Nashville VS Memphis (violent crime, home, live in)

[willdgate]

I'm from Memphis, but currently live in the Nashville area, Hermitage.
Pros for Memphis:
Better downtown
a bigger city
developing city
a variety of public schools in Memphis and Shelby county areas
Cons for Memphis:
Bad crime everywhere, you can probably get away with less crime in Arlington or lakeland, tn, but those upscale neigborhoods are expensive to live in, but if you have it I would live there
the people are "wierd and nosey", they kept asking me and my boyfriend at the time were we sibling, also, some memphians are "rough and crazed".
Pros for nashville:
"less crime", but some areas do have a lot of crime at times
Cons for nashville:
A non-developing small city
boring
country, lack of diversity, surrounded by small towns and not upscale neighborhoods
except for Mt. Juliet
boring city for families nothing for kids to do here
few selections for public schools in nashville, that "may" be considered descent

[Pimpy]

Originally Posted by willdgate

I'm from Memphis, but currently live in the Nashville area, Hermitage.
Pros for Memphis:
Better downtown
a bigger city
developing city
a variety of public schools in Memphis and Shelby county areas
Cons for Memphis:
Bad crime everywhere, you can probably get away with less crime in Arlington or lakeland, tn, but those upscale neigborhoods are expensive to live in, but if you have it I would live there
the people are "wierd and nosey", they kept asking me and my boyfriend at the time were we sibling, also, some memphians are "rough and crazed".
Pros for nashville:
"less crime", but some areas do have a lot of crime at times
Cons for nashville:
A non-developing small city
boring
country, lack of diversity, surrounded by small towns and not upscale neighborhoods
except for Mt. Juliet
boring city for families nothing for kids to do here
few selections for public schools in nashville, that "may" be considered descent

The above post, or what I could decipher from it, is probably the most inaccurate rambling I've ever read on this message board.

- Nashville's MSA is larger than Memphis's.
- I don't see how you can conclusively state that Memphis's downtown is better than Nashville's. It is infested with bums and nightlife there pretty much doesn't exist outside of Beale St.
- Memphis is a "developing city" in the same way that Rwanda is a "developing country." That is not a good thing.
- Yes, there are a "variety of public schools" in Memphis, and gangs run the show in just about every one of them.
- Nashville a "non-developing small city"? That is just too ridiculous to warrant a response.
- Boring? If you can't find stuff to do here, you might want to look in the mirror to identify the source of your boredom.
- No upscale neighborhoods except Mount Juliet? You don't get out of Hermitage much, do you? Here are some places to check out when you have a free Saturday: Belle Meade, Forest Hills, Green Hills, Brentwood, Franklin, Hendersonville, West Meade.
- There is nothing for kids to do here only if they have boring parents who never take them to do anything.
- Public education in Nashville isn't the best, but compared to Memphis every school here is Montgomery Bell Academy.

[shamrock_71]

I have to agree with many of the points made by willdgate. Nashville has been a disappointment for me. The city is more segregated than most cities I've lived in or visited, downtown is old and in need of an overhaul, there is only one decent mall in my opinion (Green Hills), there aren't as many cultural events as I would expect in a city of this size and demographic make up, and the infrastructure is in need of major improvements. Also, racism is rampant and overt.

Memphis is a vibrant city with more to do, but if I were looking for a place to raise a family, Memphis wouldn't be top on my list.

[Big TR]

I had a buddy I worked with who grew up in Pakistan. He spent a year in Memphis doing finances for the Pyramid. When I told him we were looking to move South and going to check out Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga, he said to go ahead and scratch Memphis off the list.

He said unequivocally that Memphis was the worst place he had ever lived. The guy from Pakistan.....

[Tunky]

To the OP...on the memphis page you can search for a thread titled "Why I am leaving Memphis". You'll find an awful lot of information and opinions there.

All I can say is that I've lived in small towns, small cities, very large cities and foreign countries and Memphis is the only place I disliked. And I tried like crazy to find a silver lining. My husband works for a prominent company in Memphis and they are having a terrble time attracting high level talent because people simply don't want to live in Memphis and they are considering significant changes because of it.

[qwe123safi]

Originally Posted by willdgate

I'm from Memphis, but currently live in the Nashville area, Hermitage.
Pros for Memphis:
Better downtown
a bigger city
developing city
a variety of public schools in Memphis and Shelby county areas
Cons for Memphis:
Bad crime everywhere, you can probably get away with less crime in Arlington or lakeland, tn, but those upscale neigborhoods are expensive to live in, but if you have it I would live there
the people are "wierd and nosey", they kept asking me and my boyfriend at the time were we sibling, also, some memphians are "rough and crazed".
Pros for nashville:
"less crime", but some areas do have a lot of crime at times
Cons for nashville:
A non-developing small city
boring
country, lack of diversity, surrounded by small towns and not upscale neighborhoods
except for Mt. Juliet
boring city for families nothing for kids to do here
few selections for public schools in nashville, that "may" be considered descent

If Memphis were a country it would be like a 4th world country. Rising crime rate, more crackheads, drunks, stoners.

A bigger city does not mean anything if it does not show. Nashville's skyline is growing rapidly. Plus Nashville's metro is bigger and growing.

Lack of diversity????????????????

