Bowling Green v. Lexington (Versailles: rental car, rental, crime rate)

[Micah Girl]

We have been researching relocation to KY recently and are looking for the following:

Cultural offerings
Small town feel/good community
Diversity, esp. some Hispanic population
College in town or right nearby
At least an acre of land for under 200K

It seems as if Bowling Green and Lexington are our best options at this point. Which is the more livable area? Any suggestions as to other areas?

Thanks!!

[dambu]

I've lived in Lex and just visited bowling green a few times, Looks like both would fit your needs quite well, Traffic is bad in lex, however live music scene is alot better, Lex has smoke ban. Hope it helps

[tedz_laydee]

if you want diversity and some Hispanic population then move to bowling green...we have the part of town thats known as "lil Mexico" for realz..you'll love it.

[Angry Aspie]

The only difference is Lexington has twice as many Wal Marts and McDonald's. Both are basically college towns that also function as regional shopping areas

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Angry Aspie

The only difference is Lexington has twice as many Wal Marts and McDonald's. Both are basically college towns that also function as regional shopping areas

Hmm. That is very off IMO. Compared to BG, Lexington is a much larger city. It is over 3 times the size. At last check, I believe BG was around 150k metro population whereas Lexington is around 450k metro. Now, Lexington is still fairly small, but it is going to offer a bit more cultural opportunites, better shopping, and quite a few more nice restaurants. It has a bigger college, and more young students. It also has substantially more jobs to offer, and it even has one Fortune 500 company. It is true that both cities are abuzz about their college (I personally do not like that). You cannot go anywhere in either town without hearing about the college team.

[Micah Girl]

Originally Posted by stx12499

Hmm. That is very off IMO. Compared to BG, Lexington is a much larger city. It is over 3 times the size. At last check, I believe BG was around 150k metro population whereas Lexington is around 450k metro. Now, Lexington is still fairly small, but it is going to offer a bit more cultural opportunites, better shopping, and quite a few more nice restaurants. It has a bigger college, and more young students. It also has substantially more jobs to offer, and it even has one Fortune 500 company. It is true that both cities are abuzz about their college (I personally do not like that). You cannot go anywhere in either town without hearing about the college team.

It's funny to see this discussion at the top of the forum again--it's one of my earlier postings before we settled on Lexington. Bowling Green is a charming little city/town and if it weren't for the fact that they don't have the doctoral programs I want, it would have been a top contender. However, after having been in Lexington, we are in love.

[MorganMRE]

I've lived in both.

Traffic sucks in both - but there's more construction in Lexington, which makes it way more annoying to get from Point A to Point B. However, Lexington has easier backroads to avoid all the heavy traffic.

Bowling Green is a text-book college town. College kids are everywhere and in the summer the town is pretty much deserted compared to during the school year. The crime rate in Lexington is pretty low, but in Bowling Green - rapes are 3 times the national average. I don't know if it's because it's a college town or what - but the statistics are kinda scary.

Lexington shopping is WAYYYY better. The restaurants are better. The nightlife is a lot better. And I think the schools are better as well.

Both are good towns, but I would pick Lexington.

[Micah Girl]

Originally Posted by MorganMRE

I've lived in both.

Traffic sucks in both - but there's more construction in Lexington, which makes it way more annoying to get from Point A to Point B. However, Lexington has easier backroads to avoid all the heavy traffic.

Bowling Green is a text-book college town. College kids are everywhere and in the summer the town is pretty much deserted compared to during the school year. The crime rate in Lexington is pretty low, but in Bowling Green - rapes are 3 times the national average. I don't know if it's because it's a college town or what - but the statistics are kinda scary.

Lexington shopping is WAYYYY better. The restaurants are better. The nightlife is a lot better. And I think the schools are better as well.

Both are good towns, but I would pick Lexington.

Thanks for the input. It's funny to me how locals complain about the traffic in Lexington because compared to MA it is a cakewalk!

[ic-epi]

Originally Posted by Micah Girl

Thanks for the input. It's funny to me how locals complain about the traffic in Lexington because compared to MA it is a cakewalk!

Compared to Iowa City the traffic in Lexington had me completely stressed the week we were there (week before last). It wasn't so much the quantity of traffic, as the way people drove. Even in Versailles, even on the very narrow highways outside of Versailles, people drove like maniacs, like 40 miles over the speed limit and two inches from our bumper. Unbelievable tailgating! Sorry, but they did. My husband is a traffic tailgater here and he was even nuts about it.

I was willing the first couple of days to think that maybe we just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but after five days of it (plus our weekend trips before, which were all the same way) I have learned differently. And our realtor confirmed that we weren't imagining it. We barely escaped a serious accident the first day -- stopped for traffic and the teenager/souped up car behind us didn't see we had stopped, continued going 75mph until I heard a screech and looked back and saw serious smoke as he lost tire rubber to stop in time. Cars around us rolled down their windows to tell us how CLOSE it was (they were holding up thumbs pressed to index fingers). And we were driving some stupid little tiny Ford economy rental car.

The first thing I'm going to do after moving there is trade in my little Nissan Maxima for a huge SUV.

[Micah Girl]

Originally Posted by ic-epi

Compared to Iowa City the traffic in Lexington had me completely stressed the week we were there (week before last). It wasn't so much the quantity of traffic, as the way people drove. Even in Versailles, even on the very narrow highways outside of Versailles, people drove like maniacs, like 40 miles over the speed limit and two inches from our bumper. Unbelievable tailgating! Sorry, but they did. My husband is a traffic tailgater here and he was even nuts about it.

I was willing the first couple of days to think that maybe we just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but after five days of it (plus our weekend trips before, which were all the same way) I have learned differently. And our realtor confirmed that we weren't imagining it. We barely escaped a serious accident the first day -- stopped for traffic and the teenager/souped up car behind us didn't see we had stopped, continued going 75mph until I heard a screech and looked back and saw serious smoke as he lost tire rubber to stop in time. Cars around us rolled down their windows to tell us how CLOSE it was (they were holding up thumbs pressed to index fingers). And we were driving some stupid little tiny Ford economy rental car.

The first thing I'm going to do after moving there is trade in my little Nissan Maxima for a huge SUV.

Wow--that incident would have stressed me out, too.