Would you recommend someone move to tri cities right now? (Knoxville: appointed, sales)

[Rangerred]

I'm a big advocate of Johnson City in particular and it is a wonderful place to live but the job market is tough. Medical is one of the largest fields but there are decent paying jobs in other areas but openings are hard to come by and connections are important.

Also, don't take a poor job market to mean the region is depressing. I would say the same thing about jobs to someone wanting to move to Asheville, NC and that is a definitely an exciting city but suffers from much of the same issues as the Tri-Cities: low wages overall with a few high paying jobs that are difficult to get.

[Trevor92]

Living in the south, would it be possible to apply to jobs in Chattanooga, Maryville, Nashville, Knoxville, Tri-Cities, etc. before moving? I think they are all good cities but it sounds like what you're most looking for is work and a proficient school system which these cities have. Maybe you could send out the CV and see where you get the most interest?? If your wife is in the medical field it is possible that she might land a job with some sort of relocation or sign-on bonus and you wouldn't be confined to looking for jobs in a single city. That's the approach I would take.

[folkguitarist555]

Speaking of SD, Sioux Falls, has been growing like nuts...used to live there, was there recently visiting, much more libertarian then anywhere in the south I imagine, nice wide open spaces, but the wages in Sioux Falls are also amongst the lowest in the country, and the city is getting dumpier to my eyes at least, with all the growth in recent years. Not in a very pretty part of the state as well.....now Rapid City, in western SD, now we're talking...but all of SD has very high property taxes, and very low wages.

[White Wolf]

We are gonna look into towns closer to Knoxville....its close enough we can come up and visit before moving....

[kamoshika]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Bottom line - the Tri-Cities is a bad place to live, doubly so if you need employment.

In your opinion, which you've made abundantly -- and incessantly -- clear. And while your opinion may be shared by some, it is not a fact and shouldn't be posited as such.

There are many who truly love living in this area, and that is a fact; my parents and dozens of relatives and friends are among them. But like most places that are not bustling metropolises, this is not now nor is it likely ever to be a mecca for job seekers.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by kamoshika

In your opinion, which you've made abundantly -- and incessantly -- clear. And while your opinion may be shared by some, it is not a fact and shouldn't be posited as such.

There are many who truly love living in this area, and that is a fact; my parents and dozens of relatives and friends are among them. But like most places that are not bustling metropolises, this is not now nor is it likely ever to be a mecca for job seekers.

Those who really like living in the Tri-Cities isn't an objective fact either. Everyone probably has an opinion on every place. Except for the very rich who don't need to work or the retired, the local job market may be the most important piece of information someone looks at before moving to an area. If that data doesn't look good, that should cross off the area nearly immediately.

After my raise this week, I now make 220% of the salary I did in Kingsport on 1/1/2014. I was never able to find a job with benefits of any kind in the Tri-Cities proper. By the time you count my vacation, sick time, paid holidays, bonus, health insurance, 401k match, etc, I am easily making 250%-270% of my highest Tri-Cities salary. I'm not the only one in my generation I personally know experiencing this kind of growth when leaving the area. Another close friend of mine from school moved to Michigan and is also making nearly triple his Kingsport salary. I know many, many others who also relocated to make 50% better or more in areas with similar costs of living.

You stated yourself the area has a substandard market, which is what people have largely been referring to in this thread. The Tri-Cities is great for people not dependent on the local job market, those who are retired, or those who bring their affluence from elsewhere. With some exceptions, it is a very difficult place for most people to make an honest, decent living.

[BadJuju]

What do you do, Emigrations? Just curious.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by BadJuju

What do you do, Emigrations? Just curious.

I work in back-end application support for a software company whose clients are mostly financial services firms. Is it a step up from what I was doing back home? Yes. Enough to justify this salary increase alone? No.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Bottom line - the Tri-Cities is a bad place to live, doubly so if you need employment.

opinion, not fact

Originally Posted by kamoshika

There are many who truly love living in this area

fact, not opinion
See the difference there?

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Except for the very rich who don't need to work or the retired, the local job market may be the most important piece of information someone looks at before moving to an area. If that data doesn't look good, that should cross off the area nearly immediately.

Yet again, just your opinion. There are people who do not prioritize MONEY and factor other things into their decision on where to live. I am neither retired nor rich, not even 'comfortable' by most standards. I have to budget, but I find it completely worthwhile to work for a lower salary in return for the lifestyle I enjoy here.
Stating facts like a soft job market is fine, but you cross a line when you presume that everyone has (or should have) the same expectations and outlook that you have as to what is most important in choosing where to live.

[queenladybug817]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

I work in back-end application support for a software company whose clients are mostly financial services firms. Is it a step up from what I was doing back home? Yes. Enough to justify this salary increase alone? No.

IT in smaller communities is notoriously limited. Few jobs exist and the ones that do will typically pay a lot less than their counterparts in larger areas. (Especially large cities like Indianapolis.) Other than IT directors and maybe network admins, there is not much need for higher level IT work in a place like Johnson City or Kingsport. Most businesses outsource their IT needs outside of the management and a few help desk folks to larger companies that aren't even based locally. If they need network stuff done, they'll call in their large firm.

It's how it is done and I wish people would let those going into the IT field know this from the start. Whoever gave you the expectation that you'd be able to stay in a place like the Tri-Cities doing your line of work deluded you. I've been in IT for many many years and I have seen how it works. I lucked into a position that allows me to work from home for a large corporation doing IT stuff. I DID have offers when we moved here though. They paid what I expected or more for the line of work in this type of community. It's the type of stuff I've always done and moved into other communities doing. I would not have expected, knowing what I know about to make 6 figures a year with my skills. I'd say the range for non-management IT staff in most areas like the Tri-Cities is between 30 and 60 thousand. Yes, a broad range, but small companies cannot afford the high end of the scale. It's just not feasible for them. Other companies outsource and don't offer benefits. It's cheaper for them and outsource companies have large turnover because they pay less. The higher end has fewer jobs available and are usually filled by the same person for years and rarely open up. It isn't the fault of the Tri-Cities. It's like this EVERYWHERE with IT. If you really want to do IT and live where you want, then look at companies that do remote work. More and more companies are allowing this. The technology is finally there and stable for this. Heck, your own company might even consider it if you bring it up, then you can make your generous income and come back to the boring Tri-Cities area you hate so much.

And Emigrations isn't every going to understand that people can be happy with a lower income. Money seems to be his number one motive in life. It's a proven fact that instead of saying that a person might want to look closer at the job market here in their field, that he will tell people to NEVER EVER consider moving here, no matter what they do. I've been reading the same over and over and over. He was unhappy with the job options here for him and the pay scales, so he left and does everything in his power to turn people off from the area as well. I'm sorry dude, I would not for any amount of pay live in Indy. My husband is from the area and I hate it up there when we visit. My stepdaughter actually attends college up there as well, so I'm a frequent visitor to the area. Carmel is overpriced yuppy snobville with a bunch of folks that think they are better than the rest of the world. It's still Indiana. Flat, boring and full of corn. Sorry, not my cup of tea. However, I don't get on the boards there and tell people how bad it is. I also don't like my own hometown, but I don't go and tell people on those forums to never ever move there. I hated where we last lived as well (in most ways). I try to give people up that way advice on how to make it more bearable if they must live there like we did for a few years.