We are Torn Between Louisville and Lexington (Nicholasville, London: neighborhoods, subdivision)

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by lexingtony

I think Hey_Hey's assertion that you "won't notice the difference day-to-day" is correct. I mean, do you go to an amusement park, zoo, or nightclub 'til 4AM everyday? For most folks, I think that answer is "no."

For what the OP is looking for, I still think Lexington would better suit their needs than Louisville. Unless, of course, they have a burning desire to shop for Armani on a daily basis.

P.S. Where do you buy Armani in Louisville??

Rodes for one:

Rodes Labels: For Her

Again, Louisville is substantially bigger than you give it credit for. You downplayed a lot of stuff in my above post, and there's more, like substantially more reliable transit (even though it still sucks). It is several notches up from Lexington as cities go. That doesn't make Lexington an inferior city, but to say it offers nearly the same amenities is very nearly a lie.

From a "day to day" basis you wouldn't notice a difference between living in east Louisville and a suburb of Atlanta...that is just as much as a stretch as saying the same between Louisville and Lexington. And frankly, saying either is not an opinion, but more like a delusion

I tend to agree that given the OP's criteria, he or she would really like Lexington, but they also may find it lacking in many many amenities that you find in larger cities. For that matter, Louisville is lacking in many large city amenties too, but it has substantially more than Lexington, especially in terms of culture, shopping, food, restaurants, nightlife, housing and school options, modes of transportation, the arts, festivals, parks, museums, etc.

Now, if your day to day lifestlyle consists of eating at Olive Garden, picking up scripts at Walgreens, and then shopping at Walmart after working a 15 dollar an hour secretary job, then sure, you won't notice much of a difference anywhere

[lexingtony]

I want to go on the record as giving Louisville full credit for being a substantially bigger city than Lexington. That is, after they merged their city and county governments in 2003, which Lexington did back in 1974. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

P.S. Thanks for the tip on Armani...although I was thinking men's suits....??

[mdawg]

The biggest thing I hate about Lexington is the amount of traffic and the horrible road system they have compared to Louisville. It seems when I drive down Nicholasville Rd. I get stopped at every light, have they heard of synchronizing? But Lexington is a nice small sized city and they do have a nice regional mall. The thing is you are going to have to give something up no matter what city you decide to live in. Each one has things the other doesn't.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by lexingtony

I want to go on the record as giving Louisville full credit for being a substantially bigger city than Lexington. That is, after they merged their city and county governments in 2003, which Lexington did back in 1974. (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

P.S. Thanks for the tip on Armani...although I was thinking men's suits....??

haha, oh for heaven's sake Tony. You are smart enough to know city population means squat MSA's are generally used to compare cities:


41 Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA The Mid-South TN-MS-AR 01,285,732 01,205,204 A191+6.68% ZZZ
42 Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA Kentuckiana KY-IN 01,244,696 01,161,975 A194+7.19%

108 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL MSA Pensacola Bay Area FL 00,453,451 00,412,153 A112+10.02% ZZZ
109 Lexington-Fayette, KY MSA Bluegrass region KY 00,447,173 00,408,326 A122+9.51%

the first number is the city's rank by population. I included the next larger city than Louisville and Lexington for comparison. That is, there is no comparison.

Oh, and Rodes used to have Armanai suits for men, and I know they have the full women's line. Zegna is pretty good though. You sure won't find that in Central KY. About the only amenity Lexington has on Louisville would be 2% higher growth in the MSA. Again, Lexington is a fine town, so no need to get worked up. But it is nowhere in a league with Louisville just as Louisville is no where in a league with Seattle, Denver, Tampa, etc.

Anyways, I do apologize to the OP. I think you should check out both cities and see what you think. If you just want a small college town then your choice will be Lexington. If you want a two tier larger city with more real suburbs with better school districts like Oldham County, then Louisville is for you.

[nlschr0]

Originally Posted by stx12499

. If you just want a small college town then your choice will be Lexington. If you want a two tier larger city with more real suburbs with better school districts like Oldham County, then Louisville is for you.

Looking purely at test scores, these were the top 12 elementary schools in the state as of the last report:

Central Elementary School Johnson County 127.1
May Valley Elementary School Floyd County 126.8
Middle Fork Elementary School Magoffin County 122.9
Veterans Park Elementary School Fayette County 119.4
White Hall Elementary School Madison County 118.9
East Heights Elementary School Henderson County 118.5
Sedalia Elementary School Graves County 118.4
Rosa Parks Elementary School Fayette County 116.0
Paint Lick Elementary School Garrard County 115.1
Moyer Elementary School Fort Thomas Independent 114.5
Cassidy Elementary School Fayette County 114.4
Maxwell Spanish Immersion Elem School Fayette County 114.2


As a public school teacher, I fully understand that there is more to a good school than just the black and white test result. But given the number of Fayette County schools on the list (and lack of any schools from Oldham County or Jefferson County), I'd say that you will have no problem finding a quality school in Lexington/Fayette County. Certainly you would not have to choose Oldham simply for the sake of school quality.

I also find the reference to Lexington as a small college town to be misleading. To me, Urbana, IL is a college town. Lexington, with a population of 250,000+, has a larger feel without getting too big. It sounds like it might be a perfect choice for you!

[tomocox]

I am so happy that people defend their home towns. I see it a bit different, however. I see my job as being a listener. What do people want? What works for Couple A or solo Z won't usually work for the other. While I am a big supporter of Oldham County, I have found many people who would be totally miserable here.

So what's the difference between Lexington and Louisville? I have lived and sold in both cities, so the best comparison that I have would be a big university verses a small college. Georgetown and Centre don't offer Agriculture or Engineering, but thousands of Tigers have made it big in business, education, and the arts.

