Moving to Tennessee from CT ?’s, Career ?’s, Places in TN to move to ?’s (Chattanooga: 2014, mortgage) - Page 5 - City-Data Forum

fishingupnorth · 06-10-2020, 04:38 AM

We moved from Wisconsin to TN 7 months ago. We are very happy with our decision. We settled in Fairfield Glade which is a 55+ community near Crossville

rossn2 · 06-10-2020, 06:05 AM

I am from Southington CT, left in the 80's via the military and now reside in TX since late 90's. Will be moving to area about 90 miles SW of Nashville in couple of years and retire. TN and Buffalo Rivers both within 10 miles and Natchez trace 20 miles, Jack Daniels about 100 miles ESE of me..
Cannot wait for slow life, small town, rolling hills, riding motorcycle,fishing and hunting every day..

rossn2 · 06-10-2020, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjshaw130

Seems like alot of people are for the Chattanooga area. Chattanooga is ranked in the top 10 best places to live in the whole US! If you look on the state of TN website there are quite a few state nursing positions open that range from 38k to 52k a year scaling from registered nurse 1 to registered nurse 3. Pretty good for TN. My gf will always make more than me as most law enforcement positions down there dont pay that well. But then again they dont really pay that well up here in CT either unless you work a ton of overtime. When we go down in August so far we have Ocoee Rafting in Ducktown, TN which I have done before and was a ton of fun, my gf really wants to see Nashville so were going to do a trip out there as well. I can show her around there as i've been there several times, possibly visit Douglas Lake again even though its a few hours from Chattanooga. I want to visit Chattanooga and the surrounding areas but I dont really know how to just explore besides driving around. Eastern TN is so big I dont even know where to start.

Contact a realtor in the both areas (Nashville & Chattanooga) and talk with them what you're looking for. They can create a MLS Search meeting your criteria and auto-email it to you weekly. This way you can narrow down places and don't waste your time driving around..

Geneyus · 06-13-2020, 08:28 PM

Regarding policing in TN:
You may find that police salaries look somewhat low in TN, but so is the cost of living. The laws are pretty practical, and the state supports law enforcement pretty well. Pensions are hit-or-miss. You'll probably find both options (401k and Pension) some places, but I agree that pensions are going away slowly. Personally, I wouldn't police in the Memphis area or Nashville. Small towns (away from large cities) usually make really low salaries, but I've found the suburbs compete with the large cities they're near. As an example: Some suburbs around Memphis make more money than Memphis, but Memphis can offer unlimited overtime.

I was an officer for over a decade and finally had enough.

If I were you, I'd look at Chattanooga. I've lived in TN my entire life, and I'd be there if the ole "ball and chain" didn't want to stay in Memphis.

Chattanooga is beautiful, and it's great for people who are active and like the outdoors. Maybe take off a week or two and visit some cities? They're all a few hours apart.

mjshaw130 · 07-01-2020, 10:50 PM

I will be traveling down to TN in August for about a week and a half. Have tons of stuff booked for me and my girlfriend to do when were down there in several different areas. Just curious, seems like the majority of jobs in TN pay about 30k a year. Is that something that a middle class person can live off of and own a house, start a family, etc?

Serious Conversation · 07-02-2020, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjshaw130

I will be traveling down to TN in August for about a week and a half. Have tons of stuff booked for me and my girlfriend to do when were down there in several different areas. Just curious, seems like the majority of jobs in TN pay about 30k a year. Is that something that a middle class person can live off of and own a house, start a family, etc?

That's about right for county deputy starting pay in this part of the state. With two incomes, that's $60k and above median HHI. It would work if you're pretty frugal - small, older house, eating in most of the time, no expensive hobbies, etc.

I lived off of that my first job out of college in 2010. With a student loan and a hundred mile roundtrip commute a day to get that, I was living with my parents.

