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I think East TN's a great choice for you, I made the same decision myself. I just wanted to make sure you knew that while the economy here is growing, don't expect it to be necessarily larger than South FL's.
As far as crime goes, many areas of Knoxville have had several high profile cases very recently. The tragic church shooting, school shooting, not to mention the fact that Fort Sanders has over double the crime rate per capita of NYC with weekly violent robberies and/or rapes.
That being said, I've been here 3 years, and as a young adult, spend many nights out and about as late as 3 or 4am or later, and have NEVER felt like I was in personal danger. Though an annoyance factor is the many homeless people and noticeable presence of prostitutes. I wouldn't say that they're a danger to me as a grown man, but I wouldn't want my little sister to have to deal with those types of people. And the Knoxville homeless are not bashful, going a day without being hit up for money is a rarity for me.
I'd take this place over Fort Myers, Florida, anyday, and that isn't even Miami or Tampa. Yes, we've had a couple of weird things happen, lately, but that isn't anything compared to south Florida, where they invented the word "weird."
I grew up in South FL. I'd say that the Knoxville economy is among the healthiest in the United States (Forbes Magazine agrees). I'd also say that South Florida is in a steep decline to this day. Most recently they've estimated a ~$70k decrease per home in the past year alone. And I've read estimates exceeding a 50% overall decline in the South FL market.
That being said, Knoxville's economy isn't necessarily better for you. Miami is a major Metropolitan city that is a regional hub and international banking hub. They also have more prominent vacationing and publicity markets. So while East TN is rapidly growing, and South FL is busting, there are still more job opportunities to be had in South FL. If the trend continues, we will see this change, but not now.
Knoxville is the smallest sub-regional Metropolitan city in the United States. I don't think the top 33% housing market is compatible with the top 33% job market either.
What exactly do you mean by "sub-regional metropolitan city"? There are obviously many cities smaller than Knoxville (uh, Chattanooga, Asheville, Lexington, etc., etc.).
What exactly do you mean by "sub-regional metropolitan city"? There are obviously many cities smaller than Knoxville (uh, Chattanooga, Asheville, Lexington, etc., etc.).
Technical jargon, lol. A sub-regional metropolitan city is a major Metropolitan City that services the immediate area in regards to jobs, economics and everyday services (Theatre, Restaurants, Dry Cleaners, Dept. Stores, etc.).
Chattanooga is not a sub-regional metropolitan city, it is a sub-regional city, but they aren't considered a Metropolitan City. Knoxville is East TN's only sub-regional metropolitan city, where Atlanta is the regional metropolitan city.
To my knowledge, Knoxville is the smallest (in terms of economic power) city to be classified as a sub-regional metropolitan city by the US Census folks.
Technical jargon, lol. A sub-regional metropolitan city is a major Metropolitan City that services the immediate area in regards to jobs, economics and everyday services (Theatre, Restaurants, Dry Cleaners, Dept. Stores, etc.).
Chattanooga is not a sub-regional metropolitan city, it is a sub-regional city, but they aren't considered a Metropolitan City. Knoxville is East TN's only sub-regional metropolitan city, where Atlanta is the regional metropolitan city.
To my knowledge, Knoxville is the smallest (in terms of economic power) city to be classified as a sub-regional metropolitan city by the US Census folks.
Interesting. What sub-regionals make up Atlanta's regional? An important point that I have seen made on another site than many are not aware of is that Knoxville's metro was shrunk considerably by the census in 2000. Sevier, Roane, and whatever county LaFollette is in (Union?) were all designated micropolitan areas and removed from Knoxville's metro. I am still confused as to why this was done. Seymour (Sevier) is an obvious suburb of Knoxville and is only one or two miles from the city limits (?). Sevier Co. is the 2nd fastest growing county in TN (behind Williamson). If the original 1990 metropolitan area had been maintained, Knoxville metro would now be pushing 900,000. Metro boundaries can, IMO, sometimes be arbitrary lines drawn.
Interesting. What sub-regionals make up Atlanta's regional? An important point that I have seen made on another site than many are not aware of is that Knoxville's metro was shrunk considerably by the census in 2000. Sevier, Roane, and whatever county LaFollette is in (Union?) were all designated micropolitan areas and removed from Knoxville's metro. I am still confused as to why this was done. Seymour (Sevier) is an obvious suburb of Knoxville and is only one or two miles from the city limits (?). Sevier Co. is the 2nd fastest growing county in TN (behind Williamson). If the original 1990 metropolitan area had been maintained, Knoxville metro would now be pushing 900,000. Metro boundaries can, IMO, sometimes be arbitrary lines drawn.
