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Western NC is generally more affluent and attracts more transplants than east TN outside of the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge tourist areas. People are piling into Asheville, Boone, and many of the WNC mountain towns. East TN doesn't have any areas like that.
Louisville and Memphis correspond rather well. So do Nashville and Raleigh. Knoxville and Lexington (though smaller) compare fairly well. Still, TN has nothing as large as Charlotte nor anything that really corresponds well to the NC Triad.
Most of small town and rural TN is very similar to KY. The areas don't have very bright futures.
Ehh, I have to disagree here. Eastern Kentucky, you have to remember, has an economy associated with coal mining, by and large. There are tiny, rural towns, nonstop hilly terrain with little plains for building cities and towns upon. Flooding was historically common, as was the isolation nature of the eastern Kentucky area.
As-a-result, culturally and economically, eastern Kentucky has been pretty impoverished. Loss of a large percentage of the coal mining industry, and lack of any large cities for jobs, has allowed this area to fall further and further behind the US. It mimics West Virginia, southwest Virginia (coal areas) and southeastern Ohio, much more than Tennessee.
There are few jobs at all--outside of healthcare in some smallish towns and some education jobs. Most folks flee or remain in poverty.
East Tennessee has Knoxville metro (1 million), Chattanooga metro (575,000), and of course the Tri-Cities @ 500,000. The Great Smokies region is a tourist mecca. Tennessee and North Carolina share the Great Smoky Mountains National Park border. Many opportunities for jobs and growth abound in east TN, on the entire whole, compared to eastern KY.
West Tennessee and west Kentucky are very similar, geographically. I'd agree with your Louisville & Memphis comparison. As for Knoxville (metro pop. 900k) and Lexington (520k), I'd say Chattanooga (575k) and Lexington are closer.
Kentucky does not have an answer for Nashville (2m), Clarksville (300k), Murfreesboro (140k city) or Knoxville. Nashville aligns with Charlotte, Knoxville with Winston Salem or Greensboro, Clarksville with Chapel Hill or Durham and Murfreesboro with High Point or Greensboro.
TN is closer to NC overall, I think. Minus the coast
Last edited by jjbradleynyc; 02-05-2020 at 06:24 PM..
I'm from west TN, but have spent a decent amount of time in the central and eastern portion of the state as well as spent time in NC and KY. Personally, NC feels a lot closer to central and east TN than KY does to the area. I do think KY is more similar to central TN by maybe a tiny bit? Memphis is really a lot more similar to Jackson, MS. West TN feels a lot more like the deep south to me and nowhere in KY feels like that. The cuisine in all three have semi similar stuff? Also, in TN, we don't have quite as much of the small town rural poverty as KY (we do still have it but not at the same level). Additionally, our cities are more in line and similar to NC's cities. Obviously, both states feel fairly similar to TN (they are neighbors after all). Again, Memphis though does feel more similar to MS, in culture and demographics, than any place in NC or KY.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Lexington has an undercounted, smallish metro that excludes population centers within 20 miles of downtown like Frankfort and Richmond. With 30 miles of downtown there is a population of around 725k. A decent amount larger than Chattanooga but also smaller than Knoxville.
In TN Murfreesboro and Clarksville are included in the greater Nashville area's population.
Lexington has an undercounted, smallish metro that excludes population centers within 20 miles of downtown like Frankfort and Richmond. With 30 miles of downtown there is a population of around 725k. A decent amount larger than Chattanooga but also smaller than Knoxville.
In TN Murfreesboro and Clarksville are included in the greater Nashville area's population.
And Chattanooga's metro area doesn't include nearby population centers like Cleveland and Dalton. Lexington's CSA population, which includes Frankfort and Richmond, is 687,173 (2010). Chattanooga's CSA population, which includes Cleveland and Dalton, is 923,460 (2010).
And how do you figure that Clarksville is included in the greater Nashville area's population? It's not in Nashville's MSA nor is it even in Nashville's CSA.
I would vote for TN/KY. Although Tennessee and NC share a mountainous border region the mountain is a massive barrier that divides the two states. NC is a coastal state with most of it's population in the Piedmont. The culture is a mix of southern colonial Atlantic culture and NE transplants. TN and KY are much more interior former frontier states with more Midwest transplants.
I'm from west TN, but have spent a decent amount of time in the central and eastern portion of the state as well as spent time in NC and KY. Personally, NC feels a lot closer to central and east TN than KY does to the area. I do think KY is more similar to central TN by maybe a tiny bit? Memphis is really a lot more similar to Jackson, MS. West TN feels a lot more like the deep south to me and nowhere in KY feels like that. The cuisine in all three have semi similar stuff? Also, in TN, we don't have quite as much of the small town rural poverty as KY (we do still have it but not at the same level). Additionally, our cities are more in line and similar to NC's cities. Obviously, both states feel fairly similar to TN (they are neighbors after all). Again, Memphis though does feel more similar to MS, in culture and demographics, than any place in NC or KY.
Great fair analysis. Good comparison and on point I think.
Lexington has an undercounted, smallish metro that excludes population centers within 20 miles of downtown like Frankfort and Richmond. With 30 miles of downtown there is a population of around 725k. A decent amount larger than Chattanooga but also smaller than Knoxville.
In TN Murfreesboro and Clarksville are included in the greater Nashville area's population.
You also need to point out Louisville is NOT slow growth. It's moderate population growth and booming restaurant, retail, and hotel growth.
Other than being older industrial river towns with similar MSA sizes, Louisville and Memphis are nothing alike.
The reality? Louisville is a hybrid of Memphis and Nashville in southernness and growth with a bit of Cincinnati Midwest sprinkled in.
KY and TN are very similar. The difference is TN is pro city due to Nashville capitol influence and no state income taxes and TN has a couple extra cities KY cannot match.
TN WANTS to be more like NC but in reality it isn't.
Also, UofK is no slouch and UofL isn't HORRIBLE.
Louisville also has IUS in its metro, simply a branch of top 50 Indiana University. Louisville's Bellarmine is consistently ranked a top liberal arts school in the southeast. None of these are Duke, UNC, Wake, or Vandy….but lets not act like TN is an education mecca! Vandy is a great school and the rest are no better than what KY offers.
The biggest differences in the states are actually in the east....eastern TN just has a lot more population and economy and tourism than eastern KY and therein lies the main difference in the states.
Geographically, TN and NC are essentially mirror images of each other and seem to have a more similar distribution of sizable cities and metro areas. Overall their offerings appear to be more similar also.
I may be in the minority here, but I think more NC because of the development of the state in comparison to Kentucky.
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