While this area is cheaper than many, about the only savings you'll see will be on property price/rent, and some in taxes.

mjshaw130 · 07-02-2020, 08:46 AM

I will be going down before the gf and am trying to get a house before she comes down. We both have student loans, me about 40k and her about 60k. We both are big into boating so a boat is an absolute must when we go down and settle in a little. I know most law enforcement pays about 30k a year or so but just curious if that is reasonable to live on. Just about everything in TN with the exception of sales tax and things like cars/boats, etc. are WAY cheaper than CT.

Serious Conversation · 07-02-2020, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjshaw130

I will be going down before the gf and am trying to get a house before she comes down. We both have student loans, me about 40k and her about 60k. We both are big into boating so a boat is an absolute must when we go down and settle in a little. I know most law enforcement pays about 30k a year or so but just curious if that is reasonable to live on. Just about everything in TN with the exception of sales tax and things like cars/boats, etc. are WAY cheaper than CT.

With $100k of student loans? No, it's not, not at all. I would never move somewhere for a $30k job unless I was hand-to-mouth desperate.

The personal finances need to be cleaned up first. There's no way you are going to afford payments on $100k student loans and have any quality of life on the low wages around here. Forget a boat. A covered slip at most marinas in the area is $2k-$3k annually. Boat really means "bring on another thousand."

I'm from and currently live in the Tri-Cities, but have also lived in nice suburbs in Iowa, Indiana, and spent nearly a year total on business over the years outside Boston. Other than Boston, this area is really on cheaper at the very low end (some rural properties or undesirable towns) and on income taxes. Otherwise, it was basically a toss-up with my previous locations, but with generally lower paying jobs and a worse economy. If I wasn't originally from the area, I wouldn't live here.

While it will be cheaper than CT, you will be coming out worse off with that dramatic of a salary decline.

mjshaw130 · 07-02-2020, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

With $100k of student loans? No, it's not, not at all. I would never move somewhere for a $30k job unless I was hand-to-mouth desperate.

The personal finances need to be cleaned up first. There's no way you are going to afford payments on $100k student loans and have any quality of life on the low wages around here. Forget a boat. A covered slip at most marinas in the area is $2k-$3k annually. Boat really means "bring on another thousand."

I'm from and currently live in the Tri-Cities, but have also lived in nice suburbs in Iowa, Indiana, and spent nearly a year total on business over the years outside Boston. Other than Boston, this area is really on cheaper at the very low end (some rural properties or undesirable towns) and on income taxes. Otherwise, it was basically a toss-up with my previous locations, but with generally lower paying jobs and a worse economy. If I wasn't originally from the area, I wouldn't live here.

While it will be cheaper than CT, you will be coming out worse off with that dramatic of a salary decline.

100k is an extreme high stretch, were probably more in the 80k area. That is also split between 2 people. She will be making a minimum of 50k a year down in TN to start and thats on the low end. I wasn't saying I was going to take a 30k a year job I was just curious if it was something you could live on. I have been looking at all sorts of jobs in TN for quite a few years now and anything above 40-50k are people who have a serious education and professional experience background. Everyone else is around 20-50k. I have owned several boats so am aware of the cost of owning one. Most people have student loans, car payment, and a mortgage, this is all extremely common for just about anyone now a days. I am not living a life of luxury but to me happiness is worth far more than money.

Geneyus · 07-03-2020, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjshaw130

I will be traveling down to TN in August for about a week and a half. Have tons of stuff booked for me and my girlfriend to do when were down there in several different areas. Just curious, seems like the majority of jobs in TN pay about 30k a year. Is that something that a middle class person can live off of and own a house, start a family, etc?

I'd say $30k is an entry-level job with many college degrees. You can certainly double it or more within 5-10 years if you're good at your job and keep an eye open for other opportunities. These days, it seems like the longer you stay with an employer, the more your salary stagnates. You might get that 3% raise every year, but you could potentially jump thousands moving positions every 5-10 years.

To answer your question, $30k will allow you to rent an apartment in a decent area. I don't know about owning housing... maybe renting a small house. If you're married and have a second income stream of $30k+, you should be able to have a pretty good life in TN.