Yes, you're right that is a big error on the US's part. I think it was mainly done because some regions benefit more from the "micropolitan" category than ours does, and we were just stuck with that new classification making Knoxville Metro more ambiguous.
This has been rectified... somewhat. In cases like Knoxville's region, Metro & Micro aren't very useful in gauging the actual city's usage, and that's what the CSA was created for (no not the Confederate States, lol). The Combined Statistical Area is a newer measure of population, and in my opinion, Knoxville's CSA is the only proper gauge that the Census folks use. The CSA includes ALL areas where the residents are commuting to work in, or heavily tied to Knoxville, bringing back those "micros" into Knoxville's population. The most recent Knoxville CSA was over 1.02 million, much more accurate than the reduced 681k reduced metro number if you ask me. I believe that for practical purposes, the 1.02m CSA is used when planning for Knoxville.
As for Atlanta, it is supposedly the Regional Center for the entire Southeast discounting Florida.
Well, I have been pondering this question since posted and read through the answers. I think it all adds up to the answer "it is all subjective" to the question "How is the economy in East TN?" and it depends where in East TN, which includes, many many cities and towns that have their own economy.
I think each metro area, city and town see their own ups and downs/ changes in their own economy. For example, if you have a area of about 60k population and a large employer in that area (say they employed 3,000 people) and they go out of business, than yea, the economy of that area is awful!
I think if someone is researching an area to move to and want to guesstimate (it is all really a guess and gamble when you are looking to the future) the strength of an areas economy, look for variety. Variety and versatility of industries, varieties of property values (look at the miles and miles of gated communities in FL, that didn't end well for most) varieties of economic back grounds in the population and so forth.
For example if there are 8 large employers in an area that are all related to the same industry and the industry starts to fold, you then have all those people who are trained in that one field who are out looking for jobs that are no longer there. Look at Detroit and the car industry.
This is just history repeating itself folks. Think back,before the depression, everyone was making money and building like crazy. Then a halt. Then look what we went through in the late 70's, when there was an oil embargo, one item we all relied on, halted. By the 80's mortgage interest rates were up to 13% for Prime rate. In the late 90's it was down to 5% and building went crazy in so many large metropolis areas, everyone was buying up SUV's and building HUGE houses. Now the industry that tanked is the housing industry, all at the fault of the banks and lender who thought everyone was just going to keep making more and more money with no end in sight. (but that is a different discussion all together)
Who were the hardest hit in all these and other major economic ups and downs? Large metro areas or more specific, those that saw huge growth explosions quick. My mother taught me a great saying when I was very young and it is so true: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
This is one of the reasons you will never find me living in a huge city. Not to mention I can not stand traffic back ups and the rat race mentality (again, another subject altogether) and all the rest that goes with a big city.
I think smaller, slower, steadier growth cities/towns that have versatility in their local economies seem to always fair better in these economic drops.
Kingsport TN I believe is a good example of one of these fairing well right now cities. (It is also the one I watch the closest so only one I can comment on, I am sure there are others too.)
There are a variety of industries in or close by(all of Tri-cities) such as Plastic creating plant (Eastman which is huge, employees about 7,500 and makes plastic, don't see the need for plastic to diminish any time soon. Not only that, 10 years ago they were making film developing chemicals and film, well since digital took over that market, now they make PET which is the basic ingredients in any plastic product= versatile), several car component industries, a paper making plant, many medical field corporations, water heater manufacturer, manufacturing plant of farm equipment, manufacturing plant of microprocessors, manufacturer of nuclear fuel cells, and several other industries. There are also a lot of small businesses that serve large companies that are places other than this area. There seems to be a good mix of industries in this area. This does not necessarily mean there is a huge need of new employees, but the unemployment rate remains rather low (does that make any sense?)
Here are two emails I received in the past two weeks that demonstrate the stability of the city of Kingsport, and I believe is also a good indication of the Tri-Cities in general as their populations mingle.
All in all, I think smaller, slow growth (over many, many generations) always seem to fair better economically in the long run. Of course you need to add in some good local government for good measure too.
(other mods: this is not subject to copy write)
Kingsport House Price Appreciateon Ranks 14th Nationally
According to OFHEO and MSN Money
Source: Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and MSN Money
National Ranking of House Price Appreciation 2nd Quarter 2008
Home prices across the country fell 4.8% in the second quarter, compared with the second quarter of 2007 -- a record drop, according to a government report released today.