Largest iraqi/kurdish population outside of iraq

3rd largest hole for illegal immigrants behind Los Angeles and Phoenix(not a good thing but very diverse)

Also, large legal Mexican population.


Thriving African American population.

Considerable asian population.

A big Caucasian population.


I agree Nashville's schools are bad. Some are worst than Memphis IMO. But, it is not like Memphis does not have some bad schools.


You must not get out much.

[JMT]

Memphis has more culture than Nashville? ??

Let's see, Nashville has a better funded symphony, a bigger symphony hall, a larger opera, and more art galleries than Memphis.

Nashville has more malls than Memphis. (To the poster who said Nashville has only one good mall, that's still one more than Memphis.)

Nashville has more art galleries than Memphis. The Frist in Nashville is larger than any museum in Memphis. Nashville's Cheekwood Botanical Gardens are larger and better funded than the Memphis Botanic Garden.

You have a MUCH better chance of finding a good public school in Nashville than in Memphis.

How is Nashville less diverse than Memphis? If you're going by black population alone, then yeah Memphis is more "diverse." But Nashville has a larger Hispanic community, larger Asian community, and in fact has the largest Kurdish community in the country. When the Japanese Consul in New Orleans was looking for a new home, they weighed their options and chose Nashville over Memphis.

Nashville is also blessed to be the home of a dozen universities and colleges, each with its own cultural and athletic events. Anyone who says Nashville is lacking in culture is fooling no one but themselves.

And holy cow, how on earth can it be said that Nashville doesn't have any upscale neighborhoods?? Williamson County is one of the 20 wealthiest counties in the country. Nashville's Belle Meade and Forest Hills neighborhoods are the wealthiest in the state. And, unlike in Memphis where even posh Chickasaw Gardens or Central Gardens are only a couple of blocks from crack neighborhoods, Nashville's wealthy enclaves have much less crime.

Don't get me wrong, I looooove Memphis. I lived there for 5 glorious years and also spent a lot of time in Memphis when I was in grad school at Ole Miss. But let's not get carried away. Memphis is what it is, and Nashville has overtaken Memphis as the premier city in our state.

[shamrock_71]

And for the last time, diversity is not only about race!

[groovamos]

For what it's worth, I found a thread on a blog about the sad disintegration of the situation in Memphis as well as Detroit. This one is pretty massive and I killed an hour reading through it, I seemed to be gripped by a strange fascination, which left me exhausted and discouraged. As I said in another thread on this board, I have a real connection with Memphis having grown up in Nashville during the heyday of the former's musical prominence. To kids in Nashville in the 50's and 60's the torrent of great music coming over Nashville radio from Memphis was something we'll never forget. I'm so glad for that experience as that city held us Nashville kids in awe. The same can be said about the musical gusher coming out of Detroit. I remember an article around March '69 in Life magazine about the music from the 2 cities, and as it turned out, the rapid decline of the Memphis- Motown genre's was in full progression at that time. I can't believe I'm sitting here 40 years later and reading about the implosion of these 2 cities. Totally surreal. Below is the link. Fair warning: there is frank discussions about race here:
Moderator cut: blog links not allowed, please use DM feature

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by willdgate

I'm from Memphis, but currently live in the Nashville area, Hermitage.
Pros for Memphis:
Better downtown
a bigger city
developing city
a variety of public schools in Memphis and Shelby county areas
Cons for Memphis:
Bad crime everywhere, you can probably get away with less crime in Arlington or lakeland, tn, but those upscale neigborhoods are expensive to live in, but if you have it I would live there
the people are "wierd and nosey", they kept asking me and my boyfriend at the time were we sibling, also, some memphians are "rough and crazed".
Pros for nashville:
"less crime", but some areas do have a lot of crime at times
Cons for nashville:
A non-developing small city
boring
country, lack of diversity, surrounded by small towns and not upscale neighborhoods
except for Mt. Juliet
boring city for families nothing for kids to do here
few selections for public schools in nashville, that "may" be considered descent

Wow! I'm wary of these city comparison but you really have no clue what you're talking about so I'm compelled to respond. Memphis developing? LMAO! Nashville a non-developing small city? No upscale neighborhoods? Compared to Memphis?!? Either you're delusional or you got these cities flip-flopped. Memphis has 1.2 maybe 1.3 million folks in its' metro and grew at a respectable but unimpressive 5% between 2000 and 2007. Nashville is a metro of 1.6 million people and grew 16% during that same period and could very well be over 20% after the next census. Take Memphis and add the entire Mobile, AL metro to it with some "New South" growth, development and synergy and you have Nashville.

Memphis is an older city with the great bones to prove it. It does have a great densely populated gridded core that we Nashvillian can certainly envy but that's pretty much the only positive in its corner when compared to the two are compared quite frankly. When that core hasn't been significantly altered it's telling. Nashville, on the other hand, has brand spanking new urban neighborhoods mixed with emerging regentrified neighborhoods and infill projects a plenty even during a recession. No comparison.

Quite frankly neither of these cities have anything to write home about on race relations or diversity but I would say that Nashville is unequivocally better off than Memphis in both categories. The stark and self-destructive black/white divide of Memphis is absent in Nashville. Music City has more ethnic/racial/cultural/religious/educational/etc. diversity.