Moving to Knoxville (Oak Ridge, Clinton, Seymour: transplants, sales, crime)

[leelee12]

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Knoxville. Can anyone give me any advice. I am looking to for information about the jobs, crime, schools and so forth.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by leelee12

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Knoxville. Can anyone give me any advice. I am looking to for information about the jobs, crime, schools and so forth.

City-data.com, the part on the upper left corner (just click on it) has super info about the area, as does searching through these threads.

Other than that, if you have specific questions, I am sure we can help.

[Barking Spider]

Jobs? Well some of us still have them. Some places are hiring, and some are laying off. Just like other parts of the country, Knoxville is not immune to unemployment.
Crime? Of course there is crime here, just like everywhere else. But compared to Los Angeles (where I'm from) it's pretty low.
Same can be said for traffic. If you live or have ever lived in a really big city, then Knoxville traffic will seem very light. There are some people here that have never had the opportunity to SIT on the freeway for hours without moving. THAT is bad traffic.
Schools. There is a lot of chatter here about this school getting better marks than another, or one area being better than the other. For the most part, schools are pretty good. There are also some excellent private schools here.
The "so forth" part is the important part, like where to get really good tacos, or where to get the best ribs. Just start reading all the posts in the Knoxville thread and you will soon get an idea of what it's like here, and just how nice MOST of the people are.

[lochmoigh]

I heard a stat yesterday thatI need to verify, but percentage wise Knoxville has more crime than NYC! Like I said I have to verify that. that being said, I work in a part of town considered run down and dangerous and have never felt unsafe. One of the other threads mentioned new stores coming to Turkey Creek, Schools differ based on where in the area you live.

[William Sold]

According to the city data profile page on both cities, the crime index in Knoxville is 675.1, while New York City is 253.3. Like golf (not my game), the lower the better. The population in the city of Knoxville is 186,000, not counting the metro areas. The population of New York is 8,000,000. The percentage per 1000 may be higher in Knoxville, though with 8 million residents in NYC, statistically speaking crime would have to run absolutely rampid in NYC to reach a high index considering the sheer number of inhabitants. Per capita ratings can always be deceiving. Also, looking at New York, they have a high number of serious felony crimes, while Knoxville tended to be more a misdemeanor category. Multiplying the number of crimes in NYC per number of residents, I feel much safer in our quaint Knoxville...

Jobs, what kind of field are you specialized in? Knoxville has definitely been affected like the rest of the country, though specialized fields are always in demand. Oak Ridge has brought me a slew of transplants within the last 8 months with engineering, scientific backgrounds with good jobs. Outside sales jobs are always a dime a dozen, though competitive, experience based, primarily commission based, and definitely have an affected clientele base given the economy and reduced spending. Again, definitely affected, though ascertainable with the right background, skills, and expectations.

Schools here can be very good. Some have certain stereotypes, though this is always the case with schools located within demographical areas. As a whole, Knox County does a good job regulatiing the school board, keeping most schools up to date with technology and learning programs, and teachers (God bless them all) primarily have a good reputation comparitively speaking to other cities with the same population size and funding.

As napster said, any specific questions you have will help in getting prompt answers and personal opinions on nearly any apect of our city. Where are you thinking on moving from?

[lochmoigh]

Don't get me wrong, I feel safe here as well, just a startling stat.

[pgerle]

I just wanted to pop in here, I have been reading all these wonderful posts for months. Barking Spider, I read that you are from L.A. - I am just up the coast from where you used to live - Santa Maria. My husband and I want to retire back around Knoxville area, not sure exactly which town. I have read from some of these posts, that some people, it seems in particular the people that move to smaller towns around Knoxville, have a hard time finding a job, and making friends, fitting in, etc. Then I read that was because people in those smaller towns just hang with each other because they have been with each other all their lives. I was interested in knowing, because you did move to Tennessee from LA, if you found that to be true? My husband and I were looking at some smaller towns, (Clinton, Seymour, Louisville) but now we are wondering if we would be seen as outcasts, and maybe it would be better to move to a larger area - as far as making friends and getting a part time job. We are both in our 50's and going to retire, but we are still very active people. We live to go camping, fishing, ride bicycle, etc., and it would be nice to have friends. Anyway, I am interested in your thoughts since you made this trip yourself (and of course any one else's thoughts too!) Also, any other towns that you might think are nice from the stand point of friendly people, things to do, etc????? Any advice you can give would be much appreciated! Thanks to all.