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I'll throw my opinion in and say Louisville, KY. I am a transplant to the area from Cleveland, OH and the last few years here I have enjoyed a lot. Louisville is a welcoming, friendly city, in fact Travel and Leisure just listed Louisville as #13 of the USA's friendliest cities to visit and live.
Traffic in Louisville is not bad at all, especially compared to Nashville, which is experiencing rapid growth without the infrastructure to support it. But don't get me wrong, I love Nashville as well and have considered moving there. Louisville is an easy city to navigate and offers a lot of amenities for a city of it's size. Construction recently finished on the Lincoln and Kennedy I-65 Bridges as well as the brand new Lewis and Clark I-265 bridge in the East End, so I wouldn't be too concerned with traffic commute times.
Another great thing about Louisville is it's location. If you both are wanting to be close to family in Indiana and Ohio, then Louisville would be a good choice. It takes me about 6 hours to get from Louisville to Cleveland and that is with stopping and taking my time, so it's not a bad drive at all. Most places in Indiana are within 2-4 hours of Louisville as well. Cincinnati and Nashville are both within 2-2.5 hours of Louisville, Columbus, OH is about 3 hours so a lot of places to visit in close proximity.
The weather in Louisville is also mild, with four seasons, but nothing as cold as Akron, Chicago, Cleveland, etc. The last few Winters it has hardly snowed in Louisville, but it can snow. It can also be very hot and humid in the Summer and Fall months just like anywhere else near the Ohio River. If I was to choose between Nashville, Cincinnati or Louisville, I would pick Louisville due to it's cheaper cost of living and rental prices, easy commutes, amenities and mild weather. I lived in NKY (Cincinnati) for a while and hated it.
Nashville is a total traffic disaster these days, especially coming in from the east on I-40 and coming north from the suburbs into downtown on I-65. As far as cities around that size I've been to, Nashville's is the worst. I'll even include somewhat bigger cities like Charlotte and Tampa, down to smaller cities like Cincinnati, Columbus, and Indianapolis. I lived in Indianapolis for three years and rarely ran into the kind of snarls you'd see in Nashville. Louisville has significantly less traffic. I've been to Nashville several times this year since moving back to Tennessee from Indiana, and I don't get the Nashville hype at all.
Cincinnati has some cool urban neighborhoods, but has a lot of blight visible from the road. It's just not that appealing of a place. Ohio taxes are way higher than Indiana, and probably higher than KY.
Indianapolis has a very low cost of living, a reasonably good job market, and very nice suburbs. Some parts of the core city are plagued with crime, but most transplants would not live there. The problem is that it's in a kind of bland area scenery wise.
Nashville is going to be your most expensive option if you throw out DC or Chicago.
Thanks for all the responses! Love to keep hearing it. My gf is grumbling about giving Louisville a chance haha.
As far as Indianapolis: Thanks for the Indiana rep! I've been there enough to know I don't really like it though.
The first thing when I thought about Nashville was all the traffic I'd have to go through heading south. At least I know that wasn't all my imagination. I went through there alot about 6 years ago and traffic sucked then.
Ya I'm trying to sell it to my partner. I'm from Evansville, which is about 90 min west of Louisville. She is from Cleveland, so a bit further for her.
She doesn't love Cincinnati, but is leaning towards it because she has friends and a house which she rents there.
I'd like to take her to visit there and Nashville soon!
Considering that your partner already has connections with Cincinnati, I would encourage you to visit it together, keeping in mind not only its location between Indiana and NE Ohio, but its sheer size and wealth of assets and amenities. Not only will the both of you benefit from a metro a bit larger than Cleveland, but you'll experience a city with a viable bus system, a big airport and a supportive network of people helping each other in a number of diverse roles.
If you visit the the city in person, rather than merely drive through its industrialized I-75 Millcreek Valley, view it from either atop downtown's Carew Tower observatory, nearby Mt. Adams or the adjoining riverside overlooks in Eden Park. Perhaps then you'll appreciate why Cincinnati has so often been described as one of the most beautiful cities in the Midwest.
What about St. Paul MN? It fits the geographical criteria and it is known for being a refugee resettlement city.
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