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BTW, Appalachian State is part of the University of North Carolina system, just like UNC-Asheville. Wanted to come back and clarify that. It just doesn't have UNC in the name. It's a big public state university with 19,000 students, about 2000 of which are grad students. They offer about 70 graduate programs.
UNC-Asheville is one of the smallest schools in the UNC system with an enrollment of just 3600 students and just the one Masters program mentioned up thread.
My husband and I are considering a big move from Ashland, Oregon to Asheville or possibly Greenville, SC.
Background- We both grew up in Missouri and don’t have kids unless you count our cat and dog. We love the great outdoors (hiking, kayaking, fishing, National Park hopping, camping). Politically we lean pretty far left but having grown up in the Midwest and now living in the hippiest city in Oregon we have seen it all and are quite tolerant people. We’re from the Midwest, obviously we are friendly people. I’m an RN and my husband manages a large chain restaurant.
Reason for moving- We currently live in what I consider one of the most beautiful places in the United States. I’m making more money than I ever would have in Missouri but the cost of living has become quite an issue. Buying a house with land at a reasonable price is laughable where we live. I want land and I’m not willing to sacrifice that dream.
Also, people in Oregon are not very friendly. I want to be able to find a good group of friends with similar values.
Wildfires are quite a detriment to southern Oregon and Northern California (or rather all of California) and it can quite literally ruin an entire summer due to unhealthy air quality.
So, is Asheville the same in regards to high cost of living? My research is telling me it is. Likely both of us will be making less money and that concerns me. Obviously there will be no lack of outdoor activities near us and Asheville, while maybe no very diverse seems like it is a fairly friendly city. The weather seems pretty mild, yeah?
In state college tuition for a master’s program? Reasonable or nah?
Any suggestions and input would be so appreciated! We are visiting in January, also.
Lots of accurate information on this thread. From a practical, employment standpoint- the GSP area may be a better bet. But where you live and surround yourself with people and scenery matters, and as a middle aged, childfree professional who lived in Western NC for 15+years before heading west, I would take Asheville/Asheville area in a heartbeat- or at least somewhere in the NC mountains, as there are a number of good options (Hendersonville, Sylva/Cullowhee, Boone, etc.). There's a pronounced difference between the mountains and piedmont/foothills in both attitude and weather. Again, choose mountains.
Wow, thank you all so much for the kind and honest responses. You’ve made our decision even harder, ha!
Just trying to reply to everyone.....as an RN here with four years of experience I make the lower end of $34/hour. This is due to working in a clinic but I was making closer to $40/hour in the hospital setting, which is where I’m going to look once we move.
Rent in Ashland for our 3 bed 1 bath (small “yard” and no garage but we do have off street parking) is $1800/month plus utilities which run us on average $150 per month.
There’s no humidity here, hence wildfires, so I’m totally fine with being back into some humidity. I experienced it in Missouri and got used to it.
We will be flying into Charlotte in January and renting a car to explore the places we are considering.
All of the school suggestions are awesome. At this point in time I’m only condisering going back to school so our move won’t be heavily based on school locations. Many nurse practitioner programs are online these days with the exception of clinical. Still no the fence about doing an online program but that’s beside the point.
LOL on Asheville looking down on chain restaurants. Ashland abhors chain restaurants and the only chains are fast food restaurants at both exits to serve people that are traveling. It’s nice to support local businesses but also kind of funny because my husband manages a chain restaurant in the neighboring city.
We would be renting our first year just to make sure we want to stay and buy. Thanks for all of the suggestions on surrounding areas, we will certainly keep that in mind if we do buy.
My favorite part of Ashland is being surrounded on all sides with beautiful mountains. Really makes me lean towards. Asheville but I lean towards Greenville due to what seems like more of a city feel and more amenities.
Wow, thank you all so much for the kind and honest responses. You’ve made our decision even harder, ha!
Just trying to reply to everyone.....as an RN here with four years of experience I make the lower end of $34/hour. This is due to working in a clinic but I was making closer to $40/hour in the hospital setting, which is where I’m going to look once we move.
Rent in Ashland for our 3 bed 1 bath (small “yard” and no garage but we do have off street parking) is $1800/month plus utilities which run us on average $150 per month.
There’s no humidity here, hence wildfires, so I’m totally fine with being back into some humidity. I experienced it in Missouri and got used to it.
We will be flying into Charlotte in January and renting a car to explore the places we are considering.
All of the school suggestions are awesome. At this point in time I’m only condisering going back to school so our move won’t be heavily based on school locations. Many nurse practitioner programs are online these days with the exception of clinical. Still no the fence about doing an online program but that’s beside the point.
LOL on Asheville looking down on chain restaurants. Ashland abhors chain restaurants and the only chains are fast food restaurants at both exits to serve people that are traveling. It’s nice to support local businesses but also kind of funny because my husband manages a chain restaurant in the neighboring city.
We would be renting our first year just to make sure we want to stay and buy. Thanks for all of the suggestions on surrounding areas, we will certainly keep that in mind if we do buy.
My favorite part of Ashland is being surrounded on all sides with beautiful mountains. Really makes me lean towards. Asheville but I lean towards Greenville due to what seems like more of a city feel and more amenities.
I went to school in MO (Columbia), lived there year round for 3 years and can tell you the humidity here is NOTHING like that or St Louis when I'd visit friends in the summer - a piece of cake in comparison.
