Murfreesboro VS Mt. Juliet (Franklin, Hendersonville: new house, employment, buy)

[Monique81]

What are some vast differences and similarities in the areas? What about schools for elementary, middle, & high as well as childcare centers? Looking to relocate in a few months and I have narrowed it down to two areas. Also, looking for a 3 bedroom with $1200 maximum budget for housing. Any info would be helpful.

[nashvols]

The biggest differences are size and location.

While Mount Juliet is currently booming, it only has about 27-28,000 residents. In contrast, Murfreesboro has about 115,000.

Murfreesboro has been a major 'town' for a long time now, too. It predates the Civil War and was even the capital of Tennessee for a short time. Murfreesboro is the location of MTSU, a large state university, which gives Murfreesboro a college town identity.

Although a much of Murfreesboro's growth can be attributed to its proximity to Nashville, it's size, history, MTSU's presence, and distance from Nashville (33 miles as opposed to 18 for Mount Juliet) gives it a more independent identity. Most of Mount Juliet is typical suburbia. It does not have a traditional downtown or town square. Murfreesboro has the largest old town square/old street grid of any of the towns around Nashville -- but outside of that area, it is just like most suburbs in the area with sprawling subdivisions and new houses.

Generally speaking, housing tends to be a little less expensive in Murfreesboro (proximity has a lot to do with that)...so you might be able to get more house for your money there. Mount Juliet's housing values have been increasing, and while they are not on par with houses in Williamson County, they are more than a lot of the other cities in the area.

Median house values (cities with 25,000+ population):

Brentwood - $489,700
Franklin - $309,400
Spring Hill - $197,500
Hendersonville - $197,000
Mount Juliet - $196,200
Murfreesboro - $176,200
Lebanon - $171,100
Nashville - $165,000
Gallatin - $160,200
Smyrna - $150,800
La Vergne - $135,600

Mount Juliet is currently about $20,000 more than Murfreesboro, but my belief is that number will increase in time. Mount Juliet is closer to Nashville, and has a much friendlier commute (as well as the option of taking Nashville's commuter rail line if you work downtown -- an option that may come to Murfreesboro one day, but has no current time table).

My opinion is that it will come down to where you work. If you work in Nashville, I would definitely pick Mount Juliet. Murfreesboro is great if you work in Murfreesboro or Rutherford County (there are a lot of jobs there, anyways)...but it will be a haul if you work in Nashville, and that commute is getting significantly more difficult as time goes on.

If you work in Brentwood or Franklin (another major jobs center), then it's probably a slight advantage to Murfreesboro, but not by a lot.

[septimus]

my thoughts are you'll have better job opportunities in M'boro than Mt. Juliet. There are a lot more big employers in M'boro than Mt Juliet. Additionally, Nashville and Williamson County jobs would be commutable whereas if you are in Mt. Juliet you wouldn't want to commute to Cool Springs for potential future jobs.

[Drake744]

Originally Posted by septimus

my thoughts are you'll have better job opportunities in M'boro than Mt. Juliet. There are a lot more big employers in M'boro than Mt Juliet. Additionally, Nashville and Williamson County jobs would be commutable whereas if you are in Mt. Juliet you wouldn't want to commute to Cool Springs for potential future jobs.

People don't really look for jobs IN Mt Juliet. MJ is just a good place to live if someone works downtown or east of town.

I wouldn't live in Murfreesboro unless I worked in or nearby the Boro

[septimus]

Originally Posted by Drake744

People don't really look for jobs IN Mt Juliet. MJ is just a good place to live if someone works downtown or east of town.

I wouldn't live in Murfreesboro unless I worked in or nearby the Boro

that's my point though. There aren't jobs in Mt Juliet and the modern trend is people want to live near their jobs (that's why downtown living, East Nashville, Sylvan park, etc are all gentrifying/growing).

Personally I like living in Franklin because it seems that most of the corporate relocations to Middle TN are either to Nashville or Cool Springs, which means plenty of job opportunity without a big commute.

At least Murfreesboro is a big enough city with lots of employment opportunities, but also fairly decent access to Nashville and plenty of people commute to Cool Springs via 96/840 from Murfreesboro. I wouldn't want to commute to Cool Springs from Mt. Juliet or even Sumner County.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by septimus

I wouldn't want to commute to Cool Springs from Mt. Juliet or even Sumner County.

I doubt it takes much more time than commuting from Murfreesboro.

[Drake744]

Originally Posted by septimus

that's my point though. There aren't jobs in Mt Juliet and the modern trend is people want to live near their jobs (that's why downtown living, East Nashville, Sylvan park, etc are all gentrifying/growing).

Personally I like living in Franklin because it seems that most of the corporate relocations to Middle TN are either to Nashville or Cool Springs, which means plenty of job opportunity without a big commute.

At least Murfreesboro is a big enough city with lots of employment opportunities, but also fairly decent access to Nashville and plenty of people commute to Cool Springs via 96/840 from Murfreesboro. I wouldn't want to commute to Cool Springs from Mt. Juliet or even Sumner County.

I'd assume the commute from Sumner County to Cool Springs is rougher than Mt Juliet with the traffic. Neither is ideal obviously but I used to commute to Brentwood from MJ because I happened to get a job there and rather than sit on 40 and 440, I just took Briley south until it becomes Thompson Lane, then get on 65 at 100 Oaks. Yeah Franklin is a great place to live especially if you work there, but there's always a way to make it work if not. Nashville is such a spread out area that it's hard to pinpoint one exact location to work/live. I read a stat that Nashville has one of the top 3 longest average commute distances in the country in terms of miles driven one-way. Sometimes you just have to pick a place you enjoy, and deal with the commute the best you can.

[sosodev]

- Mboro has more diversity than Mt. Juliet
- Mboro has a larger selection of subdivisions to select from versus Mt. Juliet
- Mboro has twice the shopping and restaurants than Mt. Juliet
- Mboro has a major university (MTSU)
- Mboro is closer to Franklin
- Mboro has better schools

- Mt. Juliet is closer to the airport
- Mt. Juliet not as congested as Mboro
- Mt. Juliet has less crime
- Mt. Juliet is closer to downtown Nashville
- Mt. Juliet is smaller

[think365]

You can buy a house near 840 in Mt. Juliet and the commute to Williamson county would be simple. Plus as mentioned, the Mt. Juliet commuter rail makes commuting to Nashville simple as well.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by think365

You can buy a house near 840 in Mt. Juliet and the commute to Williamson county would be simple. Plus as mentioned, the Mt. Juliet commuter rail makes commuting to Nashville simple as well.

It would be insane to commute from near Mount Juliet to Williamson County via 840...Cool Springs is a good 8-10 miles north of 840. Even with it being faster, you are talking about a 50+ mile commute vs. a 30 mile commute if you go through town.

For commuters, 840 is really only effective going between Lebanon/Mount Juliet and Murfreesboro/Smyrna. Franklin and Brentwood are well north of 840.

With gas prices the way they are, I think the 30+ mile one way commute is ill-advised, anyways.