My family and I are considering a move to Kentucky from Florida... NEED MAJOR ADVICE... (Lexington: middle-class, real estate market)

[CivilLibertarian]

Hello all,

My wife and I have been looking to move our family out of Tampa, Florida due to the crime rising, unbearable heat/humidity year round (lack of 4 true seasons), and the constant influx of tourists and snow birds causing a population boom in our area to the extent that the infrastructure is starting to buckle. Everywhere we turn there is constant bumper to bumper traffic! But the biggest reason we want to leave is simply because we were both born and raised in Florida and we are ready for a refreshing change.

We would like to have you guys point us in the right direction in terms of where in Kentucky we might be best suited? Let me give you guys our info...

*My Wife and I are both 31 years old. We have three youngsters (all boys) ages 9, 8, & 3. We would be looking for a good public school, and we will also be looking to rent an apartment or home as we would like to get to know our new environment and the local real estate market before we decide where and when to purchase.

*My career is a portable one that will allow me to work from home via computer. My Wife however, will be looking find work in the dental field. She is an office manager for a local dentist here in Tampa and has been for about 8 years now. She would at least be looking for something comparable in Kentucky.

*I am also considering going back to school to finish my degree (better late than never). I would prefer to have a community college available to me at first (it's been a while), but I definitely would like to have access to a major public university as well once I complete my stay at the JUCO.

*We are a Christian family and would love find a good church home upon our arrival. We'd be most comfortable with an evangelical (non-charismatic) non-denominational and/or most protestant churches.

*We love going to football games and would also enjoy taking the boys to the arena for some basketball. WE LOVE SPORTS!!!

*We do like to go out to dinner every now and then. Italian is our favorite. We are wine (don't tell the pastor!) and pasta people. We also like to kick back with a good slice of Pizza and a good brew every so often. We love to grill too. Museums, farmer's markets, a zoo, and a performing arts center would be nice as well if any of the above are close by.

*As I hinted at above, my Wife has always dreamed of living somewhere with true seasons. We looked at North Carolina (becoming too much like Florida, and not enough snow), and Tennesse (found out it's the murder capital of the South, ouch!) and decided to look into the great state of Kentucky! Statistically speaking, Kentucky seems to meet most of our needs and wants in a new home, and it's still within driving distance of our many southern state relatives. Anyhow, the big selling point for my Wife are the rolling green hills and the true seasons. So tell me, how "true" are they? How heavy is the snowfall in terms of driving in it and how would you rate your falls?

*As Floridians, I'm not sure how much we'd stand out in Kentucky. How accepting are locals of newcomers? Keep in mind that I'm not coming to change any function of how you guys do things up there. I just want to come up, work hard, raise my family, help my neighbor any way I can, and enjoy life as much as possible. I'm not bringing any high and mighty ideals with me so I'm hoping we can find our nitch in Kentucky somewhere.

Sorry for going so long! I'm just a little too excited!

So what do you think? Where would you recommend we look in your great state?

Oh, and... THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

[timelesschild]

Lexington would suit you to a T. Locals are accepting of newcomers, and you could still see the Gators playing football.

The snowfall is very easy to negotiate; it just hasn't been a huge factor in recent years. Not much snow, and not very often. If you happen to be wanting snow, for the fun of the novelty, Northern Kentucky (the greater Cincinnati area) is your place. The Ohio River Valley somehow gets waaaayyyyyy more snow up there than Lexington ever does.

I could go on and on about how Lexington will suit you absolutely right down to the dot of the "i", but suffice it to say that it has everything on your list, and in plenty, except the zoo. And there are two zoos that are easy day trips (Louisville and Cincinnati, each 80 miles away).

For schools: check http://greatschools.net for school ratings. The best public elementary school in Lexington is generally considered to be Cassidy Elementary, and although this is an expensive district, there are some very decent apartments that are districted to it, on and near Richmond Road. Then you would be close to school for you, ball games for everyone, and it's a good central location for commuting to most jobs in the area.

[llgator]

You also might consider Bowling Green/Warren County, located in southcentral Kentucky off of Interstate 65, 60 miles north of Nashville, TN and about 100 miles south of Louisville, KY. It is smaller than Lexington (less traffic!) but has some of the very best public schools in the state Bowling Green Daily News
The area is a little over 100K in population (by my recollection!) It is the home of Western Kentucky University (which also has a community college) Western Kentucky University - A Leading American University With International Reach and also Bowling Green Technical College a branch of the Kentucky Technical College system Bowling Green Technical College. The community is very sports minded from youth leagues all the way through college sports. Although many Kentuckians are serious UK fans, UK football and basketball ticket availability and pricing are a serious obstacle to families attending these games regularly. You would find WKU sports teams are much more accessible. A minor league baseball team is coming to a new field being built downtown. WKU also provides numerous cultural opportunities to the community that are not always found in a community this size. Of course, we are very close to Nashville and Louisville for special outings...Tennessee Performing Arts, Frist Center exhibits, JB Speed Museum, but without the hassles that come with living in a larger city day to day. There are 2 excellent farmers markets in Bowling
Green from May to October and a couple of farmers who make home deliveries of fresh produce as well. Bowling Green has plenty of restaurants, from the standard chains to several exellent independent restaurants downtown. For a telecommuting worker, there is excellent broadband available from Insight Communications. In some areas of town, there is a fiber loop available through Bowling Green Municipal Utilities. The area has lots of dental practices as would be expected in an area this size and WKU also has a dental hygiene program. Churches of all sizes, denominations (and non) abound in the area....from Hillvue Heights and Living Hope to intimate country churches. The city of Bowling Green has an informative website: Bowling Green, KY - Official Municipal Web site

Bowling Green/Warren County is a growing area with regular influx of people from outside the community and the state so new arrivals from Florida would not be viewed as anything peculiar! If you make a trip to Kentucky to see various communities, I would recommend you give Bowling Green a look!

