Happier Abroad Forum Community

Pros:
Low cost of living compared to other states

No state income tax

A lot of growth in the big cities (Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Murfreesboro)

good sports culture (Especially football)

good music culture in Nashville (Especially if you like country music)

Well developed compared to other southern states (I haven't seen any dirt roads here for example, but there are tons in other southern states)

A lot of natural beauty (My city is a 20 minute drive from the busiest national park in the whole country)

Pleasant climate (Spring, summer, and fall is warm. winter can be cold and snowy, but its short)

Good food (Southern soul food like bbq, fried chicken etc)

Tennessee is in a very central location (Borders 8 states) and this makes it convenient/easy to travel to a significant number of other states/cities in less than a day

There are a fair number of attractive women here (But they are picky and stuck-up like the women elsewhere in the U.S )

People are superficially friendly and will smile at you, greet you etc



Cons:

While people are superficially friendly, it's hard to make real friends here. People on HA have talked about the general cliquishness of America, but I get the impression that this is worse in the south. People here are very tribal and stick with their own. I go to a community college where most of my classmates went to high school together and they all socialize with each other and i'm mostly left out.

While there are plenty of attractive women, there is an even greater number of overweight unattractive women.

Lots of single mothers

Lots of white trash/ redneck people

drug and alcohol abuse is common

violent crime is pretty common, especially in the major cities (Nashville and Memphis). Memphis was the national leader in murders for years (Not sure if it still is)

People are extremely conservative in their political views and the overwhelming majority of Tennesseans who bother to vote will always vote republican even if Satan was the republican candidate and Jesus was the Democrat candidate(This might be a positive for you, but it's not in my opinion and that's why I put it here).


So there you have it. As you can see, there are lots of positive things about living in Tennessee, but there are also some negatives. In my opinion, Tennessee is a great place to live if you live in the right areas or neighborhoods. It is affordable, pretty well developed, has lots of pretty countryside/ natural beauty, and has some good cultural stuff (Music, sports, food, art,religion ). Just don't live in a small backwards town or in the inner city areas of Nashville and Memphis and you will probably be fine.

What is the job market like in Tennessee?

I have found that Georgia and the Carolinas seem more 'developed' than some parts of the north in some ways. Up in Ohio, for example, there are a lot of roads that 'jog' as they call it. You are on 8th street, but to stay on eight street, you have to turn on main street and then turn left again. That's poor, archaic city planning. In the Atlanta area, it seems like every street has a sign. Once you get out of the city, at just about every highway off-ramp if the area isn't too rural, you can turn right or left and find a gas station and a restaurant, and just easily get back on the interstate. Maybe 'developed' isn't the right word, but things seem to be laid out in a nice, predictable arrangement that is convenient for drivers. Some areas up north are kind of run down.

Most of the south is not urban sprawl, but a lot of it was built up more recently. Roads are laid out well, and there are good facilities (stores, etc.) considering the population density. So I see that as being developed for what it is.

As far as dirt roads go, there are plenty of dirt roads that are drive ways in the south. I suspect if you went out of town far enough in Tennessee that there are dirt roads, but they are hard to find in Georgia and the Carolinas as well if they aren't basically driveways or shared right of way roads to country homes. Maybe you can find a dirt road with a name that is a publicly owned road in rural areas.

I probably haven't been to Mississippi since the 1980's, and I probably haven't been to Alabama since the 1980s or 1990s. I don't know what it is like in those parts. Some people think the South is poor and undeveloped. That's not my impression of it. In the Atlanta area, it seems like half of the people don't sound like they are from the South.

Doesn't Tennessee have kind of a high sales tax to offset not having income tax? If someone from Tennessee shops across the border in another state, is he legally required to pay the sales tax on it to Tennessee? I suppose people on the border could buy groceries in the next state over to keep from having to pay tax.

For singles, another advantage to Tennessee is that a man can use that cheesy pick-up line, but she won't see it coming.

"So are you from Tennessee?"
"Because you are the only seven I see."
(Throw a neg in there to throw her off base.)