Smart move coming for a visit. I will caution you that it's unlikely you'll see everything you have on your list and get a good feel for the area as things are spread out. Yes you can drive point A to B in an hour but you'll be wandering, sightseeing, getting bearings and following GPS which is often not the route a local would use to avoid traffic or lights or whatever. What I'm saying is don't be surprised if you go home scratching your head without a good feel for how things are laid out here. I'm 5 years in to living here and still figuring it out!
Another smart move to rent before jumping in to buying a house. And do check out Hendersonville/Henderson County for accessibility to both Asheville and Greenville as someone else mentioned up thread. Full disclosure that's where I live so I'm biased.
Greenville, in the downtown Main St area does feel more cosmopolitan to me than Asheville. Besides the downtown there are many different shopping districts in Greenville that range from nicer chains in shopping centers to the standards like Target to funky little boho shops spread all over that you have to hunt for. Asheville has a lot of that, too but for some reason it's more difficult for me to navigate than Greenville.
We considered and visited Ashland, OR before deciding on western NC. If you like the progressiveness of Ashland, you will find Asheville much more to your liking than Greenville. Asheville reminds me of Ashland, but larger. Both have beautiful scenery, diversity, and a quirky feel. Also, I agree with a previous poster, if you want to be in the mountains, it has to be Asheville over Greenville. If a university is a major consideration, Boone is worth considering as well.
I'll second the recommendation for Henderson County. We spend our summers in Flat Rock, which for all practical purposes is Hendersonville. You can see mountains. You have great access to both Greenville and Asheville. There's so much to do in the area. You're not far from Brevard, which has a great music scene.
I like Greenville, but it's just too darn hot in the summer. I love Asheville, but real estate is too high for us (retirees). Hendersonville/Flat Rock is just right. Hendersonville has a great little downtown and outside of downtown are all the chain stores you'd ever want.
Wow, thank you all so much for the kind and honest responses. You’ve made our decision even harder, ha!
Just trying to reply to everyone.....as an RN here with four years of experience I make the lower end of $34/hour. This is due to working in a clinic but I was making closer to $40/hour in the hospital setting, which is where I’m going to look once we move.
Rent in Ashland for our 3 bed 1 bath (small “yard” and no garage but we do have off street parking) is $1800/month plus utilities which run us on average $150 per month.
There’s no humidity here, hence wildfires, so I’m totally fine with being back into some humidity. I experienced it in Missouri and got used to it.
We will be flying into Charlotte in January and renting a car to explore the places we are considering.
All of the school suggestions are awesome. At this point in time I’m only condisering going back to school so our move won’t be heavily based on school locations. Many nurse practitioner programs are online these days with the exception of clinical. Still no the fence about doing an online program but that’s beside the point.
LOL on Asheville looking down on chain restaurants. Ashland abhors chain restaurants and the only chains are fast food restaurants at both exits to serve people that are traveling. It’s nice to support local businesses but also kind of funny because my husband manages a chain restaurant in the neighboring city.
We would be renting our first year just to make sure we want to stay and buy. Thanks for all of the suggestions on surrounding areas, we will certainly keep that in mind if we do buy.
My favorite part of Ashland is being surrounded on all sides with beautiful mountains. Really makes me lean towards. Asheville but I lean towards Greenville due to what seems like more of a city feel and more amenities.
The rent budget will probably work in Asheville. As far as RN wages, look up Mission Health on Glassdoor to get a fairly accurate answer. One thing to note is that Mission Health was recently bought out by for-profit Community Health System based out of Nashville. My guess is that patient care positions probably won't change much in the near term, but there is likely consolidation in the corporate departments like IT, supply chain, finance, etc., with many of those positions being eliminated altogether or moved to Nashville.
My husband and I are considering a big move from Ashland, Oregon to Asheville or possibly Greenville, SC.
Background- We both grew up in Missouri and don’t have kids unless you count our cat and dog. We love the great outdoors (hiking, kayaking, fishing, National Park hopping, camping). Politically we lean pretty far left but having grown up in the Midwest and now living in the hippiest city in Oregon we have seen it all and are quite tolerant people. We’re from the Midwest, obviously we are friendly people. I’m an RN and my husband manages a large chain restaurant.
Reason for moving- We currently live in what I consider one of the most beautiful places in the United States. I’m making more money than I ever would have in Missouri but the cost of living has become quite an issue. Buying a house with land at a reasonable price is laughable where we live. I want land and I’m not willing to sacrifice that dream.
What does "land" mean to you? 1/2 acre, 5 acres, 10 acres?
Have you looked at what you get for your housing budget when you eventually buy? How far are you willing to be from Asheville proper?
We considered and visited Ashland, OR before deciding on western NC. If you like the progressiveness of Ashland, you will find Asheville much more to your liking than Greenville. Asheville reminds me of Ashland, but larger. Both have beautiful scenery, diversity, and a quirky feel. Also, I agree with a previous poster, if you want to be in the mountains, it has to be Asheville over Greenville. If a university is a major consideration, Boone is worth considering as well.
What does "land" mean to you? 1/2 acre, 5 acres, 10 acres?
Have you looked at what you get for your housing budget when you eventually buy? How far are you willing to be from Asheville proper?
1-5 acres, yes we have looked at housing prices, hence the reason we are also looking at Greenville because housing seems to be less. I am more than willing to drive up to 30 minutes for a commute to work. Likely i will be working in a hospital so I have to also narrow down where I am going to work/where I end up getting a job.
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