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Old 11-06-2010, 08:49 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
3 posts, read 6,376 times
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I'm interested in moving to a progressive, small town (175,000 or less) within a 4.5 hour driving distance of Huntsville, AL. I have lived in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and I feel like I have a good handle on what they have to offer, but Tennessee is still a bit of a mystery to me. The "progressive" values that are most important to me are pedestrian and bicycle friendliness, and having a (relatively) bustling downtown. My husband, who is a software engineer, will need to be able to get a job making good money (or else he will refuse to move there). He strongly prefers not to work for the government.

Yes, Chattanooga seems like an obvious choice, but I would really prefer something smaller. I just don't know enough about Tennessee to know where else to look. All suggestions are much appreciated!

Last edited by ornery; 11-06-2010 at 09:02 PM..
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Old 11-06-2010, 09:10 PM
 
Location: The Conterminous United States
22,584 posts, read 54,062,618 times
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Chattanooga's population is less than 175,000. I was going to suggest Knoxville, but we are right at that population and the burbs make it even larger. We do have about 40 miles of greenways and a bustling, newly revitalized downtown.

But anything smaller is going to get you less progressive. Maybe Cookeville from what some of the forum regulars say, although I am from a small town in the northeast and think that would be a little too passive for me.

Your biggest hurdle is going to be "good pay." That's a subjective term, but no matter how you slice it, any other part of the country, besides The South, is probably going to pay better.
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Old 11-06-2010, 09:23 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Thanks a bunch hiknapster. I will certainly look in to Cookeville.

I think it would be tough to get my husband to go lower than 90k. He has lots of experience writing code to get gadgets and devices to function.
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Old 11-06-2010, 09:43 PM
 
Location: The Conterminous United States
22,584 posts, read 54,062,618 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ornery View Post
Thanks a bunch hiknapster. I will certainly look in to Cookeville.

I think it would be tough to get my husband to go lower than 90k. He has lots of experience writing code to get gadgets and devices to function.
Nothing is impossible, of course. The planets could be aligned and bam, he gets the perfect job at the perfect salary. But the chances are pretty darn good that he is going to have a tough time getting that, especially in a place with less than 175,000 population.

The problem is Cookeville has a population of 24,000. What are the chances?

The fact is that everyone wants to live in The "friendly" South, with the great weather. They also want it to be a small town, but lively, with little crime, great schools, low cost of living, very cheap housing and great pay and benefits. And why not? Don't we all? But if that place exists, I haven't found it.

I did major relocation research, five years ago, limiting my search to The South and the best I came up with is Knoxville. Has it worked for us? Yes. But I also had to be realistic with my expectations. I know if the cost of living is low, the pay isn't going to be stellar.
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Old 11-06-2010, 10:09 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,591,995 times
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Why not live IN Huntsville? It doesn't have a bustling downtown, but it has a bigger tech industry.
Of course then I guess you'd just be moving for the job's sake and not for the criteria you mentioned ...
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Old 11-06-2010, 10:10 PM
 
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Cookeville's population is just under 30,000, and it's home to a mid-major university with about 12,000 students, but I wouldn't necessarily call it "progressive." It's got its progressive elements, but it's nothing like other Southern college towns like Athens or Gainesville. It does have a fledgling bike trail that connects downtown to the university and will eventually stretch 19 miles all the way to Monterey, and it does have a thriving downtown core with tons of good restaurants, cafés, galleries, etc., as well as a few nice museums. It's also the smallest town in Tennessee to have a fixed-route bus network. But I think it will be difficult to find high tech jobs there.

For high tech jobs you'll probably need to stick to some of the smaller towns that are closer to big cities. Oak Ridge probably has the most high tech jobs, and it's a very pleasant town with a definite "progressive" streak, but it does not have any downtown whatsoever.

I'd also check out Franklin which is just south of Nashville and is home to some big corporations such as Nissan USA which has quite a continegency of high tech employees. Also check out Murfreesboro which is just SE of Nashville.
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Old 11-06-2010, 10:42 PM
 
Location: The Conterminous United States
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Originally Posted by JMT View Post

For high tech jobs you'll probably need to stick to some of the smaller towns that are closer to big cities. Oak Ridge probably has the most high tech jobs, and it's a very pleasant town with a definite "progressive" streak, but it does not have any downtown whatsoever.
The problem with Oak Ridge is it will probably be a government job.
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Old 11-07-2010, 07:48 AM
 
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Or a government contractor.
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Old 11-08-2010, 06:54 AM
 
6,335 posts, read 11,500,302 times
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Franklin is the most charming city mentioned - very cute downtown adjacent to adorable well maintained neighborhoods. But it's not progressive in the way of Asheville & Boulder. You could call it progressive in the sense of commercial progress.

A typical Franklin resident will be a rich or UMC Republican or someone who has done well in the music industry.
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Old 11-08-2010, 07:22 AM
 
2,319 posts, read 4,782,900 times
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I think Chatt's out as far as tech jobs. I don't know what exactly your husband does, but my guess is Chatt is not a good fit. We moved down here for a tech job, and now that it's turned into a nightmare, my husband can't find anywhere else to work. He won't do gvt jobs either. We bought a house and were remodeling, and now it looks like we'll be putting it on the market after Thanksgiving.

You are probably wiser than we were, but think hard about moving somewhere with limited companies.

Good luck to you.
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