Is London or Breckenridge area a nicer place to live? (Louisville: crimes, neighborhood)

[cat48328]

Originally Posted by censusdata

cat48328, did you know the most rural KY roads are now on Google Street View? You can check out different areas without leaving home

Just zoom in by double right clicking over KY. Then click and drag the orange man at the top of the zoom feature over the map

WOW! Thanks, census!

I just tried the Google Street view for Hardinsburg. It's awesome!

I wouldn't have any idea about which streets, since we're from Michigan, but it looks nice. We'd like about a 1/2 acre with a little privacy to put a new manufactured home on, but where's the Walmart?? LOL!

Cat

[censusdata]

I had some friends whose parents retired to Breckinridge Co from Louisville. They had a double wide on a one acre lot very close to Rough River Lake in the McDaniels community - does that sound some like what you're looking for?

[cat48328]

Yes, but I tried to find McDaniels community on the Google street view and can't find it. You don't happen to know a street name, do you?

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by cat48328

Yes, but I tried to find McDaniels community on the Google street view and can't find it. You don't happen to know a street name, do you?

Actually McDaniels is misplaced on the map anyway. Where my friend's parents lived is acutally closer on that map to Hinton Hills, basically at the intersection of KY 79 and KY 259.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by cat48328

WOW! Thanks, census!

I just tried the Google Street view for Hardinsburg. It's awesome!

I wouldn't have any idea about which streets, since we're from Michigan, but it looks nice. We'd like about a 1/2 acre with a little privacy to put a new manufactured home on, but where's the Walmart?? LOL!

Cat

How close do you want to be to one? If you want to be closer, there are some very nice parts of Southern and western Bullitt County which are only 15 minutes from many suburban Walmarts.

[EclecticEars]

I'd probably go for Breckinridge County. I'll post more later.

[EclecticEars]

Okay, here we go.

I would say Breckinridge Co. b/c of the close proximity to Louisville, Owensboro, Elizabethtown, and Fort Knox. There are some decent job opportunities to be found in those cities, I'm sure (if you can find them, that is, b/c Kentucky's job market isn't that much better than Michigan's in all honesty.) It's quiet, safe, and just not a very hoppin' place, if that's your sort of thing. Yet, you're 45 minutes-1 hour from Sam's, Club, Olive Garden, Home Depot, and all that "city" stuff in O'boro and E'town.

London itself is a very nice town. A nicely refurbished downtown with free public festivals every weekend during the summer (I think, InLondon can speak with more authority on that.) But, outer parts of Laurel County have a relatively high crime rate for a rural area; read, lots of drug activity, including meth labs, and I believe six murders so far for the year, and Laurel Co. has a total population of only 60,000. You could live in Corbin, in far south Laurel Co. about 10 miles south of London. While Corbin is a rather crappy town, Corbin Independent Schools are supposed to be some of the best by Kentucky standards (which aren't great anyway, but there is a fair amount of wealth present in CIS, as well as, I believe, a few National Merit Scholars over the last decade.)

[teebird1012]

I would go with London and Laurel County honestly for a number of reasons.

1. Convenience. London is located right on I-75, an hour south of Lexington and an hour and a half (or so) north of Knoxville, two cities with metro populations of around half a million people (LEX a little less, Knox a little more). What should also be mentioned here is that Laurel County has almost 60,000 people while Breckenridge has around 18,000. London is going to have more public amenities that Hardinsburg.

2. The festivals in London are great- I love the Chicken Festival in September. I have a friend that attends North Laurel High (a senior like me) and he and I go every year.

3. Pricing. Both cities are reasonably priced, but I've looked at real estate in London and you can get quite a bit of house for much less money than in other areas of the state. Again I'm not a London native but I am down there every so often seeing my friend.

I can't speak for schools as I don't know much about the Breckenridge County school system. Laurel County is decent (by KY standards) though this isn't saying much. It is rather sad that our state's schools aren't quite as up to par with other areas of the country, but I digress...

I haven't spent nearly as much time in Hardinsburg as I have London, but for what it's worth, I have come to really enjoy visiting London; it's one of the few places in the state that I could bear to live in (LEX and NoKY being the other two).

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by teebird1012

I would go with London and Laurel County honestly for a number of reasons.

1. Convenience. London is located right on I-75, an hour south of Lexington and an hour and a half (or so) north of Knoxville, two cities with metro populations of around half a million people (LEX a little less, Knox a little more). What should also be mentioned here is that Laurel County has almost 60,000 people while Breckenridge has around 18,000. London is going to have more public amenities that Hardinsburg.

The growing Somerset-London-Corbin region (Pulaski, Laurel, Knox, and Whitley Counties) has a total population of roughly 180,000 residents, with Somerset being the anchor town. However, London at it's current rate of growth will probably become the largest and anchor town within the next ten years. Somerset's just a bit off the beaten path and, other than its proximity to Lake Cumberland and all the Buckeye boaters that visit on the weekends, it doesn't have that much to offer.

Living in London puts you close to two medium-sized metro areas, Lexington and Knoxville. Cincinnati, a larger metro, is only two hours away. Richmond-Madison Co., not counted in the Lex. MSA, has 90,000 or so people and is only 35 miles north of London, just before you get to Lexington, so I guess that counts as a small metro area.

Hardinsburg-Breckinridge County places you in between two small metro areas, Owensboro and Elizabethtown/Radcliff/Fort Knox. HOWEVER, it has London and southeast Ky. in general beat in proximity to several large metro areas. Louisville is less than an hour away, Indianapolis is just over two hours, and Nashville is 2 1/2-3 hours.

2. The festivals in London are great- I love the Chicken Festival in September. I have a friend that attends North Laurel High (a senior like me) and he and I go every year.

3. Pricing. Both cities are reasonably priced, but I've looked at real estate in London and you can get quite a bit of house for much less money than in other areas of the state. Again I'm not a London native but I am down there every so often seeing my friend.

Breck. Co. isn't exactly a place that people are clamoring to move to, so I'd imagine that the property values would even be lower there. Of course, rural Laurel Co. has a high enough crime rate that it probably lowers property values from their potential.

I can't speak for schools as I don't know much about the Breckenridge County school system. Laurel County is decent (by KY standards) though this isn't saying much. It is rather sad that our state's schools aren't quite as up to par with other areas of the country, but I digress...

Very true on all points. Laurel Co. might have some newer, flashier school buildings, but new buildings do not great educational systems make.

Breck. Co. may not have an outstanding repuation, either, but I haven't looked into that. But I do know that Breck. Co. has a lower crime rate, in part due to a lower population. Plus, if you didn't like BC schools, you have the advantage of moving immediately west to Hancock County which has some of Kentucky's best schools.

I haven't spent nearly as much time in Hardinsburg as I have London, but for what it's worth, I have come to really enjoy visiting London; its one of the few places in the state that I could bear to live in (LEX and NoKY being the other two).

London is nice. I don't hate the town; in fact, I think it's quite nice and it's probably the nicest town in all of S.E. KY. (Of course, if I stayed here in the state, Northern KY would be the only place I could really stand.)

Responses in bold.

[InLondon]

I will continue to repeat myself by saying crime is NOT high in Laurel County! End of story, I live here and have my whole life, I'm the one that knows this stuff.