Please help me narrow! (Knoxville, Chattanooga: crime rate, house, neighborhoods)

[1111tmw]

Hello Again, My family and I would like to get out of FL and move to TN for the same reasons as most...lower crime, nicer people, better cost-of-living, beautiful landscape, and brick not stucco!!! I grew up in MO and never really adjusted to the FL lifestyle (been here 6 years). Anyway, narrowing down a town is proving to be a HUGE task....so many nice places.

My criteria: true small/mid-size town with its own identity (not just a suberb), population 5K-35K, safe, good schools, close proximity to a sailable lake.

We are planning a trip next spring and I'd like to narrow it down to 2 or 3 places to visit. If you can help me answer any/all of these questions, it would be VERY appreciated.

1. East Brainerd, South Cleveland, and Hopewell were all listed on Yahoo in the top 50 best places to raise a family. Are South Cleveland and Hopewell just areas of Cleveland, and is Cleveland just a suberb of Chatanooga? Do any of these places meet my criterea?

2. After reading other threads, Cookeville is beginning to peak my interest. Does it seem to meet my qualifications?

3. Crossville also seems to meet many of my criterea, but city-data showed a higher crime rate in Crossville that in some of the other areas I'm researching. Does that seem accurate? Is it safe?

4. What about Sparta? Seems to be a smaller town outside of Cookeville. How are the schools there? How remote of a place is it?

5. What other places would you recommend for me to look into?

THANKYOU so much!!

[alleycat]

What about Monterey? It's less that 5k I believe but it's also close to Cookeville.

Other possibilities might include Smithville, Carthage, maybe even Lebanon.

Funny you should mention Cleveland. I'm having to work Saturday morning . . . on Skyridge Medical Center in Cleveland.

[RiverView]

Originally Posted by 1111tmw

My criteria: true small/mid-size town with its own identity (not just a suberb), population 5K-35K, safe, good schools, close proximity to a sailable lake.

1. East Brainerd, South Cleveland, and Hopewell were all listed on Yahoo in the top 50 best places to raise a family. Are South Cleveland and Hopewell just areas of Cleveland, and is Cleveland just a suberb of Chatanooga? Do any of these places meet my criterea?

East Brainerd is a suberb of Chattanooga. You might want to look more towards Ooltewah. You'll get a great deal on a house in Ooltewah. I'm not familiar with Hopewell at all.

Cleveland is not a suberb of Chattanooga. It's it's own city.

[younglisa7]

I like east Tn the best. I'm also partial to the mountains. Have you looked into Elizabethton, Johnson City, and areas around Knoxville? Lots of lakes.

Lisa

[JMT]

Originally Posted by 1111tmw

Hello Again, My family and I would like to get out of FL and move to TN for the same reasons as most...lower crime, nicer people, better cost-of-living, beautiful landscape, and brick not stucco!!! I grew up in MO and never really adjusted to the FL lifestyle (been here 6 years). Anyway, narrowing down a town is proving to be a HUGE task....so many nice places.

My criteria: true small/mid-size town with its own identity (not just a suberb), population 5K-35K, safe, good schools, close proximity to a sailable lake.

We are planning a trip next spring and I'd like to narrow it down to 2 or 3 places to visit. If you can help me answer any/all of these questions, it would be VERY appreciated.

1. East Brainerd, South Cleveland, and Hopewell were all listed on Yahoo in the top 50 best places to raise a family. Are South Cleveland and Hopewell just areas of Cleveland, and is Cleveland just a suberb of Chatanooga? Do any of these places meet my criterea?

2. After reading other threads, Cookeville is beginning to peak my interest. Does it seem to meet my qualifications?

3. Crossville also seems to meet many of my criterea, but city-data showed a higher crime rate in Crossville that in some of the other areas I'm researching. Does that seem accurate? Is it safe?

4. What about Sparta? Seems to be a smaller town outside of Cookeville. How are the schools there? How remote of a place is it?

5. What other places would you recommend for me to look into?

THANKYOU so much!!

