hoping to relocate to TN (Murfreesboro, Cookeville: house, job market, buy)

[FrozenMinnesotan]

My family and I are hoping to relocate to the Cookeville area and west within 3 years as my current job in NE MN has 2 sites in Murfreesboro and Lebanon. my questions are as follows...
1) how's the area for a family with 3 kids ranging from 3-10? I.E...stuff to do (active) and schools?
2) how's the utilities for a average home say 1500 square feet?
3) How's the job market for someone with a early childhood education degree? good paying (above $10hr and availability)?

I've noticed taxes for homes is way cheaper, Im paying $1400 a year for a $90k home here and homes around $250k down near Cookeville have way cheaper property taxes. along with no income tax.

My utilities here are on average $150 for gas heat and $244 for everything else.

[peppersdad]

We have a 2000 sq. ft. newer home with natural gas heat. Natural gas averages $50, electric $85 and water $30. Our property taxes are $2100 for a 2000 sq. ft. home on 4 acres. Can't speak to the job market or raising kids (I'm a geezer).

[yellowcat123]

Originally Posted by FrozenMinnesotan

3) How's the job market for someone with a early childhood education degree? good paying (above $10hr and availability)?

I have some friends here who work in this area so I can give you a little insight but take it with a grain of salt. If you have a bachelors, from what I can tell it seems good.

The biggest employer I know about is a state agency called TEIS and their role is to help families with the development of young children by coordinating services between different specialists in ECE. Usually this means each TN region have different local service providers that they coordinate casework on to serve a families specific needs like childhood development, physical therapy, or behavioral analysis. I believe pay generally ranges between 15-30hr depending on what you're doing/specialty/experience is.

In terms of availability a lot of these jobs are advertised through government websites and through the agencies that serve under TEIS. Like any field it definitely helps to know people because these services are so interconnected a lot of them know each other. If you're moving here I think the best thing to do would be navigate the TEIS website and look for the different service providers/vendors/local TEIS office's and reach out to those people to let them know your background and that you're looking for opportunities to jump on board.

Outside of TEIS I believe there are more opportunities with DCS, Head Start, Youth Villages, Centerstone, and TECTA.

Good luck to you.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by FrozenMinnesotan

My family and I are hoping to relocate to the Cookeville area and west within 3 years as my current job in NE MN has 2 sites in Murfreesboro and Lebanon. my questions are as follows...
1) how's the area for a family with 3 kids ranging from 3-10? I.E...stuff to do (active) and schools?
2) how's the utilities for a average home say 1500 square feet?
3) How's the job market for someone with a early childhood education degree? good paying (above $10hr and availability)?

I've noticed taxes for homes is way cheaper, Im paying $1400 a year for a $90k home here and homes around $250k down near Cookeville have way cheaper property taxes. along with no income tax.

My utilities here are on average $150 for gas heat and $244 for everything else.

The cost of your utilities will vary depending on the age of the house (insulation, types of windows, etc.), the efficiency of your HVAC system, gas vs. electric heat, and where you're located. If you're located inside the city of Cookeville, your utilities will be a bit cheaper than outside the city since the rural utility districts often buy their utilities from the city. That's especially true for water.

My house is similar in size to peppersdad's, but it's an old farm house so my electric bill is a bit higher. But it's still reasonable. It's electric heat. In the winter my electric bill is usually around $150, and in the summer it's around $110. Spring and fall, my electric bill is around $70. I did change all the windows to energy efficient windows which has helped tremendously, and the HVAC unit is only a few years old.

I'm on 3 acres out in the county, and my annual property taxes are $700. There are no other taxes: no state property tax, no school tax, no wheel tax. It costs $29/year to register my car in Putnam County.

Cookeville is a very family friendly place. The schools are excellent, and it's a county school system with open enrollment. This means you can live anywhere in the county and send your kids to the school of your choice as long as the school has room and you provide the transportation. There's a wonderful children's library, an award-winning children's theater, and a really, really good children's museum/discovery center. There are parks all over the area and lots of beautiful places to explore. And, of course, youth sports leagues are a big thing.

I have no idea what the job market is for someone with a degree in early childhood development, but since this is a growing area with an expanding school system, I imagine it's better than average. EDIT: It looks like yellowcat123 provided excellent information about that.

The school system:
Home - Putnam County School System

The children's theatre:
https://ccttheatre.org/

The Imagine Foundry (children's museum/discovery center):
https://www.imaginefoundry.org/

Youth sports leagues:
https://putnamcountyparks.org/youth-sports/