My family and I are considering a move to Kentucky from Florida... NEED MAJOR ADVICE... (Lexington: low crime, unemployment)

[cobolt]

I'm just curious as to how the OP came to the conclusion that TN is the murder capital of the South. Is there some source or statistic to prove this? Are we talking about Memphis or the bigger metros here or what? I just think it's an interesting generalization.

[CivilLibertarian]

Originally Posted by cobolt

I'm just curious as to how the OP came to the conclusion that TN is the murder capital of the South. Is there some source or statistic to prove this? Are we talking about Memphis or the bigger metros here or what? I just think it's an interesting generalization.

I'm sorry if I offended you, but I came across an article about roughly 8 months to a year ago while searching Google for crime statistics in the South. My memory is a bit hazey as to the exact details of it all, but I definitely remember reading that Tennessee had the most murders over the period of the study than any other southern state over the same period of time. On a personal level, I have absolutely NOTHING against the state of Tennessee in any way, shape, or form, but I do remember the article did indeed declare Tennessee the "murder capital of the south". I know it's vague but that much stayed with me. Again, I mean no offense and I'm sure that Tennessee is a great place by many different standards.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by CivilLibertarian

I'm sorry if I offended you, but I came across an article about roughly 8 months to a year ago while searching Google for crime statistics in the South. My memory is a bit hazey as to the exact details of it all, but I definitely remember reading that Tennessee had the most murders over the period of the study than any other southern state over the same period of time. On a personal level, I have absolutely NOTHING against the state of Tennessee in any way, shape, or form, but I do remember the article did indeed declare Tennessee the "murder capital of the south". I know it's vague but that much stayed with me. Again, I mean no offense and I'm sure that Tennessee is a great place by many different standards.

No, you didn't offend me at all. I am asking strictly from a curiousity standpoint, seeing that I am looking at moving to Louisville, but was also considering a few places in TN. I'm neither in TN or Ky right now, so no offense either way. I'm currently living in the playland of sociopaths and serial killers. But hopefully not for long!!

[CivilLibertarian]

Originally Posted by cobolt

No, you didn't offend me at all. I am asking strictly from a curiousity standpoint, seeing that I am looking at moving to Louisville, but was also considering a few places in TN. I'm neither in TN or Ky right now, so no offense either way. I'm currently living in the playland of sociopaths and serial killers. But hopefully not for long!!

Serial killers and sociopaths ??? Where the heck are you living currently?

[InLondon]

Originally Posted by CivilLibertarian

I'm sorry if I offended you, but I came across an article about roughly 8 months to a year ago while searching Google for crime statistics in the South. My memory is a bit hazey as to the exact details of it all, but I definitely remember reading that Tennessee had the most murders over the period of the study than any other southern state over the same period of time. On a personal level, I have absolutely NOTHING against the state of Tennessee in any way, shape, or form, but I do remember the article did indeed declare Tennessee the "murder capital of the south". I know it's vague but that much stayed with me. Again, I mean no offense and I'm sure that Tennessee is a great place by many different standards.

I thought it was Louisiana?

[CivilLibertarian]

It might be Louisiana. I only know that I read something about Tennessee. I know the violent crime stats are very high for both states.

[llgator]

Coming from a city the size of Tampa to a Kentucky city will be an adjustment, some good and probably some bad. It will really come down to a matter of degrees and how truly tired you are of the big-city hassles compared to the amenities you give up with each incrementally smaller location. So moving down in size, from a more minimal adjustment (Louisville) to a much smaller city (say, Bowling Green), ultimately you will have to factor in the trade-offs to find your "best" fit.

I'm a long-time Bowling Green resident and believe it's got a pretty good balance between size and convenience/amenities, particularly when you factor in the proximity of Nashville TN (Titans football & Predators hockey). I still think that if you actually want to ATTEND college sporting events, your best bet is Bowling Green or a city with a smaller university/college. Other posters have mentioned Murray (Murray State) or Danville (Centre College). I won't try to tout their advantages as there's probalby someone else that knows more about them. (However, we made a college visit to Centre College last fall and my son was accepted there but it's a small liberal arts college in a small town and he decided it wasn't for him.)

Here's a thought. When you visit Lexington and Louisville, check into getting tickets for the next sporting event coming up...football game, basketball, or whatever. I'm not sure how much money you've got to spend on tickets but you will find the prices are STEEP when you can get tickets at all. UK football and basketball season tickets are passed down within families from generation to generation!

Bowling Green is probably more conservative (strong Evangelical Christian influenced Republicanism) than Lexington or Louisville but even those of us who are "another brand" do just fine here! Not knowing much more about your views, you still might be interested in knowing that Bowling Green has it's very own "think-tank" called the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy and I think they fashion themselves as civil libertarians of sorts Bluegrass Institute. I don't agree with much that they espouse but they do their part to keep the conversations lively on matters of public policy!

