

Lexington is very safe (14th safest out of 75 largest US cities) and well educated (40%+ w/ a college degree), but there's really not a lot to do there.

What do you mean by non denominational church? - (church of Christ?)

[missymomof3]

The biggest non-denominational church here is Southeast Christian. It is a megachurch and I have never heard a bad thing about it.(I am southern baptist so I don't go but those I know who do love it)

[teebird1012]

I attended a service at Southland Christian and have thought the service was very well done. Definitely look within "the golden triangle" (LEX- LOU-NKY) for the things you are looking for. The air quality here is great, but allergy season is taking foot here and in the last week I have had MUCH more trouble. Check out some previous posts on the LEX and LOU forums for more in depth information.

[dixiegirl7]

I wouldn't limit it to Louisville/Lexington necessarily. Look at Bowling Green also in your search. It is not as big as the other two but still offers everything you mentioned without the traffice. Western Kentucky University is located in Bowling Green so you wouldn't lack for an educated populus. We also have several excellent private Christian schools and some huge churces. Hillvue Heights is a church you might like. As far as healthcare, we have the largest hospital in southcentral Kentucky and we are only an hour from Nashville which has many excellent hospitals and specialists.

[timelesschild]

Sounds like Oldham County to me, or Shelbyville. I think you would love it.

Another possibility: Wilmore. It has lots of room, a very well-educated population base, a Christian college and seminary (both named Asbury). The countryside is gorgeous, and you'd be close to shopping (Lexington), church (Southland Christian), and the schools are well-spoken of. A good K-12 Christian school is Trinity Christian in Lexington.

Yet another: Danville. Well-educated population base, lots of room, a nice lake, GORGEOUS town. Centre College is the college there, and it is beautiful. You'd be further from Lexington, and I am not sure about churches and schools in Danville. But it is SUCH a pretty town and hits several of your points.

[Carolinemoveswhere?]

I really appreciate your responses. It's so difficult to narrow an entire state down...it makes it so much easier to just ask those "in the know." Thanks, too, for addressing so many of my key "wants."

We've narrowed our states down to TN, OK, NC, KY & SC. We'd like to narrow it down to a more specific area within each of those states and then travel to each and get a real feel for each place.

We don't have a specific time frame, we are really trying to make sure we are financially ready to slow down a bit. But, we want to be prepared to go when we feel it's time.

Thanks again for your responses!