Looking for some advice on Eastern Tennessee (Knoxville, Johnson City: how much, high school)

[TiredofJersey]

Hello All,

I will be relocating to East Tennessee from New Jersey within a month. Can anyone answer a couple of questions regarding nice areas to live, property taxes, schools, etc:
I have had some conversation with people in the area and they tell me that Morristown, Jefferson City and Dandridge are nice areas, any info on those particular areas would be great. Thanks and have a great day!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by TiredofJersey

Hello All,

I will be relocating to East Tennessee from New Jersey within a month. Can anyone answer a couple of questions regarding nice areas to live, property taxes, schools, etc:
I have had some conversation with people in the area and they tell me that Morristown, Jefferson City and Dandridge are nice areas, any info on those particular areas would be great. Thanks and have a great day!

Tell us a bit more what you're looking for and how much of a commute you want. Where exactly is your job going to be? You can look up info for each of those towns here at city-data.com.

You can find info on the school systems at the Tennessee Department of Education web site:

Tennessee Department of Education - Report Card - Profile

For property taxes, each county and each city has its own property tax rate. You can find them here:

Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury - Division of Property Assessments (http://www.comptroller1.state.tn.us/PAnew/ - broken link)

Good luck.

[TiredofJersey]

JMT,

Thanks for the reply! I will be working in Newport, so 10 to 20 miles out would work for a commute.. I am married with 3 kids, ages 2-10.We are hoping to find out some info on areas that have good schools and things to do for the kids. Any help would be great!

[JMT]

Originally Posted by TiredofJersey

JMT,

Thanks for the reply! I will be working in Newport, so 10 to 20 miles out would work for a commute.. I am married with 3 kids, ages 2-10.We are hoping to find out some info on areas that have good schools and things to do for the kids. Any help would be great!

Unfortunately, none of the areas around Newport are reputed to have very good schools. You can go to greatschools.net and look up the ratings of the schools in that area. That particular web site uses standardized tests to formulate its scores.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest score possible), here's how they stack up:

Dandridge - 7
Jefferson City - 4
Morristown - 6
Newport - 5

Dandridge and Jefferson City are actually in the same school system (Jefferson County) but for some reason Dandridge's schools are rated higher. Granted, kids can get a good education no matter the school since much of it depends on parent involvement, and sometimes these ratings are more a reflection of the socio-economic background of the area and not on the curriculum offered.

Of the towns you mentioned, my personal favorite is Dandridge. It's the smallest, but it's located right smack on a lake and it's the closest town to Knoxville.

Have you considered Greeneville? It's a beautiful town between Newport and Johnson City that you might want to check out.

But all of those towns are in a beautiful area. That area of East Tennessee has lakes, mountains, hills, farms, towns, low taxes, lots of friendly people and some awesome food.

Good luck!

[mbmouse]

I want to second all of JMT's great info and assessment. I also want to also suggest to look at south Greene County. South Greene high school is a very good school and many students who graduate from there are recipients of scholarships to some very good colleges.
Hwy 321 runs straight to Newport and I have heard they are expanding it to make it even easier to travel. When I used to live in Greene Co. I would travel 321 when I went to pick up 40 to go to Maggie Valley NC or to get to Gatlinburg. It is a BEAUTIFUL drive! So even though it may not be the ideal commute time, you will enjoy the drive.

[jabogitlu]

I have family in Greeneville (on the east side, no less!) that do daily commutes to work in Newport, so it's possible. It is a pretty hefty commute, though. But I think it's worth it - the Greene County schools and Greeneville City schools (especially South Greene, Chuckey Doak and Greeneville High) are better alternatives.

As far as quality of life goes, Jeff City, Dandridge and especially Morristown aren't bad places to live, comparatively. I would absolutely avoid living in Newport or most of Cocke County if I could. Newport actually might remind you of New Jersey.

[TiredofJersey]

Thank you all for the advice, I will look into the places you have suggested and really appreciate the help.

[bookworm290]

Ditto on Greene County...a fantastic place to live!