The largest declines were in the states where prices had risen highest and overbuilding had been concentrated during the 2003-07 real-estate boom. In California, which had the biggest declines, prices fell 6.9% year over year and 15.8% between the first and second quarter of this year. In Nevada, prices were down 5.6% from a year ago and 14.1% from the first quarter. Florida prices were off 5.3% from last year and 12.4% from the previous quarter.
The states with the greatest year-over-year appreciation were Oklahoma (4.9%), Wyoming (4.4%), South Dakota (3.8%), North Carolina (3.6%) and North Dakota (3.6%).
In 208 of the 292 metropolitan areas tracked by the OFHEO, prices dropped at least somewhat in the second quarter. The metro areas with the biggest price decreases were in California (Merced, Stockton, Modesto, Salinas, Vallejo, San Bernardino-Ontario, Bakersfield and Fresno), Florida (Naples, Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Bradenton-Sarasota) and Nevada (Las Vegas). Those are cities where values increased enormously in the boom.
Price growth was concentrated in smaller cities that had not seen huge appreciation during the housing boom. Second-quarter prices rose the most in cities in Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, where oil economies are strong. They also rose in the Western cities of Idaho Falls and Grand Junction, Colo., where local growth is steady and solid. Quarterly prices rose, too, in cities in the Carolinas, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
The region with the most price growth last quarter was the West South-Central Census Division, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. There, prices rose 0.7%.
In the Pacific region -- Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington -- prices fell 5%, the most overall.
Fellow mods, again, this is not subject to copy write issues.
Kingsport Posts 20% Sales Tax Increase in August
KINGSPORT – Three straight months of solid sales tax growth in Kingsport could be the leading edge of an expected surge given solid commercial/retail growth over the last three years.
Sales tax figures provided by the State of Tennessee for the month of August, covering June sales in Kingsport, indicate a phenomenal 20 percent growth over the previous June 2007. June and July were also strong months for Kingsport, with sales taxes up 3.63 percent in July and 5.87 percent in June.
City Manager John Campbell attributed the strong August report to several factors, including shifting regional buying patterns, economic stimulus checks from the federal government and greater shopping amenities offered by new stores in Kingsport.
"With more than $100 million in new commercial/retail investment recently completed, underway or planned going forward, the community should begin to see this type of positive trend," Campbell said Thursday. "But we know economic conditions are difficult, and there could be some bumps in the road ahead."
Even adjusting for August 2007, when $170,000 in sales taxes were audited away from Kingsport by the state and distributed to other jurisdictions, sales tax collections for August are still up 11.5 percent over the adjusted rate.
Adjustment or not, the $2.71 million in August 2008 collections is the highest single-month sales tax collection in the past decade, excluding Christmas sales.
"Three months is a short period of time, but this certainly beats the difficult year we saw last year," Mayor Dennis Phillips said. "The Board of Mayor and Aldermen have worked very hard the past couple of years to retain existing retail and recruit new shopping opportunities to Kingsport. I believe we are beginning to see the results of those efforts."
Half of all sales tax collections in Kingsport go directly to fund school systems throughout Sullivan County, with the remainder going to the City’s general fund. Through two months of fiscal 2009, the city’s general fund revenue from sales taxes is up $163,369 over budget.
On a fiscal year basis, from July 2007 through June 2008, Kingsport logged $180.93 million in new residential, commercial and industrial construction, well ahead of the $123.35 million logged in the previous fiscal year.
Yes, you're right that is a big error on the US's part. I think it was mainly done because some regions benefit more from the "micropolitan" category than ours does, and we were just stuck with that new classification making Knoxville Metro more ambiguous.
This has been rectified... somewhat. In cases like Knoxville's region, Metro & Micro aren't very useful in gauging the actual city's usage, and that's what the CSA was created for (no not the Confederate States, lol). The Combined Statistical Area is a newer measure of population, and in my opinion, Knoxville's CSA is the only proper gauge that the Census folks use. The CSA includes ALL areas where the residents are commuting to work in, or heavily tied to Knoxville, bringing back those "micros" into Knoxville's population. The most recent Knoxville CSA was over 1.02 million, much more accurate than the reduced 681k reduced metro number if you ask me. I believe that for practical purposes, the 1.02m CSA is used when planning for Knoxville.
As for Atlanta, it is supposedly the Regional Center for the entire Southeast discounting Florida.
I beg to differ. I would argue that Charlotte is the regional center for the Carolinas.
I beg to differ. I would argue that Charlotte is the regional center for the Carolinas.
maybe
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Hi y'all
