franklin area vs johnson city area ?? (Knoxville, Maryville: crime rate, how much, middle school)

[straw71]

hi everyone,
we are looking to move to Tennessee next summer, and are trying to decide between the area of Franklin, vs Johnson city area...
my husband is in education , currently a dean at a middle school, i worked in law enforcement the last 15 yrs... we have one son who will be 16 when we move... we are looking for a good community that has a lot to offer, close enough to a big city but not in a big city. want a family community, lower crime rate ( have to much of that here ). does anyone know which would be a better area to get jobs in education ? i have read a lot of good things on here about johnson city but havent found to much about the franklin area.... i would prefer to be closer to the smokies... we have been to tennessee a couple of times, but not to either of these two cities. how has the economy been in franklin or jc ? my husband is leaning towards franklin, myself towards jc ...any help would be greatly appreciated

[DubbleT]

Franklin as in just outside of Nashville?

Franklin is sort of a bedroom community for Nashville, lots of info in that forum on it. //www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=22828451
Because of it's proximity to Nashville I would think Franklin would have quite a different feel to it than JC.

JC is great and has a lot going for it, but the closest larger city (over150K) would be Knoxville which is about an hour and a half away. You can find most anything you might need in the tri-cities area, but it does lack some of the things that are found in larger cities. No zoo, no big name concerts, no major sports teams, etc. How much importance do you place on those things?

[straw71]

well we do like going to sporting events, the zoo etc. where we live now we do have to travel 45min to an hour to get to a venue... that we dont mind to much, as long as we have restaurants , some of the major stores, ie. walmart, target , lowes and maybe a good mall lol close by we are normally good.

[DBradley]

Depending on you're taste in music, Johnson City has a PHENOMENAL music scene, I'm involved in music, and I love the music scene around here. ETSU is actually the first and only college in the country to have a major in bluegrass/old time/ and country music and that is producing and attracting alot of VERY awesome musicians in the area. And I don't know what you would call "big name" musicians, but if I'm not mistaken ZZ Top, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, and a number of other what I would consider "big names" have played Freedom Hall fairly recently. And last year Peter Frampton and The Marshal Tucker band played Funfest. Those are all some pretty big names in my opinion. Now do they come on a regular basis, no, but they do come, so don't count us out as far as out music scene. I have traveled far and wide with music and I cannot tell you how many times in all parts of the country I have been told that the best music comes from our area.

[straw71]

thank you dbradley for the information, i will definately remember that. everyone in my family loves all types of music and that is really cool to know

[DBradley]

Anytime, straw. I think people need to be aware of all the amazing music that's just teeming in this area if you just get out and look.

[jabogitlu]

I'm all for your move to Johnson City, but based on your criteria have you looked into Knoxville? It doesn't feel like a big city and if you can afford Franklin, definitely look into Maryville... also look into South Knoxville/Seymour, and the Hardin Valley area of northern/western Knoxville.

Just another suggestion. Definitely visit before you move... Franklin and Johnson City have TOTALLY different feels...

[straw71]

thank you for the information, jabogitlu... we hadn't actually considered knoxville itself. we are going to visit for a week and spend a few days in each city checking things out.