Moving to Memphis from Nashville... (Franklin, Germantown: low crime, house prices, landscaping)

[Donnie Darko]

Hi everyone, I currently live in Nashville but thanks to a great job opportunity I will likely be moving to Memphis shortly. Recently I've been doing some research on the area and trying to compare in to the areas I know in Nashville.

It seems like the suburbs most people recommend for families are Germantown and Collierville. How do these suburbs compare with Brentwood and Franklin in the Nashville area?

I really like the Brentwood area of Nashville and would love to find something similar in the Memphis. Based on demographic data on Wikipedia, it seems like these areas are comparable, but since I haven't visited the area I don't know for sure.

Are there any other suburbs that you would recommend for a young family? If it helps for recommendations, we have the ability to spend in excess of $300,000 on our house.

Thanks for the help. We are very excited for the move. Can't wait to take in some Grizzlies games!

[vivelafrance]

Collierville and Germantown are the closest thing to Brentwood Memphis but there are some key differences.

Median income Brentwood: 143,746
Median income Collierville: 106,634 (Germantown is 125,964)

Collierville to DT Memphis: 31.7 miles (Germantown is 15 miles)
Brentwood to DT Nashville: 11.1 miles

Best Schools in the US Ranking: 2010
Brentwood - 218
Ravenwood - (in Brentwood) 489
Collierville - 1204
Houston (in Germantown) 1588

Best Schools in the US Ranking 2011:
Brentwood - 100
Ravenwood - 284
Houston - 377

[Donnie Darko]

Thanks for the reply vivelafrance.

On the demographics comparison, Brentwood does have a slightly higher average income, but to be fair it is also much smaller than Germantown (about 15,000 less people). On the flipside, Collierville has a significantly higher average income than Franklin, TN, but has less people (It sounds like Germantown compares more to Brentwood and Collierville compares more to Franklin).

I guess I'm wondering if the overall vibe/feel of Germantown is comparable to Brentwood? Can anyone that has experience in both areas provide an opinion here? Brentwood is very family-friendly, safe, and is near some great shopping. I'm hoping Germantown is similar.

On a sidenote, that is an extremely impressive jump by Houston High School from 2010-2011. That tells me the data is highly variable from year to year, so it might not be wise to make rash generalizations on annual rankings.

[brentwoodgirl]

They changed the criteria between 2010 and 2011, and that's why the rankings changed so much for all of the schools mentioned.
The rankings used to just be based on AP classes, and in 2011, they changed it to include scores, graduation rates, etc.
Here's the new criteria:

Our new criteria have six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), and AP tests taken per graduate (25%), plus average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB scores (10%), and AP courses offered per graduate (5%).

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/06/19/the-best-high-schools-in-america.html

So it is impressive for all the schools that moved up when the rankings were made harder. I would assume that the 2012 ratings would be similar to the 2011. And honestly, probably no need to worry between 100 and 400, any of the schools on the Newsweek list should be good enough to get a great education, esp. with involved parents.


Here's a good site for comparing crime:
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Both cities have low crime, but Brentwood has a lower crime rate than Germantown. The violent crime rate in Brentwood is .36/1,000, and it's 1/1000 in Germantown.

For property and violent crime- Brentwood is 5.8/1000 and Germantown is 12.9/1000.


Housing is significantly cheaper in Germantown ($243,000 median in Germantown vs. $447,000 Brentwood)
Not sure if the Brentwood median includes 37027 that is in Davidson County, but I think it does, which means Williamson Co Brentwood is actually higher than that.

Property taxes are higher in Germantown, but the cheaper house prices still put Germantown ahead, cost wise.
And in general, I think a lot of the contruction is better in Memphis. Memphis has less national builders, which is a good thing, IMO. That is less of an issue in Brentwood & Germantown since they both have a lot of older homes. But in comparing Collierville to Franklin, the local builders in Collierville usually build a nicer house than the national builders in Franklin.



Germantown would be the most similar to Brentwood. It is definitely a nice area. But they are different. Brentwood has always felt safer to me than Germantown. Not that Germantown felt dangerous, but it doesn't feel as safe as Brentwood.

