We're looking to move and wanting 4 full seasons of weather. Preferably an area that

1. Doesn't have to shovel snow
2. Summer temps are sub 90

We have looked at Tennessee and have considered Kentucky. We are headed to Chattanooga this weekend for a vacation and plan to explore there and possibly McMinnville TN.

Thoughts on TN and Kentucky? Which do you prefer? Areas of suggested state?

Thanks

Tennessee….as stated above, no state income tax….

after living in Texas for 50 years, i relocated to Johnson City….absolutely love it…anywhere in the Bristol/JC/Kingsport triangle is ideal…four seasons, minimal snow, rivers, lakes, parks, hiking, biking, fishing, and mountains…leaves are changing now and it's beautiful….

both Bristol and JC have some good restaurants, bars, and a downtown scene…

plus, we have the Tri-Cities airport which will eventually get you to where you want to be…direct flights are limited….you can get back to Texas via Dallas direct, but not Houston or Austin….Knoxville and Asheville have larger airports and both are less than an hour and a half away…

Kentucky, Virginia, WV, NC and SC are all within a quick drive…northeast TN is ideally located for weekend treks….

i'd say the only drawback is a lack of international food restaurants….take note if you're a foodie…

deadhead aggie said:

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Tennessee….as stated above, no state income tax….

after living in Texas for 50 years, i relocated to Johnson City….absolutely love it…anywhere in the Bristol/JC/Kingsport triangle is ideal…four seasons, minimal snow, rivers, lakes, parks, hiking, biking, fishing, and mountains…leaves are changing now and it's beautiful….

both Bristol and JC have some good restaurants, bars, and a downtown scene…

plus, we have the Tri-Cities airport which will eventually get you to where you want to be…direct flights are limited….you can get back to Texas via Dallas direct, but not Houston or Austin….Knoxville and Asheville have larger airports and both are less than an hour and a half away…

Kentucky, Virginia, WV, NC and SC are all within a quick drive…northeast TN is ideally located for weekend treks….

i'd say the only drawback is a lack of international food restaurants….take note if you're a foodie…

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Johnson City was the other city/area we strongly considered.

Chattanooga was awesome. Hixson might have been even better.

We are now focused on being within an hour from Louisville KY. I have read so much about both states on the internet. The 'no state income tax' has been stated in almost every debate. Tennessee's population boom has also been stated a bunch.

Kentucky on the other hand isn't growing nearly as quickly and the weather seems to be slightly cooler. I'm not ruling out Chattanooga/Hixson, or Johnson City entirely, but Louisville seems to be the strong leader.

Thanks for the responses

Just to give a little info...

Louisville is extremely different than JC or Chattanooga. JC and Chatt are the south, Louisville is more rust belt. Louisville always felt to me to be really similar to Cincy and Pittsburgh. There is snow in Louisville.


JC is the home of Nascar, bootlegging, and to a lesser extent Meth and pills. I like it a lot for the outdoors feel. Tough to get to a decent airport. I would absolutely live in the tri cities but not if I had to fly much.

Chattanooga is very techy and very Confederate/Civil War. I like Chattanooga for the rivers and biking but the racism in the surrounding areas is just too much for me. It is also extremely Baptist and 7th day adventist in those surrounding hills. Better not be a big fan of evolution around the hills on the west side of town, they shoot people for that. Scopes Monkey trial happened there and attitudes have not changed much.

I enjoy northern Kentucky

knoxtom said:

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Just to give a little info...

Louisville is extremely different than JC or Chattanooga. JC and Chatt are the south, Louisville is more rust belt. Louisville always felt to me to be really similar to Cincy and Pittsburgh. There is snow in Louisville.


JC is the home of Nascar, bootlegging, and to a lesser extent Meth and pills. I like it a lot for the outdoors feel. Tough to get to a decent airport. I would absolutely live in the tri cities but not if I had to fly much.

Chattanooga is very techy and very Confederate/Civil War. I like Chattanooga for the rivers and biking but the racism in the surrounding areas is just too much for me. It is also extremely Baptist and 7th day adventist in those surrounding hills. Better not be a big fan of evolution around the hills on the west side of town, they shoot people for that. Scopes Monkey trial happened there and attitudes have not changed much.

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How much snow? Better question would be, how many days a year am I shoveling snow?

