ESCAPING CA. for Kentucky or Tennessee; Meth/property crime? (Paris: 2013, apartment)

[debski123]

Originally Posted by jacobnjoanie

Lived in CA. my whole life, and I can't get out of here fast enough! Nanny state policies, sky high taxes, traffic, rudest people,the list goes on and on.
We thought we could improve our families quality of life by moving us 45 mins away from Sacramento to the foothills. Our place is lovely 2 acres nestled in the forest. But appearances can be deceiving. We have tweakers roaming through, and even setting up little tweaker tent cities on and around our property! And believe me when I say, in California, dregs of society are a protected class! So, we're out of here.
Rural Kentucky or Tennessee is fully on our radar, but we're seeing lots of reports of those states being over run with meth, from the tweakers to even cartels. That makes me pump our brakes, and reach out to anyone out there who will be so kind as to chime in here with the good the bad and the ugly about KY, and TN. Please help us not jump from the frying pan, into the fire. If we buy a place out there with 20+ acres, are we going to have to patrol for tweakers, squatters,moonshiners, etc? We need a place where our teen and dogs can explore, roam freely, and our property and possessions are reasonably safe.
My husband is a plumbing contractor, and I will be working remotely so we are definitely looking for a rural, conservative/red, accepting of hardworking God loving outsiders, area . SIDE NOTE, any tips about good broadband high speed internet out there would also be very helpful. So, that's it, any feedback would be so appreciated.

jacobnjoanie, my husband and I are about an hour south of Sacramento and are in the same boat as you: we're researching areas in Kentucky to move to next year to get the heck out of CA. Originally we thought TN, so we went there last fall and explored some areas surrounding Knoxville - which was a waste of time when we got home and then did some research on health care options and discovered TN was HORRIBLE in that regard. Just curious if you have gotten any suggestions or ideas for towns that might be promising as far as what you're looking for? Our criteria is pretty much identical to yours. Thanks!

[fivenine]

Originally Posted by Laree123

Hi I’m born and raised in western Kentucky. Coming from California with great weather, you will be in for a surprise. It’s cold half the year. Really cold. It’s October 6 and we’ve already had a night of 37 degrees. Plus the sun only shines half the year. Kentucky is not on the up and up and we DO have a drug problem. They are just not glorified here. I live downtown in a large Victorian home and have had people stop by asking for money many times probably once every month or two. They leave and won’t ever be a nuisance per se. Tennessee is the better option as we’ve considered moving there too but it is so much more crowded than Kentucky and that’s what makes Kentucky great is that houses are spread out with land and no ones here basically. My family and I actually are planning a move to Florida next year. Mainly because of the weather and I do want more work opportunities for my children when they get older. Second reason we are leaving is bc of the drugs. I don’t want my kids working at their first job and dealing with all the meth heads.

I think this post to be a little bit too focused on the worst aspects. I don't deny that drugs are an issue in both our inner-city and rural communities, but I wouldn't say they are that much worse than any other inner-city and rural area. Take media darling Washington State for instance, there are areas both in urban Seattle and some of the rural logging towns that have major drug issues.

Kentucky may seem cool from someone coming from a climate where it is mild to warm year-round but 6 months of wall to wall cold doesn't happen. Here is the forecast from Madisonville, KY the next 7 days.

76/60
78/46
73/48
78/56
70/40
59/38
62/mid 30s

It does get chilly for a CA towards the end but overall that is not a cold forecast.


The past January in the middle of winter we had a period of time like this:
68/59
72/43
48/37
51/35
60/47
72/49
51/31
51/30

Without the humidity someone in CA would feel right at home with such temperatures.

The biggest weather challenges someone in CA would face will be more of the humidity along with the heat of the summer that can actually sometimes legit last 5 months and tornadoes/severe weather that can occur anytime during the year even in the winter and summer, but because we are humid there isn't that much of a wildfire threat especially compared to CA. You just trade in natural disasters.

[censusdata]

You should judge a climate by the annual average temperature. In most of KY it's close to 60 degrees. To me that's perfect, other people may find it too cool or warm.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by debski123

jacobnjoanie, my husband and I are about an hour south of Sacramento and are in the same boat as you: we're researching areas in Kentucky to move to next year to get the heck out of CA. Originally we thought TN, so we went there last fall and explored some areas surrounding Knoxville - which was a waste of time when we got home and then did some research on health care options and discovered TN was HORRIBLE in that regard. Just curious if you have gotten any suggestions or ideas for towns that might be promising as far as what you're looking for? Our criteria is pretty much identical to yours. Thanks!

