Is Louisville considered the South? (neighborhoods, high school, live)

[nouni7]

Hi, my husband and I are considering a position for him in Louisville. We are in Nashville at the moment. We've been here for a couple of years. Before that we mainly lived in the West, so we have been new to "the South". I overall really like Nashville and I am wondering how similar/different Louisville is, since it is only two hours away.

Two points I am hoping are different though:
- are there bugs like in Nashville (I know the ones in Nashville aren't that bad compared to the deep south, but it is still a ton of bugs compared to the west)

- is it part of the Bible Belt? I would consider myself a spiritual person, but not christian. Here a lot of people (I would say most) talk to each other assuming everybody else is Christian. It is expected that you attend a church etc.

Any similarity/differences you could point out to me on other topics would be helpful as well.
I appreciate your help!

[censusdata]

Louisville has much more of an industrial feel (similar to Birmingham AL) but is very mixed culturally btw a Liberal Northern city and a Conservative religious Bible Belt city.

[nlschr0]

You've hit upon a common issue here!

Louisville has a mix of both midwestern and southern influences. To someone like me, a midwesterner, it has a definite southern feel as far the accents, food, fashion, etc. However, several southerners here have said that, to them, Louisville is a midwestern city. It is all a matter of perspective. So, to answer your specific questions:

Bugs - Louisville has its fair share but nothing like you would see further south. Probably similar to Nashville but I am not that familiar with Nashville so ymmv.

Church - In my experience, Louisville has a definite strong Christian influence ("Where do you go to church" is a question that we were asked almost as often as "Where did you go to high school?") However, it is a large enough city to have areas that are less conservative and more diverse (the Highlands, for example), as well as more traditional and conservative neighborhoods, so you can probably find an area that suits your lifestyle. Overall, though, more of a Bible belt feel than other cities where I have lived, especially once you leave the more liberal pockets around the urban area.

[missymomof3]

It depends on where on the city you are. Outside the old "city proper" it is much more Southern than inside and the South and sw parts of the county are much more southern than the eastern parts for the reasons stated above.

[sellinggreaterlouisville]

You can get sweet tea in a lot of the restaurants. What else besides that do you need to know to determine if a city is in the south or not

[mdawg]

louisville, in general, is southern IMO

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by sellinggreaterlouisville

You can get sweet tea in a lot of the restaurants. What else besides that do you need to know to determine if a city is in the south or not

Apparently not all over. A girl I work with from Tennessee lives in Largrange and was suprised when I put quite a bit of sugar in the pitcher of tea I was fixing. Apparently either you can't hardly find it out there or she doesn't know where to look.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Louisville has much more of an industrial feel (similar to Birmingham AL) but is very mixed culturally btw a Liberal Northern city and a Conservative religious Bible Belt city.

I think that is true too but from where I sit there are more religious areas than liberal here.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

I think that is true too but from where I sit there are more religious areas than liberal here.

Birmingham AL is very religious AND very industrial. I've always thought it's the most similar to Louisville of any city I've ever been too

[RangerDuke08]

The kentucky derby is in Louisville so I would hafta say yes, but the feel of Louisville feels more midwestern.