Opportunity to relocate from Orange County, CA to Franklin, TN (sales, how much)

[tum123]

There may be an opportunity to move to Franklin, TN from Orange county, CA.
I have been in Orange county for last 12 years. I have some questions about relocation.
> If company doesn't pay for relocation, approximately how much it may cost for a family of 4 with 2 cars to relocate
> Other thread it says "No state tax" but high sales tax including food products, so taking all these into consideration - how much are cost savings in Franklin,tn compared to Orange county, ca
> About schools for kids and colleges - One of the other thread mentioned that costs per year for schools would range between 10k to 15k. It didn't say for what grades and i guess this has to be for a private school. How are public schools based on your experience so far after Ford and Nissan moved from orange county to TN
> Compared to orange county, ca - what do you like in nashville other than good housing, less cost of living,...?
> Also when it comes to job opportunities - heard that Nissan is one of big employers in Franklin, other than Nissan what kind of companies are there and how are the job opportunities for freshers & experienced in IT or non-IT fields.

Thanks in advance for all your inputs..really appreciate your help.

[septimus]

We relocated from the east coast. Our relocation expenses were paid for, but I'm guessing they were about $25K. That said... I wouldn't have paid someone to come and pack all of my old house. I would have done it myself if I was paying for it.

We paid about $20K/yr in state income tax back east. I can assure you we don't spend anywhere close to that on sales tax in TN. I'll bet we spend about $2K/yr on sales tax. Our propert taxes are the same in TN as they were back east. Our town had the lowest property taxes in our state and our houses cost the same amount

We are in privates schools. Schools are what you make of them, but I think the public schools here are huge. Our public school back east had 2 classes at each grade. Here they have 5+ classes for each grade. We are definitely saving money on private school tuition. We had just started attending a private school for middle school when we relocated. The difference in tuition btwn Nashville and back east is about $15K/yr we are saving. Also childcare is a lot cheaper. The preschool one of my kids was set to attend before we relocated was $18k/yr. For the same hours/instructional philosophy it is under $8k/yr.
Nashville and the burbs is a great family area.

One of the biggest industries in middle tn is health care. Lots of healthcare jobs but also corporate jobs since those companies are all headquartered here. Healthcare has a lot of IT needs too.

That said it isn't as easy as it used to be to find a job. Unemployment is still around 10%. It seems to be opening up a bit, but I definitely wouldn't move without a job.

[sucrose]

We moved from Los Angeles last year and paid $7k for moving van and $700 per car (add a bit more if you want it covered/protected from elements).