Retiring to TN -Which area is best? (Knoxville, Johnson City: condo, house)

[lpc123]

Considering moving from Texas to Tennessee for retirement. Looking for a freindly but not too small community (40-80K). We have been considering a few towns like Cleveland, Greenville, and Johnson City.


Convenience to shopping is a plus, and a friendly community is preferable with not a lot of young children.


I would very much like to hear from retirees who are already there to share their experiences.


We would love to find a community that is friendly, neighborly, yet also respects privacy.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by lpc123

Considering moving from Texas to Tennessee for retirement. Looking for a freindly but not too small community (40-80K). We have been considering a few towns like Cleveland, Greenville, and Johnson City.


Convenience to shopping is a plus, and a friendly community is preferable with not a lot of young children.


I would very much like to hear from retirees who are already there to share their experiences.


We would love to find a community that is friendly, neighborly, yet also respects privacy.

Not a lot of young children....?

[Normashirley]

You might consider googling over 55 communities in Tennessee to avoid the constant interaction with children.

You won’t however, avoid them, when you go to public places, regardless of where you settle - children are everywhere

[fishingupnorth]

We moved from Wisconsin to Fairfield Glade 7 months ago and just love it

[AppalachianAngler]

Originally Posted by lpc123

Considering moving from Texas to Tennessee for retirement. Looking for a freindly but not too small community (40-80K). We have been considering a few towns like Cleveland, Greenville, and Johnson City.


Convenience to shopping is a plus, and a friendly community is preferable with not a lot of young children.


I would very much like to hear from retirees who are already there to share their experiences.


We would love to find a community that is friendly, neighborly, yet also respects privacy.

Greeneville native here. It has a lot of older folks, but is too small for your wants. The town is around 15,000. You will have to go to Johnson City (30-40 minutes away) for most shopping, and Knoxville (about an hour) for bigger shopping like Costco.

Johnson City would probably fit the bill. It has the right population you are looking for with convenient shopping. There is a college there (ETSU) but there are not necessarily a lot of young children. However, it is not really a retirement community if that is what you are looking for.

[DubbleT]

There are various sites that will let you see the median age for different counties and cities, one of those you can access by clicking the City-data.com up in the banner on the left hand side of this page, click on TN and use the drop down box that appears.

In northeast TN the two oldest counties look to be Sullivan County and Unicoi County, the city with the oldest residents in the Tri-cities area is Rogersville. IN the tricities itself, both Bristol and Kingsport trend older than JC, of the two I think Bristol is the better option for older residents. It has the Pinnacle, you should be able to meet most of your daily shopping and other needs, and is twenty to thirty minutes from both JC and Kingsport should you need or want to visit either. (I live in Bristol and travel out for things like some restaurants, ethnic markets, and a bigger farmers market)

You can find the statistics for other areas of TN also. The part of the state with the most 'older residents' is the area between Knoxville and middle TN, likely skewing older because of the presence of Tellico Village, Fairfield Glade etc.

[lpc123]

To clarify, I like children just fine...just not a home school in the house directly behind me, with a dozen screaming children playing in the back yard while I am trying to take a nap.

[lpc123]

Originally Posted by AppalachianAngler

Greeneville native here. It has a lot of older folks, but is too small for your wants. The town is around 15,000. You will have to go to Johnson City (30-40 minutes away) for most shopping, and Knoxville (about an hour) for bigger shopping like Costco.

Johnson City would probably fit the bill. It has the right population you are looking for with convenient shopping. There is a college there (ETSU) but there are not necessarily a lot of young children. However, it is not really a retirement community if that is what you are looking for.

I am interested in what you have to say about Greeneville. What do you like and dislike about it?

[rossn2]

Have you visited any three of the places you listed?
Have you considered areas around Nashville or south of Nashville?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by lpc123

Considering moving from Texas to Tennessee for retirement. Looking for a freindly but not too small community (40-80K). We have been considering a few towns like Cleveland, Greenville, and Johnson City.


Convenience to shopping is a plus, and a friendly community is preferable with not a lot of young children.


I would very much like to hear from retirees who are already there to share their experiences.


We would love to find a community that is friendly, neighborly, yet also respects privacy.

Then check out Cookeville. It's a wildly popular retirement area that meets your criteria. Lots of shopping (Sam's Club, Kohl's, Belk, JCPenney, Publix, TJMaxx, ULTA, Ross, etc), over 200 restaurants (100 are locally owned, non chain), large regional hospital, super friendly people, beautiful area. There are over 100 waterfalls, a dozen state parks, and 1,200 miles of shoreline (lakes) within 40 minutes of town. And being only an hour from Nashville and the Nashville airport is a huge perk for those of us who enjoy traveling.

My mother was 85 when she moved to Cookeville 2 years ago from Knoxville. She lives right downtown in a condo surrounded by other retirees. She walks to do most of her errands: library, post office, grocery store, year-round organic farmers market, bank, doctors (the hospital is downtown), free concerts at a wonderful downtown amphitheater, the symphony, her favorite bakery, and Shakespeare in the Park. She volunteers at a couple of museums downtown, too, both within walking distance of her condo. About the only times she uses her car are to go to Publix and her church.