small towns with larger city nearby (Knoxville, Chattanooga: insurance, homes, schools)

[barbarabak]

Hi, we are looking to move away from the hot, humid, expensive, hurricane area called Florida. Spent time in TN years (25+) ago always thought we'd like to come back, (were in Kingsport, Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga areas). Now the question, we have changed in 25 years as I'm sure the area's also have, we are interested in small towns (2000-3500 maybe), with larger city, maybe 30,000 up nearby, (ie 10-15 miles), for shopping, banking, mall, medical, etc. Also would be nice if was an airport 50 or so miles. Cost of homes, taxes, insurance, utilities, etc., important now as we are 1/2 retired, no children so schools are not a concern. Prefer as little snow as possible, any ideas? Thanks

[JMT]

Originally Posted by barbarabak

Hi, we are looking to move away from the hot, humid, expensive, hurricane area called Florida. Spent time in TN years (25+) ago always thought we'd like to come back, (were in Kingsport, Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga areas). Now the question, we have changed in 25 years as I'm sure the area's also have, we are interested in small towns (2000-3500 maybe), with larger city, maybe 30,000 up nearby, (ie 10-15 miles), for shopping, banking, mall, medical, etc. Also would be nice if was an airport 50 or so miles. Cost of homes, taxes, insurance, utilities, etc., important now as we are 1/2 retired, no children so schools are not a concern. Prefer as little snow as possible, any ideas? Thanks

Baxter, Tennessee, is a town of about 2,000 located about 10 miles west of Cookeville (30,000) and 60 miles (all interstate) from the Nashville airport. Cookeville is a college town so it has tons of shopping, restaurants, banks, etc., plus a gigantic hospital. Property taxes in Putnam County are low, and the area is quite popular with retirees because of the low cost of living, the availability of amenities such as shopping and entertainment, and because of its proximity to a major airport.

That part of Tennessee also receives a lot less snow than northeast Tennessee.

[Trevorelucas]

Estill Springs is a small town of 2500. Winchester is 10 mins away (Pop. 7500) and 15 mins. is Tullahoma (20,000) lots of shopping and restaurants, and is 45 mins to chatt, 45 mins to huntsville, and 1.5 hrs. from nashvilllle. all have airports

[TXboomerang]

I just moved to Knoxville. Nice area overall, but had also visited Madison, Alabama and loved it. Kinda wish my job would have landed me in Madison. Its about 20-30 minutes from the TN state line, and there are plenty of small communities outside of Madison that are small. Madison is outside of Huntsville as well, so you could easily live in a small town of 1-3k, drive a short drive to Madison for shopping and daily needs, and then Huntsville is just a few more miles if you need a regional airport or any big city amenities. Very clean area all along Hwy 72 from I65 all the way to Chattanooga. I'd recommend taking a look.