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A recent episode of House Hunters had a young couple from SoCal wanting a better place to raise their future family, and they zeroed in on Cookeville, Tennessee. During the follow-up at the end of the episode, the couple said that they love Cookeville so much, they got their extended families and parents to also make the move.
Cookeville is a small town an hour east of the Nashville airport. It's home to the state's flagship technological university and is very family friendly: youth symphony, children's museum, children's library, award winning children's theatre, tons of community festivals and other family friendly events. The school system is an open system, meaning you can live anywhere in the county and send your kids to the school of your choice as long as there's room and you provide the transportation. It's one of a handful of school systems in the country with the International Baccalaureate Program at both the middle and high school levels. It's an excellent school system.
Being a college town, Cookeville has things most towns its size (35k) don't have: 200+ restaurants, museums, galleries, a professional symphony, Shakespeare in the Park, lots of free concerts, etc. It's also got a surprising amount of IT jobs, thanks in large part to a huge government contractor (SAIC) who has set up a large technology gateway in town (in conjunction with the university) with several hundred IT workers. And it's also become a wildly popular area for people who can work from home: very reasonable cost of living, beautiful countryside, attractive town, and gigabit internet even way out in the boonies. I'm 25 miles outside of town in the middle of nowhere (8 miles from the nearest gas station) and yet have gigabit internet at my little farm.
There are 100 waterfalls, 1200 miles of lake shoreline, a dozen state parks and a national recreation area within 40 minutes of town. There are lots of California refugees here (and from other high-cost states) and more keep showing up. Downtown is vibrant and thriving. My elderly mother (87) recently moved to Cookeville and lives right downtown. She hardly has to use her car, as she walks to do most of her errands: 3 farmers markets, a small supermarket, the post office, main library, all of her doctors, her bank, the museum where she volunteers, a dog park, her wealth manager, her daily bakery run, you get the idea.
I assume your hometown has a name...if you told people that they'd probably find it easier to find a similar type of town.
Thanks so far on all the suggestions
Chico, California is my hometown.
Our town used to be great. The schools, crime, and increase in traffic has made it much different over the last 30 years. When it was closer to 50-70K people things were much better. We had an influx with the Camp Fire a couple years back as well. We do benefit from great weather, a great downtown (minus homelessness now), an amazing park in Bidwell park, walkability and bike paths all over the city, vibrancy, and a youthful spirit being a college town with plenty to do (outdoors and nightlife).
I don't need our new home to be exactly the same or carry all of those attributes but would like to find a place outside of CA that has some of the things I originally mentioned in my first post. I don't plan on bringing a CA mentality wherever we go and want to experience all that our new state (home) brings with it's culture.
Our town used to be great. The schools, crime, and increase in traffic has made it much different over the last 30 years. When it was closer to 50-70K people things were much better. We had an influx with the Camp Fire a couple years back as well. We do benefit from great weather, a great downtown (minus homelessness now), an amazing park in Bidwell park, walkability and bike paths all over the city, vibrancy, and a youthful spirit being a college town with plenty to do (outdoors and nightlife).
I don't need our new home to be exactly the same or carry all of those attributes but would like to find a place outside of CA that has some of the things I originally mentioned in my first post. I don't plan on bringing a CA mentality wherever we go and want to experience all that our new state (home) brings with it's culture.
So you’re looking for a college town? A “party” college town at that. Maybe the times have changed, but that was its reputation when my Dad taught at Chico State in the 1980’s, and my friends went there in the 1990’s?
Find a college with a good reputation near a major metro for your husband’s business/tech background and you’ll find your place. I’m biased and recommend Ann Arbor, MI, as you’re right next door to Detroit, but the winters might be too much for you saying you’re not cold weather people. Good luck with your search.
So you’re looking for a college town? A “party” college town at that. Maybe the times have changed, but that was its reputation when my Dad taught at Chico State in the 1980’s, and my friends went there in the 1990’s?
Find a college with a good reputation near a major metro for your husband’s business/tech background and you’ll find your place. I’m biased and recommend Ann Arbor, MI, as you’re right next door to Detroit, but the winters might be too much for you saying you’re not cold weather people. Good luck with your search.
No, not looking for a party town. There's always been that element to parts of Chico but overall that is mostly the downtown surrounding areas.
So you’re looking for a college town? A “party” college town at that. Maybe the times have changed, but that was its reputation when my Dad taught at Chico State in the 1980’s, and my friends went there in the 1990’s?
Find a college with a good reputation near a major metro for your husband’s business/tech background and you’ll find your place. I’m biased and recommend Ann Arbor, MI, as you’re right next door to Detroit, but the winters might be too much for you saying you’re not cold weather people. Good luck with your search.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TacoSoup
I know you’re not, I read your first post. I was just merely making reference to Chico’s reputation. Whether still warranted or not?
Definitely a fair statement still! A lot of people move here to go to a "party school." It's much more timid in that sense since the 80's. The best part of the year is summer when it becomes a little more sleepy and college kids go home lol. All year there's things to do and you can do most of them year round due to the weather. The homelessness, crime, and traffic has all made it much worse and with COVID the economy is not looking so hot (a lot of jobs loss and Chico relies on the university, hospital, and a couple other major employers (Sierra Nevada Brewery, build.com, etc.) while the rest are majority small businesses and restaurants. That and an influx of people moving from the bay and Sacramento who can now work remote, purchase a house for a less than their current areas, and enjoy the nature of the area.
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