Done with California (Hendersonville, Cookeville, Mount Juliet: property taxes, smog, income)

[justme39]

We have a few friends who have already moved about 3 years ago and have been trying to convince us to move. We are just so tired of California. We have decided to moved to Mt. Juliet TN. I know it is absolutely beautiful and it will be a change for the better for the family. I've looked into the schools and they seem pretty good. My husband also has a good job offer. He's a Journeymen Plumber. Can anyone provide any feed back in regards to homes, schools, employment or even weather.

Thank you!

[barnmouse]

Welcome to TN! I don't have any info for you but just wanted to let you know that we moved from CA 1 1/2 years ago, so did our old neighbors and many others. I have a huge smile on my face when I get my property tax bill.... Personally, I found CA to be highly overrated. I am a native German and I have horses, so S. Cal wasn't the best place if you like land and pastures. It's beautiful here!

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by justme39

We have a few friends who have already moved about 3 years ago and have been trying to convince us to move. We are just so tired of California. We have decided to moved to Mt. Juliet TN. I know it is absolutely beautiful and it will be a change for the better for the family. I've looked into the schools and they seem pretty good. My husband also has a good job offer. He's a Journeymen Plumber. Can anyone provide any feed back in regards to homes, schools, employment or even weather.

Thank you!

Start with Sperlings Best Places City Compare page. You can do a side by side comparison of where you live now to Mt Juliet, TN on things like weather (high temps, low temps, rainfall, snowfall), cost of living (food, utilities), voting (registered Republican, Democrat, Independent), Health (water quality, air quality, education, people (marital status, race), housing, the economy, other.

Pick the your current state from the drop down menu, let it load the cities/towns, then pick your town from that drop down menu. Repeat with TN and Mount Juliet in the boxes below it. It will also show you the national average.


As far as schools go, The Tennessee schools that underperform under No Child Left Behind can be found on this government website:

TN Department of Education:K-12

As long as you know the county, you can find the schools that don't meet federal benchmarks in math and reading for grades 3 - 8 and in English and math in Grades 9 and above. There is two years worth of info on the website.

If you look at the celebration link, you'll find out which schools came off the NCLB list this year. You may want to rethink those as well.

As far as doing well is concerned, you might want to do some research on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program for the school district you are considering. TCAPs are given each year to students in grades 3 through 12 and include a series of TCAP achievement tests given to students in grades 3 through 8, the Tennessee Gateway assessment exams given to high school students who take algebra, English and biology and the TCAP writing assessment, administered in grades 5, 8, and 11.

I don't know if the TCAP for 2006 is up on the website yet but you can view 2005 report info here (also government website):

TN Department of Education:

Use the second drop down menu (View System Report Card) to pick a county. When you are in the county results you will be able to go to another drop down menu to pick a particular school in that county all the way at the bottom of the page.

[justme39]

Barnmouse, I thank you for the nice welcome and I also feel we will enjoy TN as much as you. yes, we love the scenery and pastures already
LauraC, a huge THANK YOU for providing the detailed information. I will definitely use the web links provided.
We look forward to our move

[AnotherBravesFan]

Just returned from a week in Nashville and Huntsville (10/18 - 10/25). It was 80 degrees in Nashville the day we arrived. The next day a rainstorm blew through, and the day after that the high was in the mid 40s! But the air was clean and crisp, and it was sunny and refreshing. I personally am looking forward to the variety after 18 years of San Diego's "early morning low clouds, becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon" - yawn. I do remember snow and lots of cold winter days when I lived there in '83-'85. Spring and Fall are beautiful; summer is hot, steamy, & smoggy. Best of luck to you. We chose Huntsville; leaving here in '08.

[Unsure]

I think we need to start a club for "San Diegans that moved the Nashville" I am also planning to move to the area, most likely Hendersonville for us. We are leaving SD becuase it just isn't worth the price you pay. I am looking forward to the first fall since I have lived in so cal my whole life it will be interesting to see the leaves change colors.