Definitely the bluegrass region, also the most friendly to transplants! Oldham and Shelby County Ky are where it's at! Lots of transplants but not too much. They are technically Louisville suburbs.....but will feel very rural to you which is likely what you want.

I'd look at Prospect, Crestwood, Goshen, and Buckner. And Simpsonville or Shelbyville. The beauty of these areas are they are close enough to shopping and great hospitals in the city. Simpsonville even has a very nice outlet mall.

[somewhereoutthere15]

I see many Californians on here and elsewhere thinking the grass is so much greener in other states. While it may be true depending on the situation, keep in mind both states have a terrible drug problem that has torn entire communities apart. It's worse than just about anywhere, except Ohio and West Virginia. While Kentucky has a generally low crime rate, Tennessee has an astronomically high rate of violent crime compared to most states.

I'm not sure where we are as far as property crime goes, but not a night goes by in my area of Nashville in which multiple cars don't have their windows smashed etc. and I live in a NICE area.

It wouldn't be too difficult to find nice and quiet communities in either state, but if you choose to live in the radius of Louisville, Nashville or Memphis, don't be surprised to find what you see in local news rather disturbing. All three cities are more dangerous than Sacramento.

[fivenine]

Lets also make this very clear.

The meth and drug issues in rural America are not just restricted to KY, TN, or even CA. This is a big issue for rural America in general no matter where you go and with the challenging times of 2020 the drug issues will probably increase from the inner-city to the suburbs to the rural areas.

The areas that will not have as bad of drug issues will be areas that feature the following:
- Solid economic growth
- Community pride and community support
- Lower poverty rates

Really in Kentucky and Tennessee that will be the ring suburbs of the major cities plus Berea, KY and Cookeville, TN that would follow that criteria.

[BLS2753]

Originally Posted by Laree123

Hi I’m born and raised in western Kentucky. Coming from California with great weather, you will be in for a surprise. It’s cold half the year. Really cold. It’s October 6 and we’ve already had a night of 37 degrees. Plus the sun only shines half the year. Kentucky is not on the up and up and we DO have a drug problem. They are just not glorified here. I live downtown in a large Victorian home and have had people stop by asking for money many times probably once every month or two. They leave and won’t ever be a nuisance per se. Tennessee is the better option as we’ve considered moving there too but it is so much more crowded than Kentucky and that’s what makes Kentucky great is that houses are spread out with land and no ones here basically. My family and I actually are planning a move to Florida next year. Mainly because of the weather and I do want more work opportunities for my children when they get older. Second reason we are leaving is bc of the drugs. I don’t want my kids working at their first job and dealing with all the meth heads.

While the climate in this region, is drastically different than that of California, I wouldn't describe the winters as really cold. They're quite mild compared to the upper midwest and northeast. Heck, we don't even get a significant amount of snow most winters.

The main weather concern here, new for a west coast transplant, would be the several tornado events that occur every year in the spring and summer.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by BLS2753

While the climate in this region, is drastically different than that of California, I wouldn't describe the winters as really cold. They're quite mild compared to the upper midwest and northeast. Heck, we don't even get a significant amount of snow most winters.

The main weather concern here, new for a west coast transplant, would be the several tornado events that occur every year in the spring and summer.

The weather is nasty much of the time in the winter because it is excessively rainy, cloudy, and damp. Snow, colder, and drier air are much preferable in my opinion. Snow also brightens up the ground in the winter when it is cloudier as well. I take Vitamin D supplements for more than half the year due to the clouds, and most people should probably due that as well as they likely have a deficiency from the late Fall to early Spring.

[PONYPULR]

We bought our 20 acres in Bourbon County 13 years ago and, for the first 6 years, used it as a vacation destination. We came down maybe 4 times annually. Mother Nature was the only invader of any kind, during that time! And one of our doors never would lock!
As for weather, winter is ridiculously short, with Lowe's peddling pansies at the end of February.
And, although we are aware of drug problems, we have never seen any effects from it.
We're originally from Long Island, and love the simpler ways of life here!!

[marino760]

Originally Posted by PONYPULR

We bought our 20 acres in Bourbon County 13 years ago and, for the first 6 years, used it as a vacation destination. We came down maybe 4 times annually. Mother Nature was the only invader of any kind, during that time! And one of our doors never would lock!
As for weather, winter is ridiculously short, with Lowe's peddling pansies at the end of February.
And, although we are aware of drug problems, we have never seen any effects from it.
We're originally from Long Island, and love the simpler ways of life here!!

Paris is a great town! It has a lot to offer without being too big and surrounded by history and beauty. I even enjoy just driving through there to Maysville