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My husband and I are looking into moving to either KY or TN. We are stationed at Fort Hood, TX right now, but are both from Central/South FL originally. Anywayyy he gets out of the Army next year and I am so over the heat that FL and TX have. And I also want to live some where that has real seasons!! We have never lived through the snow (unless you count the one time it snowed about an once here at Hood and they shut the whole post down LOL) but we both love the cold and are willing to try the snow out! I would rather freeze my butt off being more north than having to deal with a hotter summer living more south. KY and TN both have the gun laws and firework laws we can live with, and it's not too far from FL that we would dread the drive down.
But seeing as neither of us has lived there we have no clue what towns to look into. We want to have neighbors, but we also like our room. I would prefer not to live in a neighborhood, I prefer a more country setting/small town feel, where I have a neighbor I can walk to but not one close enough that they can hear everything we do in our yard but everyone still knows each other. We also would need to live somewhere that is still close enough to a town that both of us could find jobs, and attend college (my husband specifically). We would LOVE to move somewhere that we can shoot on our property, but that is not a necessity right away. We do plan on renting, getting a feel for the area etc., before we make the move to purchase a permanent place.
Any advice on where I should research would be awesome. I'd also love comparisons between TN and KY if you have any!
Tennessee: Nashville, Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Knoxville, Tri-Cities (Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City region)
I am a Kentucky native but prefer Tennessee slightly. However, visit each state and get a feel for things.
I've written this before as a comparison between the two states. It's from four years ago when I was still living in Kentucky, but here goes: //www.city-data.com/forum/4700210-post8.html
You said you like the small town feel. There's a lot of those in Kentucky. If you want something close to a college the Kentucky community and technical College System has 16 colleges across the state. Home | Kentucky Community & Technical College System
I can only talk about western Kentucky, but there is also Murray State University (Murray State University on the Web ) in Murray, Ky. and Western Kentucky University (WKU - A Leading American University with International Reach). With your husband retiring from the Army Ft. Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne, is between Hopkinsville and Claarksville, Tn. Many military retirees are still in the area. There are plenty of rural areas. My step daughter and son-in-law have a house and 14 acres about 10 miles from town. You can't see the neighbors' houses but they are close enough if you need help (Also close enough for their cows to amply "fertlize" your yard when they get out of the field! lol). I can't say much for Tennessee and don't like to talk about the other parts of the state I haven't lived in or visited. I do agree with coming to visit each state. Plan on taking a couple weeks to check things out. Hope you have a pleasant and safe trip!
Tennessee: Nashville, Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Knoxville, Tri-Cities (Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City region)
I am a Kentucky native but prefer Tennessee slightly. However, visit each state and get a feel for things.
I've written this before as a comparison between the two states. It's from four years ago when I was still living in Kentucky, but here goes: //www.city-data.com/forum/4700210-post8.html
You said you like the small town feel. There's a lot of those in Kentucky. If you want something close to a college the Kentucky community and technical College System has 16 colleges across the state. Home | Kentucky Community & Technical College System
I can only talk about western Kentucky, but there is also Murray State University (Murray State University on the Web ) in Murray, Ky. and Western Kentucky University (WKU - A Leading American University with International Reach). With your husband retiring from the Army Ft. Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne, is between Hopkinsville and Claarksville, Tn. Many military retirees are still in the area. There are plenty of rural areas. My step daughter and son-in-law have a house and 14 acres about 10 miles from town. You can't see the neighbors' houses but they are close enough if you need help (Also close enough for their cows to amply "fertlize" your yard when they get out of the field! lol). I can't say much for Tennessee and don't like to talk about the other parts of the state I haven't lived in or visited. I do agree with coming to visit each state. Plan on taking a couple weeks to check things out. Hope you have a pleasant and safe trip!
Thanks a ton! What town does your family live in if I may ask? That sounds perfect to me! My husband went to Fort Knox for training when he first joined. We were also thinking that being near a military post will help him find work because people in military areas understand people from the military better than most normal civilians.
If you're tired of the heat and want a just little bit of snow, I'd stick with the areas around the Cumberland Plateau and northeast TN, more or less from Cookeville-Knoxville-Tri-cities area. If you guys plan to attend college you might want to check out what's available in each of those areas.
Large university- The University of Tennessee or something a little smaller- Tennessee Tech University or ETSU or Pellissippi
TN has no state income tax, which most people consider a plus, but we do have a high sales tax of around 9% with food being taxed at a slightly lower rate.
If you guys aren't familiar with living with snow I caution you to really research before jumping in with both feet in an area that gets a fair amount.
It's not necessarily so much the cold that people get so tired of, as it is the shoveling and scraping the car windows and the bulky clothing and the gray slush on the sides of the roads, that kind of stuff. Know what you're getting into.
We just moved from Cadiz. We're now in Mayfield, about 50 miles west. My wife worked at Campbell for 23 years and drove from Cadiz most of those years. I-24 to US 41-A to Ft. Campbell was around 35 miles one way. Cadiz is a short drive from Kentucky and Barkley Lakes and the 170,000 acre Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. There are quite a few military retirees have built or bought homes along the lakes. I mentioned our son-in-law in the last post buying the farm. He said he knew he wanted to retire here before he ever met my stepdaughter. They were PCSed to Hawaii last year for 3 years. He's going to try to get 2 more years there so he can retire from there and the Army will move everything back here. I know there's also quite a few retirees in the Clarksville, Tn area but couldn't tell you much about around that area.
Research the universities to find a fit and then find a job would be the first things I would do. IMO there is not much difference between TN and southern KY in terms of towns and people.
IMO there is not much difference between TN and southern KY in terms of towns and people.
Agreed, also maybe take a look see at what KY residency requirements are for tuition purposes. I believe TN is pretty lenient in that regard. Could be a money saver.
My husband and I are looking into moving to either KY or TN. We are stationed at Fort Hood, TX right now, but are both from Central/South FL originally. Anywayyy he gets out of the Army next year and I am so over the heat that FL and TX have. And I also want to live some where that has real seasons!! We have never lived through the snow (unless you count the one time it snowed about an once here at Hood and they shut the whole post down LOL) but we both love the cold and are willing to try the snow out! I would rather freeze my butt off being more north than having to deal with a hotter summer living more south. KY and TN both have the gun laws and firework laws we can live with, and it's not too far from FL that we would dread the drive down.
But seeing as neither of us has lived there we have no clue what towns to look into. We want to have neighbors, but we also like our room. I would prefer not to live in a neighborhood, I prefer a more country setting/small town feel, where I have a neighbor I can walk to but not one close enough that they can hear everything we do in our yard but everyone still knows each other. We also would need to live somewhere that is still close enough to a town that both of us could find jobs, and attend college (my husband specifically). We would LOVE to move somewhere that we can shoot on our property, but that is not a necessity right away. We do plan on renting, getting a feel for the area etc., before we make the move to purchase a permanent place.
Any advice on where I should research would be awesome. I'd also love comparisons between TN and KY if you have any!
I would look into Bullitt County, Kentucky. It is a large suburb outside of Louisville. You can find places with a ton of land for great prices, yet it still has the convenience of a nice size city right down the road. There are also alot of current and former military personnel that live there because of the proximity to Fort Knox. I have family that has lived out there for years and love it. Theres a ton of jobs out there now too. I would look into it.
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