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I moved here for a job from east TN about two months ago. Here are some things I've noticed, good and bad.
1) I live in Carmel, but work in the city and am in the city quite a bit for dining, sports, and nightlife. The roads throughout the metro are the worst I've seen anywhere, bar none. This is my biggest complaint about the metro and state. It's common to see potholes several inches deep, road "patching" that isn't level with the surrounding asphalt, road closures, etc. I've been in Carmel, Fishers, Brownsburg, and Bloomington so far, and the roads have been poor to downright hazardous almost everywhere. I-65 south of town all the way to Louisville is terrible. While I understand this was a tough winter and not just a city problem, there seems to be no effort made to fix these roads. I was training for this job in MA and had been to VT, NH, and ME in March, and the roads there were better than these.
2) I thought the weather would be lousy, but this spring has actually been very nice. The scenery is bland, but I know that coming in.
3) This is a good sports city. I've really gotten into the Pacers since I've been here. From my door in Carmel to seated in the arena only takes about an hour, and getting out isn't much hassle either. Much better than most arenas I've been to.
4) There's a huge emphasis on chain dining here. There are a lot of chains, including some of my favorites, but the local options, outside of downtown and Broad Ripple, seem very limited. I'm from east TN, but have spent a lot of my personal time the past year in Asheville, NC, Greenville, SC, and Nashville, TN, and the local dining options are pretty poor, even compared to the smaller cities.
5) Traffic isn't bad for a metro of this size. On the flip side, the "loop" around the metro takes forever to get around, and simply leaving the metro east, west, or southbound from Carmel is a bear if 465 clogs up in the evening.
6) COL is pretty good - I got an apartment of about the same quality and size that I could find for the same price back home, but my salary more than doubled, although this is probably an edge case. For being a red state, IN has awfully high taxes and fees. I'm fortunate that my salary more than makes up for the difference in taxes between here and east TN, but I'm not sure if this comparison would be as favorable with Nashville, which has the TN low taxes but higher salaries. Everything but taxes seems cheaper than east TN, especially food.
7) Culturally, I don't like it. I've found many of the locals to be downright rude, or at the least, not friendly, and the friendliest people I've met were either in Bloomington or other transplanted Southerners. I've seen a lot of blowing of horns, aggressive driving, people being unwilling to chat in public places where there's normally chatting (bars, sauna at gym), which is odd to me coming from the South and just coming back from New England. People are nicer in both places than they are here. The "reservedness" reminds me of Iowa, but Iowans were nowhere near as aggressive on the roads, and the quietness here seems to be more of a cold shoulder, rather than just something in their culture like Iowa.
Indiana also has a lot of the Bible Belt issues (preachy billboards and signs along the road, lots of churches, church seems to be where friends are made) that I didn't like in TN, but without the Southern charm of middle TN and the Carolinas. Indy also doesn't seem like a happening place for young singles - granted, I don't live in the city, but am having a hell of a time finding single women without kids around making a decent amount (I'm 28). Culturally, I stick out.
Overall, I guess I'd rate the city a solid 'C.' I like the sports, shopping, and ease of getting around, but culturally it still seems like a small town in the Bible Belt in many ways.
Just a few things. I live in Fishers and work in Carmel so I drive many of the roads in these cities every day. What roads are you referring to that are the worst you've ever seen? I've not found any roads in Fishers or Carmel to be in terrible shape. I can't speak for Indy or the rest of the areas you mentioned.
There are a lot of chains in every city, especially along highways and major thoroughfares. Good local dining can be found throughout Indy and the suburbs, though, even in Carmel and Fishers, you just have to look or ask around. They rarely have big signs along the highway.