We've lived in the Knoxville area since 2009. Overall, I'd give this area a strong 'thumbs up.'

That said, if this is an area you're considering, bear in mind overcast skies, i.e., total days of sun. Chattanooga averages 210 total days of sun, Knoxville averages 204 days of sun, and Johnson City averages 201 days of sun. Thanks to the Smoky Mountains to the Southeast, and the Cumberland Mountains/Cumberland plateau to the Northwest, the Tennessee valley experiences several days of cloudy weather.

It's really bad in the winter...one can go days without seeing the sun. You get used to it (to a point), but it is something one needs to be aware.

ToddyHill said:

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We've lived in the Knoxville area since 2009. Overall, I'd give this area a strong 'thumbs up.'

That said, if this is an area you're considering, bear in mind overcast skies, i.e., total days of sun. Chattanooga averages 210 total days of sun, Knoxville averages 204 days of sun, and Johnson City averages 201 days of sun. Thanks to the Smoky Mountains to the Southeast, and the Cumberland Mountains/Cumberland plateau to the Northwest, the Tennessee valley experiences several days of cloudy weather.

It's really bad in the winter...one can go days without seeing the sun. You get used to it (to a point), but it is something one needs to be aware.

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This is quite true about the gray days. In eastern TN it rains most of the spring and early summer, it is beautiful in the fall, and it is really gray in the winter.

As for the snow, my friends from Louisville often owned snowblowers. Nobody in Knox, Chatt, or JC owns a snowblower.

I liked my 10 years in Knoxville but I wouldn't want to raise a kid there. We left when our kid was born.

Snow blowers?

Any idea how often a year are people shoveling snow or using blowers?

Quote:

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Any idea how often a year are people shoveling snow or using blowers?

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Take this as it is meant to be....tongue-in-cheek. The natives never shovel snow, and the only snow blower in our neighborhood is a small electric one we own. Generally speaking, accessing one's driveway is accomplished by packing the snow with one's tires till it freezes to ice. The same is true with secondary roads. This area is not equipped for snow removal...so generally the roads are minimally plowed with a little bit of sand/salt.

My wife/I are the only people in our sub-division that shovel snow. Then again, we were both born in New England.

This past January, we received 12" of snow in the Knoxville area, the most in 30 years. Added to that were temperatures that plunged to single digits for days. The area was essentially shut down for a week. Schools were out for a couple of weeks.

All that said, the valley gets snow a couple of times a year, about an inch or two. To put it in perspective, we've lived here for 15 years, and have enjoyed two 'White' Christmas'.

If anything, snow here is a fun experience for all as it doesn't last long and doesn't come often.

ToddyHill said:

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Quote:

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Any idea how often a year are people shoveling snow or using blowers?

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Take this as it is meant to be....tongue-in-cheek. The natives never shovel snow, and the only snow blower in our neighborhood is a small electric one we own. Generally speaking, accessing one's driveway is accomplished by packing the snow with one's tires till it freezes to ice. The same is true with secondary roads. This area is not equipped for snow removal...so generally the roads are minimally plowed with a little bit of sand/salt.

My wife/I are the only people in our sub-division that shovel snow. Then again, we were both born in New England.

This past January, we received 12" of snow in the Knoxville area, the most in 30 years. Added to that were temperatures that plunged to single digits for days. The area was essentially shut down for a week. Schools were out for a couple of weeks.

All that said, the valley gets snow a couple of times a year, about an inch or two. To put it in perspective, we've lived here for 15 years, and have enjoyed two 'White' Christmas'.

If anything, snow here is a fun experience for all as it doesn't last long and doesn't come often.

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I continued my questions about this topic online outside of texags and got the same answers. Basically, Louisville gets a "dusting" here and there but nothing crazy. There have been some monster snow days there but it's like once in every 15 years

So with that said, I'm good with Louisville weather, I think it's about as close to perfect for what we're wanting.

Now for the next big question

what's the housing market look like there? Is it so competitive that we'll need a down payment? I was thinking about going the VA loan route.

I ask this question because in many parts of the country, buying a home goes to the person with the biggest cash down/offer. There might be 5 or 6 offers on the same home.

Why would anyone care about the amount of cash down? The seller gets their money whether it comes from the mortgage company or in the form of cash. It isn't like the cash down is paid to the seller, it goes to the title company anyway.