we want to leave Florida and moved to Tennessee but don't know much about it other than we love it (Knoxville: rent)

[Drummerplumber68]

We are both 46 years old I am a plumber for the fourth largest school district in the country and my fiancé is a hairstylist. We would like to live obviously somewhere where there is plenty of work for our tradeson the outskirts of a large city but not in all that congestion like we live in here. WE WANT TO BE AROUND FRIENDLY PEOPLE WHO LOVE WHERE THEY LIVE! I would love to continue working for the school system but I know nothing about it in that state can anybody give any suggestions please?

[Barking Spider]

My rough guess would be landing a job as plumber for a school district might be tough. While you would think that a good plumber could find work anywhere, there are also tons of them around (big companies and small).
My advice would be to secure jobs before you pull up stakes and make the move.

Its one thing to land a job, its quite another to land a job that pays you what you are used to / expect / or need.

[Road Pig]

I am originally fro Florida and love east TN. I add the east part because TN is three different places from east to west. I don't know much about jobs available in the knoxville area but up here in New Tazewell, 50 miles north, it seems like there are no real plumbers. If you find the employment then you are good to go.

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by Road Pig

I am originally fro Florida and love east TN. I add the east part because TN is three different places from east to west.

That is a good, distinctive point you mention, East, Middle, and West, Tn., not quite as distinctive as it used to be, but still distinctive.

[hiknapster]

Fourth largest school district in the country is Miami-Dade. There are 392 schools, 345,000 students and over 40,000 employees. By comparison, Knox County has 88 schools with 8,339 employees serving approximately 57,800 students. My guess is you are going to find Knoxville to be very small, really no need to move to the outskirts. Knoxville has a tiny fraction of the congestion that you have in Miami. In fact, you'll find that calling this traffic "congestion" is laughable. Tazewell may be extreme culture shock for you. Not to mention, your wife is probably going to be looking for a job in the city or West Knoxville, where most stylists are located (and make the most money).

[danielj72]

I agree with hiknapster, you will find Knoxville small compared to south Florida. There is no comparison between our traffic and yours. I sometimes go to the southeast Florida area to visit relatives and I am always overwhelmed by how much city and traffic is there. You should have the same feeling in reverse here. I don't know anything about the plumbing trade, but that is a profession that should have some level of demand everywhere. I also agree that hair stylists will do better in West Knoxville. One thing to keep in mind is that we do get some winter this far north. We don't have northern style winters of course, but it occasionally gets cold with snow.

[iluvdiznee]

My husband and I are kind of like y'all. We are in North Florida looking to possibly move to Eastern Tennessee. Last year we moved back to Florida after a re-location to Canton Georgia for 16 months. We really loved Canton and if it weren't for the State taxes and high rent in Georgia, might re-consider. After we got back to Florida, we became unhappy and realized we missed the seasons and the beautiful scenery. We were born, raised and here once again, in a very small, rural area. Very poor county that is ridden with drugs. Out of the entire state of Florida, our county is #1 poorest county and #20 for drug arrests. It's time to make a change for us. Need to do some research to make sure we just aren't jumping from the kettle to the fire, lol. Good luck in your quest!