Brentwood has more of an upscale feel. And more convenient shopping. And in general, Nashville has more entertainment opportunities and better shopping than Memphis.
More than 90% of kids in Brentwood go to public schools. That helps with the community feel, IMO.

I grew up in Memphis, and my parents chose to send me to private school instead of Houston. The kids in my neighborhood went to a mix of private schools and some went to Houston. The one thing I really love about Brentwood is that all the kids in our neighborhood, ball teams, church, etc. go to Williamson County schools.
Of my friends that still live in Germantown & Collierville, a good portion of them send their children to private schools or homeschool.

Germantown officials say 4,600 children in Germantown attend public schools while about 4,000 attend private schools or homeschool. So almost half the families in Germantown do not attend public school. In my cul de sac growing up, we had 5 families who attended 4 different schools. Two publc school families, and 3 different private school families. I think that's part of why I appreciate the community feeling in Brentwood so much. It's like living in a small town while having access to big city amenities.

One thing to note: Shelby County schools are going through an upheaval. Germantown and Collierville are considering their own community school systems. You need to make sure you are firmly in the city limits of one of those towns if you want to be included in those school systems should they come to fruition. The Commercial Appeal has tons of articles about the school situation, so you can search it for all the details.

[Snake Plissken]

Germantown is going to be the most like Brentwood of any of our suburbs. If you're moving here anyways there's not much point in nitpicking over differences. The "worse" schools, higher crime rate, and lower income can just be attributed to features of the Memphis metropolitan area as a whole.

[Donnie Darko]

Thanks for the info everyone. Is there an are in Memphis that compares to the Green Hills/Belle Meade area of Nashville (stately $1MM plus homes)? I'm guessing that area would be East Memphis but I'm not sure.

[Snake Plissken]

Sure. Specific parts of East Memphis like Chickasaw Gardens and the areas between Highland, Walnut Grove, Perkins, and Poplar. Those areas are gonna be comparable to the nicer parts of Green Hills. Nothing quite like Belle Meade though.

[Donnie Darko]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Sure. Specific parts of East Memphis like Chickasaw Gardens and the areas between Highland, Walnut Grove, Perkins, and Poplar. Those areas are gonna be comparable to the nicer parts of Green Hills. Nothing quite like Belle Meade though.

How is the crime rate in the Chickasaw and Central Gardens area? Is it a very safe area for a family or are the suburbs still much safer?

I had assumed we would move to the suburbs, but I've looked at some gorgeous house online in these two areas. I'm coming into town in two weeks to begin looking at houses and will definitely check out the Midtown area now too.

[MissMemphisBelle]

I don't know anything about the crime rate, but I LOOOOVVVVE Central Gardens and Chickasaw Gardens. Gorgeous homes, lovely landscaping.... I love them both.

Personally, I wouldn't be that concerned about the crime rates in those areas. I think a lot of the hype about crime in Memphis is overblown. Most of the crime that you hear about, if you really look at what it's about, it's usually domestic violence or drug crime, or acquaintance violence. You don't hear too much about totally random crime when people are being reasonably safe.

I used to live in Memphis and am moving back in a couple of months. I bought a tiny little house in East Memphis, but I can't wait to get back. Memphis has its issues, but it's also got some great things going on that people don't talk enough about.

[knucklehead_vol]

Originally Posted by Donnie Darko

How is the crime rate in the Chickasaw and Central Gardens area? Is it a very safe area for a family or are the suburbs still much safer?

I had assumed we would move to the suburbs, but I've looked at some gorgeous house online in these two areas. I'm coming into town in two weeks to begin looking at houses and will definitely check out the Midtown area now too.

There is not a better community in TN than Midtown if you ask me. And yes I have lived in different parts of the state. You don't just live here, your a part of it. The history, culture and everything else truly makes Midtown the best part of Memphis imo. But its all personal preference. Honestly, Nashville and Memphis are two totally different cities and you cannot compare the two if you ask me. I really never have gotten the comparisons.

All that being said, you have so many things at your finger tips here in Midtown and there is ALWAYS something going on for families.