Oak Ridge??? (Memphis, Knoxville, Clinton: mobile home, tech jobs, neighborhoods)

[Jbluv21]

Hi! My husband is up for consideration for a job in Oak Ridge and I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on that city. I would greatly appreciate anything you could give me. Thank you!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Jbluv21

Hi! My husband is up for consideration for a job in Oak Ridge and I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on that city. I would greatly appreciate anything you could give me. Thank you!

What kind of information are you looking for?

Oak Ridge is an interesting place. Very few people here have neutral feelings. They either love it passionately and never want to leave, or they don't ever want to step foot in the place.

I used to live in Oak Ridge. There are a LOT of really, really smart people there. It's an old city, meaning the average age of people who live there is pretty high, I believe the highest or second highest in Tennessee. A large portion of those who work in Oak Ridge actually live in West Knoxville or in Clinton.

Oak Ridge was built very quickly during WW2 so it doesn't have a downtown, just a few strip malls and an empty enclosed mall with a JCPenney and Wal-Mart. There are some very nice neighborhoods with newer homes as well as some post-WW2 neighborhoods with run-down houses that were slapped together in a hurry. Mobile homes are banned in Oak Ridge, but they're all over the place just outside the city limits.

It's a beautiful area surrounded by mountains. It was built as a secret city, so being surrounded by mountains was necessary to maintain its secrecy. There's a beautiful lake on the northern side of the city and a nice country club on the south side of the city.

Property taxes in Oak Ridge are pretty high for this area, but on the other hand the city has very good schools, a good public library and some nice city parks.

The housing market in Oak Ridge is pretty tight right now, so I don't know if you can find any bargains there. Most of the land in Oak Ridge is federally controlled, and the feds have been slow to release land for new housing developments.

There's not much retail in Oak Ridge. Target tried to build a store there last year but only if the city would give them $8 million. Voters turned it down, so Target gave up. The friends I have in Oak Ridge do most of their heavy-duty shopping in Knoxville (Turkey Creek and West Town) which is only about 20 minutes away.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Jbluv21

Hi! My husband is up for consideration for a job in Oak Ridge and I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on that city. I would greatly appreciate anything you could give me. Thank you!

If you can wait a week, I'm going to put all of the photos I have taken in Oak Ridge or at Oak Ridge events in one gallery on the Kodak website. I'll post a link.

[Jbluv21]

Thank you so very much for the info and yes I can wait a week. How is the racial diversity like there....I am Native American and my husband is African American so it would be nice to be somewhere with a little diversity.

Thank you so much for all of your help!!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Jbluv21

Thank you so very much for the info and yes I can wait a week. How is the racial diversity like there....I am Native American and my husband is African American so it would be nice to be somewhere with a little diversity.

Thank you so much for all of your help!!

I don't think you'll have any problems at all in Oak Ridge, or anywhere else around here for that matter. East Tennesseans, rich or poor, educated or not, seem to have a live-and-let-live attitude about their neighbors, and many will probably embrace your differences. Don't forget that Native Americans (Cherokees) are celebrated and revered around here. And Alex Haley (the guy who wrote Roots) chose to make Knoxville his home (he was born near Memphis).

LauraC has some wonderful photos of Oak Ridge and is a recent transplant there herself. If she says Oak Ridge is a great place to live, you can definitely believe her.

Good luck!

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Jbluv21

Thank you so very much for the info and yes I can wait a week. How is the racial diversity like there....I am Native American and my husband is African American so it would be nice to be somewhere with a little diversity.

Thank you so much for all of your help!!

I'd say we're internationally diverse based on the various accents I hear around town (Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.). Unfortunately, they are mostly of the scientist, engineer, doctor, etc, persuasion and not of the restaurant owner persuasion or we'd really be eating good in Oak Ridge.

To see an assortment of people (age, economic, language, race, nationality, religion), when you visit any town, pop in to one of their free festivals/events because everybody in town comes out for them. There was a smorgasbord of people at the Secret City Festival this year.

[BST]

Oak Ridge has much to offer...except retail shopping. But all of Knoxville's finest stores are just about 15-20 minutes away. I'd be surprised if you find bias a problem in Oak Ridge. The tech jobs attract people of all backgrounds and ethnicities, so the community is already diverse.

[Godsdove]

We've lived in Oak Ridge for 15 months now and love it. The retail thing is about the only downer...but Turkey creek is only 15-20 mins away and that is fine. We have what we need here. Let me know if you have specific questions and I'll do my best to help.

[Jbluv21]

Thank you everyone!!! It really helps to make a decision this big when people are willing to be honest!!! Who knows....maybe I will open a restaurant and make everyone happy!

[LauraC]

I put the link to the photos in the general Tennessee forum because some people are still at the stage where they are considering many places in Tennessee and because Oak Ridge is not even in Knox County.