Live in Chattanooga, work in GA (East Brainerd: sales, houses, safest neighborhood)

[Gatorin?]

Hello,

I am considering a potential job in North GA, which is about 30-45 min southeast from Chattanooga (depending on where in Chattanooga we might live). It is a well-paying job (couple hundred thousand), but the city is small and we would prefer to be closer to Chattanooga. So I have a few questions:

1) From a tax stand point, do you think it would be better to live (and buy a house) on the GA or TN side? Presumably, even if we lived on the TN side, we could do most of our shopping on the GA side to keep the sales taxes low.

2) We would want to send our children to private school in Chattanooga...can we live on either side for this?

3) What is the best/safest neighborhood in Southeast Chattanooga? East Brainerd?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

[dasmarian]

In response to #1, there is no tax advantage to living in TN when you work in GA. You will have to pay GA state income tax if you a) work in GA and/or b) live there.

#2 - not sure

#3 - For your income range you probably want to look in Mountain Shadows or similar. Checking out houses in your appropriate range will direct you to good areas without too much worry about safety.