On the New Madrid fault, the most western parts of the state are most vulnerable to earthquake damage with damage estimates diminishing significantly as you move eastward. Here's a government report that shows some maps, etc... that might answer your questions about that. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/fs-131-02.pdf

[rpb502]

Originally Posted by llgator

Coming from a city the size of Tampa to a Kentucky city will be an adjustment, some good and probably some bad. It will really come down to a matter of degrees and how truly tired you are of the big-city hassles compared to the amenities you give up with each incrementally smaller location. So moving down in size, from a more minimal adjustment (Louisville) to a much smaller city (say, Bowling Green), ultimately you will have to factor in the trade-offs to find your "best" fit.

I'm a long-time Bowling Green resident and believe it's got a pretty good balance between size and convenience/amenities, particularly when you factor in the proximity of Nashville TN (Titans football & Predators hockey). I still think that if you actually want to ATTEND college sporting events, your best bet is Bowling Green or a city with a smaller university/college. Other posters have mentioned Murray (Murray State) or Danville (Centre College). I won't try to tout their advantages as there's probalby someone else that knows more about them. (However, we made a college visit to Centre College last fall and my son was accepted there but it's a small liberal arts college in a small town and he decided it wasn't for him.)

Here's a thought. When you visit Lexington and Louisville, check into getting tickets for the next sporting event coming up...football game, basketball, or whatever. I'm not sure how much money you've got to spend on tickets but you will find the prices are STEEP when you can get tickets at all. UK football and basketball season tickets are passed down within families from generation to generation!

Bowling Green is probably more conservative (strong Evangelical Christian influenced Republicanism) than Lexington or Louisville but even those of us who are "another brand" do just fine here! Not knowing much more about your views, you still might be interested in knowing that Bowling Green has it's very own "think-tank" called the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy and I think they fashion themselves as civil libertarians of sorts Bluegrass Institute. I don't agree with much that they espouse but they do their part to keep the conversations lively on matters of public policy!

On the New Madrid fault, the most western parts of the state are most vulnerable to earthquake damage with damage estimates diminishing significantly as you move eastward. Here's a government report that shows some maps, etc... that might answer your questions about that. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/fs-131-02.pdf

Louisville, at 710,000 people, is bigger then any city in Florida except Jacksonville.

Kentucky just lacks the dense population that Florida has, so Florida cities have much larger suburbs.


To the original poster, I would recommend Louisville or Lexington.

Both are very safe (Louisville was named the 8th safest large city in the U.S.), and have a lot to do.

Louisville has a terrific park system, one of the best in the country. Tons of cool museums, a great zoo, and good traffic conditions (usually).

Lexington has no bypasses, so traffic is a concern.

Both are college towns (UK/UofL). Louisville has some minor league sports too, like the Louisville Bats (Baseball), and the Louisville Fire (Arena football).

Jefferson County has some good schools, but overall the schools could be much better.

Oldham County, which borders Jefferson County on the northeast side of the city, has a great school system.

[llgator]

Louisville, at 710,000 people, is bigger then any city in Florida except Jacksonville.

Factually correct, but the Tampa Bay area MSA is over 2 million according to Wikipedia. Louisville is nowhere near that size. By the same token, the population within the city limits for Bowling Green is around 55,000 but Bowling Green/Warren County is actually a little over 100,000 and grows by another 10-15,000 when WKU is in session.

Anyway, I'll stick to my original assertion that moving from the Tampa area to "anywhere" in Kentucky will be a substantial reduction in the size of the city and all that goes with it, for good or bad.

Beyond that, I wish the OP the best of luck in sorting out all the factors that are important to he and his family and figuring out which would be the best place for them! And if he has questions, he's already figured out all he has to do is ask.

[CivilLibertarian]

llgator & rpb502,

Thanks for the Input! Without having seen anything (and that's big, I know) we are indeed leaning toward Lexington & Louisville. llgator, you hit the nail on the head about losing what we are used to by way of ammenities. But I don't think the drop off will be that big in the above two cities. Correct me if I'm wrong though. As for politics we do lean conservative but we don't feel that we have to live in an uber republican area in order to be happy.

As for the New Madrid Fault, it has my Wife spooked a bit, but not so much that it would keep us from moving to a really great place should we find one. Question: how does Louisville compare to Lexington in terms of potential danger due to the fault?

Is it easier to get Louisville Cardinals tickets than it is to get them for the Kentucky Wilcats (football primarily)?

Between Louisville & Lexington, which would you recommend?

gain, I thank you all!