Need Opinions for living in Tennessee (Memphis, Knoxville: low crime, job market, construction)

[Alyusha]

Well I'll start this off with a little about my self.

I grew up in the country, but was moved to Detroit and then Chicago when I was younger. I got used to the living, but now that I am older I am just fed up with the people, the crime, the retarded laws and so on. I've been in the Army for nearly 8 years and my enlistment is up soon, I have been stationed in Georgia for 4 of the 8 years, the other 4 overseas. Recently me and my wife moved off base about 20 miles south of Columbus, and it is just as ridicules as Chicago and Detroit. We are planing on starting a family soon and want a good country, low population town to live in that is in Tennessee. We were born there and want to go back.

Basically what we are looking for may have only existed back when I was a kid but who knows.

A population of 1000 or less.
100+ miles away from any city with 100,000+ population
A VERY low crime area, no crime would be nice...
Not to be stereotypical, but a nice country-redneck area.
A place where you know your neighbors.

I know its most likely hard to find, but a place that isn't really developing.. We have our first baby on the way and plan for 3 more, we just want a place that will stay pretty much the same for the next 20 or so years, not a place that will turn in to a huge over populated town.

I am sorry for the long post, but really, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[alleycat]

There are a lot of places in Tennessee that more-or-less fit your want list, although these days I think you can forget the "no crime" goal. Sadly, there are very few places in the US anymore that meet that goal. Low crime, yes. No crime? I can only wish.

The big question though is what about employment. What you plan on doing? I assume you know that opportunities are going to be limited in the place you describe.

[Alyusha]

Originally Posted by alleycat

There are a lot of places in Tennessee that more-or-less fit your want list, although these days I think you can forget the "no crime" goal. Sadly, there are very few places in the US anymore that meet that goal. Low crime, yes. No crime? I can only wish.

The big question though is what about employment. What you plan on doing? I assume you know that opportunities are going to be limited in the place you describe.

I understand employment will be limited. We could pretty much do anything. But I wouldnt mind staying in law enforcement or construction. My wife would love to work with animals.

[happyappy]

Originally Posted by Alyusha

I understand employment will be limited. We could pretty much do anything. But I wouldnt mind staying in law enforcement or construction. My wife would love to work with animals.

We've only been here since mid-April, so I can't give you much information about the local area as we're still exploring it (we live in Monterey). Other than a number of stores in Cookeville (we spend a lot of time in Cookeville it seems, but I'm probably most familiar with the parking lots--a long story), I haven't been off the beaten path very much.

Monterey is about 90 miles from Nashville. Cookeville is 14 miles (1 latte) from Monterey. Cookeville's population is about 28,000. It's a college town, Tennessee Tech, and is a really cool place. Monterey's population is about 2700 so it's nearly 3 times the population you're looking for but it's rural with a number of rural properties available. It's in the middle of a lot of great little towns and it's also in the middle between Nashville and Knoxville.

I don't know exactly what a redneck is unless they're really as Jeff Foxworthy suggests, but the people around here are very friendly and usually smiling--I'm still wondering what that's all about.

I'm self-employed so I haven't had the opportunity to explore the job markets, but Cookeville is a vibrant entity and I imagine both construction and law enforcement will be in demand for some time to come.

I don't know about animal-related employment, but if your wife is interested in volunteer work with rescued animals, dogs especially, I know some people who are heavily involved here in middle Tennessee. They care for and place animals all over the US. Needless to say, they're very nice people.

I wish I had been here longer to tell you more about the area, but maybe this will give you some ideas.

Best of luck to your wife and you!

[hilly7]

Originally Posted by Alyusha

Well I'll start this off with a little about my self.

I grew up in the country, but was moved to Detroit and then Chicago when I was younger. I got used to the living, but now that I am older I am just fed up with the people, the crime, the retarded laws and so on. I've been in the Army for nearly 8 years and my enlistment is up soon, I have been stationed in Georgia for 4 of the 8 years, the other 4 overseas. Recently me and my wife moved off base about 20 miles south of Columbus, and it is just as ridicules as Chicago and Detroit. We are planing on starting a family soon and want a good country, low population town to live in that is in Tennessee. We were born there and want to go back.

Basically what we are looking for may have only existed back when I was a kid but who knows.

A population of 1000 or less.
100+ miles away from any city with 100,000+ population
A VERY low crime area, no crime would be nice...
Not to be stereotypical, but a nice country-redneck area.
A place where you know your neighbors.

I know its most likely hard to find, but a place that isn't really developing.. We have our first baby on the way and plan for 3 more, we just want a place that will stay pretty much the same for the next 20 or so years, not a place that will turn in to a huge over populated town.

I am sorry for the long post, but really, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

The places you are from, unless you pick a large town, most crime rates here are low compared to where you are from. Foxworthy is funny but I think I'd drop the term redneck for TN, it's an insult to those of us who grew up here worse than hillbilly. Usually associated with inbreds which we're not, well most of us aren't. All places have some crime rate, theift, meth, etc. In east tn there is a lot of development everywhere as people relocate here. It's funny but they love the farm and scenery yet are destroying that which they come for in many cases. There are some places like Hawkins & Grainger Co but I'm told even that is changing which is good because of the poverty level. There are places in Cocke County but few. Farms are becoming a thing of the past.

[pearlieBOBbieQ]

I lived in TN for a long time, and I still have business interests there --Nashville is much better than Memphis--Memphis has a bunch of transplanted rednecks from places like Mississippi and eastern Arkansas--I wouldn't classify Memphis as a sophisticated city--no way