A prospective resident just needs to decide what is important to them and then based on the set of criteria they establish play golf. Well, not really, but similar. Take 18-20 points of importance, investigate, and then score the area accordingly. If there are five candidate areas, score the towns for each category 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Then add across and the low score wins. Pretty good tool, but nothing better than personal feelings, or "I just feel it"

[Hey_Hey]

I still contend that day-to-day life will be very similar in Louisville and Lexington, just like day-to-day life in Louisville won't be substantially different in Nashville, Cincinnati, or St Louis when compared to Louisville despite those cities being substantially larger than Louisville. At least that's the case for over 90% of the people in this country and that was the case for me when I lived for a short time in Louisville and Lexington. The size factor is incredibly overblown in these forums across all states. I just moved from Ohio to Kentucky and you should hear some of city comparisons between the "3 C's." The Clevelanders think because their city is the largest that it serves as God's gift to all Ohioans. Of course the thousands of people that flee that city every year probably disagree.

I've never bought an Armani anything and probably never will. And to be honest, if one is dying to have designer boutiques in their hometown, there is no way they are locating in Louisville. I've been to a museum in Louisville, but my friends who have lived there for well over a year have never been to any. I've taken public transportation in Louisville once, but the vast majority of people I know in Louisville never have and never will.

I've lived in Louisville, Lexington, and a city in between the two (population-wise), and I can't really tell that much of a difference in the way I live or the things I do.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by Hey_Hey

I still contend that day-to-day life will be very similar in Louisville and Lexington, just like day-to-day life in Louisville won't be substantially different in Nashville, Cincinnati, or St Louis when compared to Louisville despite those cities being substantially larger than Louisville. At least that's the case for over 90% of the people in this country and that was the case for me when I lived for a short time in Louisville and Lexington. The size factor is incredibly overblown in these forums across all states. I just moved from Ohio to Kentucky and you should hear some of city comparisons between the "3 C's." The Clevelanders think because their city is the largest that it serves as God's gift to all Ohioans. Of course the thousands of people that flee that city every year probably disagree.

I've never bought an Armani anything and probably never will. And to be honest, if one is dying to have designer boutiques in their hometown, there is no way they are locating in Louisville. I've been to a museum in Louisville, but my friends who have lived there for well over a year have never been to any. I've taken public transportation in Louisville once, but the vast majority of people I know in Louisville never have and never will.

I've lived in Louisville, Lexington, and a city in between the two (population-wise), and I can't really tell that much of a difference in the way I live or the things I do.

Thanks for the opininion. We will have to agree to disagree. Day to day life in Louisville and Nashville are MUCH different. Even though they are actually similar in size.

Nashville is not siginificantly larger than Louisville. Ditto Indy. And while Cincy is a good clip bigger, Louisville is just as close in size (and amenities) to Cincy as it is to Lexington.

Louisville is much closer in size to Nashvillle and Indy than to Lexington. For some reasom though it seems people in Lexington do not get that......

(first number is rank in the US by Metro Area population, the next is the city name, the next is 2007 estimates and the last number is official census 2000 population)

24 Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN MSA Greater Cincinnati, The Tri-State OH-KY-IN 02,155,137 02,009,632

33 Indianapolis-Carmel, IN MSA Nine-County Region IN 01,715,459 01,525,104
34 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC MSA Metrolina NC-SC 01,701,799 01,330,448
35 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA Hampton Roads VA-NC 01,658,292 01,576,370
36 Austin-Round Rock, TX MSA Greater Austin, Central Texas TX 01,652,602 01,249,763
37 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA MSA Providence metropolitan area RI-MA 01,596,611 01,582,997
38 Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN MSA The Mid-State TN 01,550,733 01,311,789
39 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI MSA Greater Milwaukee WI 01,549,308 01,500,741
40 Jacksonville, FL MSA First Coast FL 01,313,228 01,122,750
41 Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA The Mid-South TN-MS-AR 01,285,732 01,205,204
42 Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA Kentuckiana KY-IN 01,244,696 01,161,975


109 Lexington-Fayette, KY MSA Bluegrass region KY 447,173 408,326

The cities on the top row are bigger name cities. Their attractions and culture are significantly greater. In some cases, but not all, their traffic, crime, and pollution may be worse.

Lexington is simply nowhere near that league, and I strongly disagree it offers the same amenties as Louisville....unless of course, as I noted before, your day to day functioning is working a low paying job without much room for upward mobility, shopping at walmart, and eating at Olive Garden. In that scenario, just about EVERY city over 50,000 is the same. You could say Paducah offers the same amenities as Lexington in that case. And you no what? Saying Paducah offers the same amenties as Lexington is as much of a stretch as saying Lexington offers the same as Louisville.

[InLondon]

Wow, I think some people really have issues with Lexington for some reason. I think that Lexington is a nicer, cleaner, better planned city. I like that the urban growth boundary exists. You can be surrounded by horse farms and just up the road you're in a subdivision with 2,000 homes. Lexington has much less sprawl than Louisville due to the urban growth boundary.

[timelesschild]

Originally Posted by stx12499

unless of course, as I noted before, your day to day functioning is working a low paying job without much room for upward mobility, shopping at walmart, and eating at Olive Garden. In that scenario, just about EVERY city over 50,000 is the same.

You are referring to generic suburban living. Apparently, a large percentage of the population does live that way. Some of them even have high-paying jobs and higher educations - and yet prefer generic suburban living.

Honestly, why all the disdain? I don't live that way and apparently neither do you; however, apparently many people do. Have some respect.