Any clogged interstate is going to create traffic problems on surrounding surface streets. It goes in every city that has an interstate. If an accident clogs an interstate or shuts it down or whatever, a lot of traffic will shift to the surface streets to try to find a faster route. Carmel has the second-highest concentration of offices in Indiana, second only to downtown Indy. Therefore Carmel has its own rush hour. I swear I once read that Carmel's daytime population increases by 20-30,000 people. And because Carmel is a suburb, it has a decent street grid at its core but not once you get outside Meridian or Keystone. Then there are main roads every half to one mile with a bunch of subdivisions between. In other words, all that traffic leaving the city in the evening has a handful of roads they can take and that's it. Another reason traffic gets clogged up. Not to mention that every single one of those roads (except 146th St) is just a small 2-lane road.
College Ave coming off 116th south is lousy and gets worse past 96th. 86th and 96th are not great. The roads in Carmel and Fishers are better than in the city or outlying areas...marginally. Downtown roads near the stadium are poor. Last week most of the side streets from College Ave going toward Broad Ripple were closed all at once, and College Ave itself was closed about halfway down. I had to turn around in the middle of the road and go back to Meridian to get to BR. The highway 31 closure is annoying and will be closed for months, but I doubt I'd commute down the road anyway.
The traffic in Carmel itself isn't that bad. It takes me about twenty minutes to go six miles door to door in the mornings, but there are tons of red lights. It's a bit better in the evenings.
On the women thing, it seems most of the women in their mid-late 20s that I've talked to are married with kids, like you'd see in small towns.
You moved to Indy from East TN, probably Knoxville area, correct? You should be thrilled to be out of east TN. Beautiful area to visit and dirt cheap property taxes. I will leave it at that.
I will make some comparisons though since I'm very familiar with both areas.
The roads are going to be worse than what you're accustomed to because Knox doesn't experience the freeze/thaw weather. You just deal with it. Not really that big of an issue.
One of the first things we notice when going back to Indiana are the drivers. While you claim the drivers are more aggressive, I see it as the drivers in east TN are just lazy and slow. East TN drivers act like they have nowhere to be and they'll get there when they get there type of mentality (also seems to be how they move through life). They will not move out of the left hand lane either. Drivers in Indiana may seem to be more aggressive, but I think they just move faster. They also move out of the left lane for faster drivers which seems to be a concept the drivers in TN haven't caught on to.
Chain restaurants are everywhere. Knoxville seems to be mostly chain restaurants. Indy has a lot of non-chain restaurants and some higher end chain restaurants that are much better than what Knoxville has to offer.
Where are you going out to meet the ladies? I can rattle off several places that are crawling with single women on the weekends or after work. I'm past that point in my life now, but I sure had a lot of fun in Indy when I was single. Some of my friends and family are single and having a great time in Indy. Finding single women with no kids was never really a problem. Now you want to talk about women in their 20's with children. At least they are waiting until they're in their 20's to have kids and not having them in their teens like I see in east TN.
For a city the size of Indianapolis the COL is great. Salaries and jobs are better in Indy than in Knox plus you benefit from a low COL. Taxes are higher in Indiana than in TN, but you doubled your salary so it should not even be an issue.
What area of the city do you work? You're 28, single and you work in the city. You should be living in or near Broad Ripple. Carmel is very nice, but you don't have kids and your office is in the city. What made you decide on living in Carmel?
I never really found the religion and church thing to be a big deal in Indiana like I do in TN. My Sunday outings are planned around church times in Knoxville. If you time it wrong you will either get caught in traffic being directed by police or waiting behind families who just came from church. I've never seen people that are so driven and controlled by the church as I have in east TN. Friends and family in Indiana that attend church might go on Sunday morning for an hour and that is the extent of it. Religion was never brought up in conversation and nobody that I know of dedicates their whole Sunday to religion. The first time I was asked what church I belong to, I really didn't know what to think. I still find it odd that total strangers will ask me. I usually squash it pretty quick and tell them I'm not religious and I do not attend church. The look on their face is priceless, like I just called their sister ugly. All of the years I lived in Indiana I cannot recall one time that I was asked what church I belong to or get invited to attend some strangers church like it is a special club. I find church and religion in east TN to be very cult like and disturbing. Indiana folks just leave you alone and do not judge you on where or if you go to church.