[bw87a]

I'd, of course, give you the other recommendation and recommend Louisville. You'll find lots of great information on the Louisville threads. The public school system is one of the best in the state, the traffic is very bearable, the museums and culture are the best in kentucky, there is six flags kentucky kingdom for the kids!, an ever expanding downtown Louisville Science Center/IMAX theater, churchill downs, the zoo is awesome and growing (i believe it's the only zoo in the state), jobs are moreso plentiful, and the Louisville area has a wonderful, and ever expanding medical campus downtown. UofL is highly reputable and has had MANY medical firsts in the last 10 years. UofL also has a very good dental school. Although you said your wife is already in her field, having a good local dental school is great for attracting dental-related jobs. There are numerous opportunities for post secondary education for yourself. Most of Louisville's neighborhoods are very safe. Folks here are friendly, accepting, and crime isn't too prevalent (usually just on the west side). Louisville also has one of the best park systems in the nation. The downtown waterfront park is amazing and it has won numerous awards for urban settings. We like to call ourselves The City of Parks. Check out the main page of the City of Parks website and you can see the pretty neat 'circle' of connecting parks that is already underway! It's called the Louisville Loop!
http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroParks/cityofparks/

I hope some of this helps.

the city website
http://www.louisvilleky.gov/

[llgator]

If I were choosing just between Louisville and Lexington, I'd pick Louisville for all the reasons bw87a listed. Most notably for me, The Olmstead Park system (designed by the same architect that designed much of Washington, DC and New York's Central Park Frederick Law Olmsted - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) is fabulous and a real treasure. Olmsted Parks - restore. enhance. preserve. It's an old river city loaded with interesting architecture Old Louisville Guide but it has great appeal beyond that. If I were inclined to move to one of Kentucky's large cities, I'd choose Louisville hands-down!

[Off Topic]

If your handle is CivilLibertarian, you'll probably feel more comfortable in Louisville or Lexington. My vote is Louisville.

[CivilLibertarian]

Wow... you guys have been INCREDIBLY helpful! This is easily one of the best websites on the web for those of us looking to make a move!

My Wife and I are going to be coming up to have a look around in the coming weeks. We are definitely going to have to check out Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green. All three sound very good! If anyone here would like to recommend any "must see" stops for our trip then by all means do so! We'd love to hear more from you!

Given what I've heard from you guys (and from what I've read), I don't think my Wife will have too many problems finding employment with a local dentist in the three above named cities. The only concern we might have would be crime related. I know that EVERY place in this world is going to have some crime and that you'll never totally escape that fact, but we are currently leaving a place (Tampa) which is now rated an 8 out of 10 (10 being the worst) in terms of violent crime. Believe me, you turn on the local news here and it's just one shooting, rape, murder, beating, or home invasion after another. It can be very unnerving, especially to those of us who have children. There's also been a significant rise in gangs here.

Without knowing anything, we originally favored Lexington due to the fact that it scores a 5 out of 10 on Sperling's crime scale. Louisville scores a 7. Outside the crime factor both of these cities seem to fit what we want to a "T". Now, I don't want to put more stock in the numbers than getting it straight from you locals, so how bad is the crime in both cities? Is Louisville any less safe than Lexington on the whole and are there any places in general that we should definitely avoid when we come up?

I GREATLY appreciate all of the wonderful info and advice!

BIG thanks to you ALL!!!

[timelesschild]

Crime in Lexington is very low, and generally concentrated within "certain" neighborhoods. We never locked our doors living there.

[censusdata]

East Louisville and South Lexington are EXTREMELY safe even by Canadian or European standards. Louisville's ghetto (West of 7th Street & north of I-264) is a lot worse than Lexington's (areas along and north of US 60)

If you want to live in the city, I'd recomend either NE Louisville (esp. the Lyndon & Springhurst area) or SW Lexington (along Man O War Blvd from Dunbar HS to Tates Creek Road)

The main areas in South Lex to avoid would be around Tates Creek HS and along Alexandria Dr. A lot of my family has moved from the Gardens Springs / Alexandria Drive area due to increasing property crime and to get away from Little Mexico aka Versailles Rd

[bw87a]

i would agree with census. and like timelesschild said about lexington's crime, louisville's is probably localized in specific neighborhoods as mentioned above. i'm actually from a working, middle-class neighborhood in the SW part of the city and i still feel very safe all the time. i wouldn't, however, feel very safe north of 264 and west of 7th street as mentioned. the only crime i really hear about even in my side of the SW aren't usually violent crimes (rape, murders, etc). but as you said, it does happen everywhere. east louisville, as mentioned, and the south-to-southeast parts (south of 264, east of 65) are probably the safest parts, but also known as the wealthier parts.