Knoxville or Chattanooga!?!?! (Johnson City, Kingsport: apartment, rent, job market)

[matthewholbrook98]

Ok so my fiance and I are thinking about relocating from massachusetts to tennesse. We have a 2 year old son and really want to relocate to somewhere more affordable. We both really like the looks of the east tennessee area. Only thing is we are both blue collar workers and wont be able to secure good jobs prior to moving down there. We are in the process of saving up money for the move and our plan is to save up enough to secure an apartment and live off of for at least 3 months. So my question is; which area are we more likely to be able to secure decent paying jobs without too much trouble? Any information on this would be greatly appreciated. Also i have a backround in manufacturing and physical labor and she has kind of bounced around a bit between retail and clerical work for a doctors office

[Beretta]

Hi, welcome to the forum. There are a lot of threads on this already so while you wait on responses you might want to do an Advanced Search via the dark blue bar above for previous threads. Good luck!

[creeksitter]

Why not consider both? Chattanooga says it is facing a shortage of skilled blue collar workers. Do you have any trade school or certification? Knoxville has better public schools - something to consider when the kid is older.

[Rangerred]

Also, take a look at Johnson City and the Tri-Cities region in Northeast TN. Not as many job opportunities as Knoxville or Chattanooga but there are some; especially in the medical field. It's a beautiful area with a medium-sized university and two of the best school systems in the state (Johnson City and Kingsport).

[theurbanfiles]

Knoxville is more affordable than Chattanooga it seems. Can't help ya for anything else, but may be able to if you gave more interests/priorities.

[Serious Conversation]

Please save more than three months of living expenses. You likely need at least one month for a security deposit plus the first month's rent, so that's two months rent in one month, at a minimum. That's not counting deposits at utility companies, moving costs, if you need a last in addition to the security, any incidentals, bumps in the road, etc. Combine all that with regular living expenses and Tennessee's sluggish job market, and you're setting yourself up to fail. As a Tennessee native, I would never recommend someone moving from up north without a firm, written job offer, and even then, I'd exercise considerable caution. It is a completely different world. You could probably find work, but it's like $10 - $12/hr work with no benefits through staffing firms. If that's all you want, maybe you can make it, but I certainly wouldn't move for that.

If I were you, I'd just stay in Massachusetts. As long as you aren't in metro Boston, the wages vs. cost of living calculation is likely to be more favorable than in Tennessee. If you want to be in Tennessee, look at what jobs are available in the areas you want to live in that pay a good wage, then try to acquire the skills to get those jobs and move down later.

[shinestx]

I second what Beretta said above. Look over the existing Chat-vs-Knox threads here and come up with some specific questions that we can address. I live part of the year in Chattanooga and have in-laws in Knoxville. So I can probably answer much of your questions. Both cities are nice mid/smaller cities that offer a lot in very different ways. On the surface, Chat has a lot of old industrial areas and Knox has a cleaner "white collar" look to it, although both have a prosperous and growing high tech sector. Both offer great scenery: Chatt's is more in canyons and valleys, and Knox's is more in mountains. Knox has some of the most attractive suburban areas that I've seen in any region of the country.