cost of living in Nashville area (Memphis, Murfreesboro: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[andrea3821]

I lived in Florida for all of my life, I grew up in a college town (Gainesville) and then moved to Ocala right after I got married. We relocated to the Milwaukee area two years ago for my husband's job. We might be in a position to relocate and buy a business in about a year and Nashville seems like a good fit.

However, I am curious about the cost of living. When we moved to Milwaukee, it was a huge shock, everything, literally, costs more here. Even right down to a can of green beans (don't get me started on fresh produce) and a pound of ground beef. We also have a state income tax which ended up negating the raise my husband got when we moved (and that's part of why we are looking at TN, so we don't have that issue). We did not buy a house b/c property tax rates are ridiculous, probably quadruple what we are paying for the house we own in Florida (arguably, the tax rates in Ocala are pretty low).

So, for those of you who have lived elsewhere or are at least familiar with the prices of other areas, how does Nashville compare? From what I have seen, housing prices don't seem too terrible (rent might be a bit high, though). But it's hard to compare without having been there or say, seen what the utility bills are like, going to the grocery store, that kind of thing. Insurance rates? Our car insurance rates almost doubled when we moved to WI b/c of accidents in the snow and ice, but homeowners insurance here is much lower b/c there are no hurricanes. Stuff like that is what I'm interested in, if anybody can give me some info. Thank you!

Oh, and what is a typical commute time? Around here, I have to drive 30-45 minutes to get to most major shopping and restaurants. It kind of sucks.

[straw71]

I moved from Lakeland Florida to spring hill, Tn south of Nashville in Williamson county. I paid more for gas, and rent in FL. Not sure about property taxes. My car insurance went down, a lot of groceries were cheaper at krogers, not all but a good bit. I have gone house hunting, depending on where you look some houses higher in TN; Franklin and Brentwood was a little higher , Spring Hill was less on some than Lakeland , about the same as others. Commute time depends on where you live compared to where you work. Certain roads do get really backed up in rush hour, but that is any where really. IMO Tennessee is way better all around than Florida

[Spikett]

I can offer a comparison to Los Angeles. Rent in Nashville is a lot cheaper. Gas is cheaper. But my renter's insurance was double in TN (should note that CA policy did not cover earthquakes). Car insurance is more in CA. Food varies because so much produce and fruit are grown in CA that at times it's pretty inexpensive. Utilities are cheaper in CA because you almost never need heat and the A/C is only a must-have a few months of the year,whereas in Nashville you have to run the heat in the winter and A/C all summer because it's so humid. The main thing for me is that I make a lot more money in CA. As for having to drive a distance to get to stores, etc. It depends on where you live. There are grocery stores, etc... all over. There were two Kroger's within a 4 mile radius. If you want a specific chain or store you might have to drive a bit - depends on where you live - because major shopping areas are spread out (Rivergate, Cool Springs, Green Hills, for example).

[N.Cal]

The guy I know moved from Milwaukee last spring and I moved from Northern California about the same time. We both agree that overall, the COL in Nashville is not all that much cheaper. We both moved for job related reasons.

Gas is cheaper in TN but my car insurance nearly doubled in TN.
Property taxes are cheaper in TN v. Cal.
Buying a house v. NorCal - much cheaper in TN but buying in a decent area, well, it's more expensive than you'd think.
Rents are high in Nashville (for decent places).
Electricity is much much higher than NorCal (never ran heater and didn't have A/C).

Grocery costs are higher and I still can't figure out what does and doesn't get taxed.
Alcohol costs are much much higher (due to ridiculous taxes).
Travel costs if you want to fly many places are high (hard to get there from here and you'd better like Southwest).
Thankfully I retained my California salary.
My friend owned a house in Milwaukee and he's renting here. The biggest thing for him is that he said "getting things done" seems to be much easier in Nashville. He's in the process of starting his own business.

Just this week Nashville was worst among “large” cities for commute times in some survey. Can't find the link right now.

[CountryGirl2b=]

Here is a cost of living calculator:

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Looks like things might be more expensive down here for you. It's a popular place right now . . what is your housing budget? That's really the biggest expense. Lots of competition for rentals (although they are building a LOT of new rental apartments in Franklin which MIGHT bring the cost down.

Houses . . IF you were to buy, what would your budget be? It's much cheaper than CT. Proerty tax was a huge factor for us moving down here (almost $6,000 to $1350 for the same size house) and the price of electricity which is about 1/3 to 1/4 of the cost in CT.

[DaveM123]

I moved down here from northern Illinois. I was half way between Chicago & Milwaukee. The only thing that I find more expensive where I am in Murfreesboro is water. That's probably double what I paid up north. Electricity, gasoline, real estate taxes, food, dining out, home prices, are all cheaper by quite a margin.

[RJS5689]

Originally Posted by N.Cal

Just this week Nashville was worst among “large” cities for commute times in some survey. Can't find the link right now.

Cities With the Worst Traffic Nightmares - ABC News

[Kim918]

I moved here from south Florida. Rent is way cheaper, houses WERE cheaper. Buying a home is not all that cheap here anymore depending on the area. For us it was, but now that the bottom has dropped out in FL you can buy there pretty inexpensively as well. Gas here is cheaper by at least .20 cents a gal. Insurance ( both home and car) is half of what I paid in FL and property taxes are way less than South FL. Not sure about Ocala. Groceries are the same, but we pay tax on food here. Utilities are also less. I do pay more more for water here than I did in West Palm Beach. Overall the COL is less here than FL.

[Memphis1979]

Car registration is significantly lower in Tennessee then in Florida. Cost of living, in everywhere I've lived usually balances out to about the same. Nashville, detroit, Kalamazoo, Niceville fl, etc.

All depends on what you do, what you own, and what you're looking for really.

[Kim918]

[quote=Memphis1979;28156461]Car registration is significantly lower in Tennessee then in Florida. Cost of living, in everywhere I've lived usually balances out to about the same. Nashville, detroit, Kalamazoo, Niceville fl, etc.

All depends on what you do, what you own, and what you're looking for.

It's actually more here for me. In Rutherford County it's more than FL. I only paid $36 there and here it is $76 plus $10 for emissions testing.