Cookeville definitely fits your criteria. It's got excellent schools thanks in large part to being home to a mid-major state university (Tennessee Tech). And since TTU is not a party school, you don't have to worry about that kind of element. Cookeville High is one of only 5 schools in the state with the International Baccalaureate Program. While Cleveland is also a nice town, Cookeville's schools are rated higher. And while Cleveland isn't technically a suburb of Chattanooga, it's pretty darn close. Chattanooga's sprawl is definitely headed up I-75 towards Cleveland.

Cookeville is an hour from the Nashville airport which has the cheapest air fares in the state. It might not seem like a big deal to you right now, but if you and your family ever want to fly somewhere together, you'll appreciate being close to Southwest Airlines's hub in Nashville where air fares are half what they are out of Chattanooga.

There are three large lakes within a short drive of Cookeville: Dale Hollow (my personal favorite), Center Hill, and Cordell Hull. Here's a post with pictures of those lakes:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/1645589-post13.html

Other posts with pictures of Cookeville:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/tenne...-churches.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tenne...ookeville.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tenne...ookeville.html

Something else to consider as far as schools: other towns in Tennessee have excellent schools: Oak Ridge, Johnson City, Kingsport, Maryville. But in order to attend those schools, you have to live IN those cities because they're municipal school systems. Cookeville doesn't have its own school system, meaning you can live on a farm out in a rural part of the county but still have your kids attend the excellent (and I do mean excellent) schools in Cookeville.

[pineywoods]

I second younglisa's choice...Johnson City and Elizabethton...beautiful. Johnson City is bigger than your criteria indicates at nearly 60,000, but it has all the offerings of a big city: nice mall, gazillions of restaurants, shopping, etc...but nearly everywhere you go has gorgeous views of the mountains. Elizabethton is a small city but really charming downtown with lamplights, shops, antiques, coffee shops, a darling park with covered bridge, yet all the convenience stores and restaurants there, too. Views are gorgeous between Bluff City and Elizabethton. Sycamore Shoals State Park is there too, for mountain hiking, etc. Can you tell I love this area...even though I'm still a Buckeye for now until we build our house in Piney Flats? East TN is God's country...well ok, so the whole world is God's country, but East TN got an extra dose of HIs magic.

[Jon F Moss]

all great choices to consider.....why do what we did and jump in the car and do a little exploring for yourself!

[1111tmw]

You guys are so helpful! Thank you! Cookeville and Elizabethton are peaking my interest.

What can you tell me about Crossvile? The crime rate is high according to city-data...is that accurate?

Does anyone know about the schools in Elizabethton?

Any other places I need to look into? "Find Your Spot" told me Paris, TN...but I don't think I want to go that far west.

Thanks again!

[Jon F Moss]

"Find your Spot" did a good thing by directing you to look at TN. I'd discard it now, and get some real info....

[JMT]

Originally Posted by 1111tmw

You guys are so helpful! Thank you! Cookeville and Elizabethton are peaking my interest.

What can you tell me about Crossvile? The crime rate is high according to city-data...is that accurate?

Does anyone know about the schools in Elizabethton?

Any other places I need to look into? "Find Your Spot" told me Paris, TN...but I don't think I want to go that far west.

Thanks again!

If you don't listen to anything else tonight, pay close attention to this: THAT FIND YOUR SPOT QUIZ IS A SHAM AND A FARCE. I've taken it I don't know how many times, with different answers, and it keeps spitting out the same places for me: Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Paris, Tennessee. I've been to both. There's not enough money in the world to make me live in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Paris isn't a bad place, but I'd rather live in the eastern half of Tennessee.

OK, on to your question about Crossville. I wouldn't pay much attention to the crime stats. Crossville is a small town by night, but by day it probably doubles in size. The crime stats are reported per capita, meaning per resident, and they don't take into consideration the number of visitors in town. While Cumberland County does have a larger problem with meth labs than neighboring Putnam County (Cookeville), I still think it's a safe place to live. Its schools just aren't as good as Putnam County's.

I don't know much about Elizabethton's schools, but I'm sure they're fine. Elizabethton is definitely in a beautiful part of the country.