Areas with in 1-2 hours of Knoxville

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Knoxville isn't a huge area. It is pretty long from east to west but an hour (even thirty minutes) from virtually anywhere in Knoxville will put you out in a rural county. People from outside of northeast TN typically don't know this, but here, it's safer to be in the city and its suburbs than in a rural area. Rural areas tend to have significantly more visible drug use and property crime related to drugs.

The cities have bigger homeless problems...which is actually logical since there is more panhandling opportunity (foot traffic in downtown areas) and services.

Google Knoxville homeless under Google News.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by SDKreidler

Thank you, both of you! I’m excited about the lower taxes. In PA we currently pay, federal income tax, state income tax, city income tax, property taxes, garbage tax. Our gas tax is one of the highest in the nation, and only increasing. The corruption runs rampant and completely unchecked in my current city, and my city even ranks on the top 10 of the unhappiest cities in the country. We can’t move soon enough! Tennessee sounds extremely promising!

I had to double check that you said P.A. You did a great job of describing Kalifornia.

[TheShadow]

Snakes and spiders, or any other bug for that matter, are no worse in TN than in any other state that has both city and rural areas. In other words, don't worry about it. I've found far fewer bugs in my home and yard here than I did in California. I think every state in the continental US probably has at least a few poisonous snakes and/or spiders. It's absolutely the last thing I would worry about when moving here.

[NYS2Tennessee]

My personal experience: I haven't seen any venomous snakes in the city limits or on trails in county/ outside county. We hike and are outdoors constantly. I know they're around, but I don't see them as a big concern. I have seen that snakes and garter snakes which are fine.
Spiders.. . Our rental house was infested with Brown spiders when we moved here. I wad convinced they were recluses and promptly freaked out. Turns out they were just grass spiders. I've never seen a dangerous spider here. Again, I know they exist, but not a nuisance.
Mosquitos here are awful though. We had a lot in NY, but a different variety that mostly left me alone and they were big and more noticeable. The Asian tiger mosquitos here are brutal little jerks.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by NYS2Tennessee

My personal experience: I haven't seen any venomous snakes in the city limits or on trails in county/ outside county. We hike and are outdoors constantly. I know they're around, but I don't see them as a big concern. I have seen that snakes and garter snakes which are fine.
Spiders.. . Our rental house was infested with Brown spiders when we moved here. I wad convinced they were recluses and promptly freaked out. Turns out they were just grass spiders. I've never seen a dangerous spider here. Again, I know they exist, but not a nuisance.
Mosquitos here are awful though. We had a lot in NY, but a different variety that mostly left me alone and they were big and more noticeable. The Asian tiger mosquitos here are brutal little jerks.

In 13 years, I've probably been bit by mosquitoes twice. Maybe.

It has nothing to do with Knoxville and everything to do with where you, specifically, are located.

Now, move to Southwest Florida and it will not matter where you are. You could get eaten alive!

[NYS2Tennessee]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

In 13 years, I've probably been bit by mosquitoes twice. Maybe.

It has nothing to do with Knoxville and everything to do with where you, specifically, are located.

Now, move to Southwest Florida and it will not matter where you are. You could get eaten alive!

It's a different type of mosquito in the northeast versus the south. Doesn't matter where I am in Knoxville,or Sevier/Blount/Anderson/Union County these kind have a thirst for my blood.

[TooManyChoices]

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe

I had to double check that you said P.A. You did a great job of describing Kalifornia.

PA has a flat rate income tax, 3.07%. There can also be a local income tax which depends on town/school district, but it is typically 1% except for cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For retirees, PA doesn't tax social security, or pension or 401K/IRA distributions. PA does now have a high fuel tax, now even higher than NY but not by much. Property taxes are higher in PA than states like TN, but no where near NY.

The OP thinks that PA is a high tax state only because they never lived in a truely high tax state like NY or California. OP, my income tax rate in NY is 6.65%, the sales tax rate is 8%, and I pay over 10K in property taxes on a house plus land that is worth mid 300k in value.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by TooManyChoices

PA has a flat rate income tax, 3.07%. There can also be a local income tax which depends on town/school district, but it is typically 1% except for cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For retirees, PA doesn't tax social security, or pension or 401K/IRA distributions. PA does now have a high fuel tax, now even higher than NY but not by much. Property taxes are higher in PA than states like TN, but no where near NY.

The OP thinks that PA is a high tax state only because they never lived in a truely high tax state like NY or California. OP, my income tax rate in NY is 6.65%, the sales tax rate is 8%, and I pay over 10K in property taxes on a house plus land that is worth mid 300k in value.

Penn. is not great when it comes to taxes, in fact, they have a pretty high tax burden: 15th in the country. Compare that to Tennessee, where they are 47th in the nation per capita for taxes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k94...YyoO3YtxY/view

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by LauraC

The cities have bigger homeless problems...which is actually logical since there is more panhandling opportunity (foot traffic in downtown areas) and services.

Google Knoxville homeless under Google News.

Visible homeless is not the same as rural drug abuse problems.

Both areas have problems, but I'd rather take my chances in the urban core of Knoxville than a rural area of Jefferson or Cocke counties.