Congrats on your move to Indy, new job and much better salary. Give it a little time and I think you will like it.
Just a few things. I live in Fishers and work in Carmel so I drive many of the roads in these cities every day. What roads are you referring to that are the worst you've ever seen? I've not found any roads in Fishers or Carmel to be in terrible shape. I can't speak for Indy or the rest of the areas you mentioned.
There are a lot of chains in every city, especially along highways and major thoroughfares. Good local dining can be found throughout Indy and the suburbs, though, even in Carmel and Fishers, you just have to look or ask around. They rarely have big signs along the highway.
Any clogged interstate is going to create traffic problems on surrounding surface streets. It goes in every city that has an interstate. If an accident clogs an interstate or shuts it down or whatever, a lot of traffic will shift to the surface streets to try to find a faster route. Carmel has the second-highest concentration of offices in Indiana, second only to downtown Indy. Therefore Carmel has its own rush hour. I swear I once read that Carmel's daytime population increases by 20-30,000 people. And because Carmel is a suburb, it has a decent street grid at its core but not once you get outside Meridian or Keystone. Then there are main roads every half to one mile with a bunch of subdivisions between. In other words, all that traffic leaving the city in the evening has a handful of roads they can take and that's it. Another reason traffic gets clogged up. Not to mention that every single one of those roads (except 146th St) is just a small 2-lane road.
Disagree about the chains.
Yes, there are chains in every city but some a lot more than others. Indianapolis, especially, probably has a higher concentration of fast-food chains than any other place I've been to.
Not from Knoxville. I'm from about a hundred miles east of Knoxville from a smallish town called Kingsport. Salaries, crime, and everything bad is much worse where I'm from than Knoxville. Knoxville is a paradise compared to Kingsport.
The roads are what they are I guess. It still seems odd that as nice as the weather has been there's no effort to repair them. There's a billboard advertising a Civic I465-E that a caution sign saying "Indiana Road Improvements" that I found amusing.
I do agree with the slowness of drivers in east TN. Going up 75 in KY is like a different world than Knoxville. People absolutely book it up 75. It's not the speed that bothers me - I've honestly not found people driving faster here than most places - it's the constant honking of horns. Never saw any of that around Boston.
I've been to a few places in Broad Ripple and downtown, mostly on Saturday night. Granted, I've been out on the weekends like twice other than to basketball games and I'm not a club goer - mostly bars (went home one weekend, went to Nashville another, and haven't been out some weekends) and online. I've met a few women from dating sites (more than I'd find in east TN) but they were either 10+ years older than me with adult/teenage/no kids (not so bad) or young (18-19) and no kids. It's even harder to find someone making around what I do. I'm not saying they need to be rich, but a lot of people seem to be in the $10-$12/hr range like you'd fine in Knoxville. Again, not saying this is any different than what I'm used to (except for I went from making below average money to somewhat above average), but I expected a little different feel going from a metro of 300-400k to one about 1.8 million.
I also see a lot of NASCAR, hunting stuff, people wearing camo, people into mudding/fishing, etc. Nothing wrong with that per se, but like I said, it feels culturally very similar to east TN and I'm just not into that stuff.
I think the religion thing has tapered off a bit over the last few years but I see A LOT of churches in the area. Not as many as in TN, but it's a far, far bigger than in the northeast. I'm not religious and haven't been really badgered even in east TN on church in years, but it was something I picked up on.
I work on 96th. We have an Indy address, but the Carmel police services the area. The place I got in Carmel was actually roomier and cheaper than what I was seeing in BR. Granted, I didn't have a lot of time to look, but the apartment I'm in is not bad at all. I can get a sandwich, get all my groceries, go to Wal-Mart within five minutes, and walk to several restaurants on the Hagan-Burke.
I've been to Scotty's after a Pacers game. Good, but probably not worth a special trip. An occasional party-buddy of mine back home recommended St. Elmo's for a special occasion. Some of this looks like a little rich for my blood, but may make a special trip.
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