[taylormade]

I was born and raised in California. In 1996 I moved to Cookeville TN. I could not believe how differen't it was there. When we moved into our new home there, our neighbors brought over plates of cookies and welcome cards. Other neighbors offered the keys to there garages in case there was anything we needed. People wave when you pass by and and are always offering help if they see you need it. It is so beautiful there! The trees and rolling hills are unbelievable.
Four years ago, my husband developed terminal cancer, we decided to move back to Lancaster, Calif. where his children were, so he could spend time with them. He passed away 3 1/2 yrs ago. This yr., I remarried and we have just put our house on the market. You can buy a house there for about 1/3 of what it cost here. Property taxes are about 1/4 of CA.. The schools are 100% better in TN.. But mostly- the slower pace and the attitude of the community there are worth the move.
Make the move, even if you have to tighten you belt financially, IT"S WORTH IT!!!

[akm4]

What a story. You've been through so much the past few years. May your house sell for above asking price, find the house of your dreams in TN and your new husband fall in love with the area too.

Let us know how it goes! We'll be rooting for you

[CountyProsecutor]

well let's be real, California is not for every person who decides to move there, neither is Maine, or Florida/ I've been all over TN and it's a nice state but no nicer than North Carolina in my opinion/coastal states have always been more progressive than land locked states// Tn has its interests so do many other states, but let's not claim TN to be some newly found Jerusalem for gods sake / anybody want to compare what LaJolla has to offer with what Mt Julliet has to offer ?? not me...I know better. The self-annointing new residents of TN are on a self-induced 'high' perhaps caused by the need for justification of what they left behind or could no longer afford, or compete with, or enjoy anymore because of their own limitations (financial, cultural, or even prejudices)

good luck to you/ there's a lot out there !

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by CountyProsecutor

anybody want to compare what LaJolla has to offer with what Mt Julliet has to offer ?? not me...!

Well, not having heard of either place before this thread and as much as I wanted to take you up on this, what is La Jolla? It's not on either Sperling's Best Places or City Data (in any of the 3 population categories). Internet searches say it's really San Diego so is this one of those communities that needs to call itself by another name so you know its wealthy?

Air Quality: The winner is Mount Juliet
San Diego has the worst air quality in the USA. Sperling's gives it a "1" with 100 being the best. Mt Juliet gets a "58" score with "48" being the National average.

Water Quality: The winner is Mount Juliet
Mt Juliet gets an 88 (100 is the best) in water quality. San Diego gets a 74, so give this health category to Mt Juliet as well. Both places are above the National average of 55.

Superfund Sites: The winner is Mount Juliet
Mount Juliet gets a 100, with 100 being the best score you can get. San Diego gets a 70. The national average is 71.

Unemployment: The winner is Mount Juliet by a hair
Mt Juliet has 4.3% unemployment, San Diego has 4.4%. Both are better than the National average of 5%. (Data from 10/2005 so you might want to ignore this category's results as the unemployment rates may be way outdated)

State, Local and County Income Tax: The winner is Mount Juliet
Mt Juliet - 0% San Diego - 6%

Sales Tax: The winner is San Diego
Mt Juliet - 9.25% San Diego - 7.75%

Cost of Living (with a score of 100 being the National average)

Food cost: Winner: Mount Juliet
MJ: 101.2 SD: 114 (both above national average - higher worse)

Utility Cost: Winner Mount Juliet
MJ: 90.2 SD: 125.9

Housing Cost: Winner Mount Juliet
MJ: 88.9 SD: 235.5

Crime: (with a score of 3 being the national average)

Violent Crime: winner Mt Juliet
MJ: 1 SD: 6

Property Crime: winner Mt Juliet
MJ: 2 SD: 6

Physicians per capita: The winner is San Diego
San Diego has 265 doctors for every 100,000 people. Mount Juliet only has 99.4 per 100,000.

Now if they would only have a category for TRAFFIC.

Note: Other compare factors depend on your perspective as to what's good or bad (like temperatures) so I didn't include them.