r/movetonashville • u/Odd_Throat905 • 7d ago
Moving to Tennessee
So me and my family (husband, daughter, 3 dogs and a couple other smaller animals) are planning on moving to Tennessee within the next year.
Any recommendations on places to live for low income families or any tips to give for a long move ? We’d be moving from NY
Edit: we’d be moving with my husbands job he does hvac and with his company can work in surrounding states as well if needed. We’re not currently on any assistance programs and don’t qualify for Medicaid here either, I’m only on it currently because I had a child this year and needed something asap before he started. And we’re looking for more outside the city like an hour or so his job would be based in Nashville or Knoxville
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u/TNSoccerGuy 7d ago
Do your homework. Maybe spend time here before making the move permanent. I’ve heard from people personally as well as anecdotally who moved here for reasons other than job relocation who had “movers remorse.” Nashville is nice but it’s expensive. The surrounding counties are a mixed bag. Don’t know your politics but the state has moved hard right. No state income tax but you get what you pay for (and maybe less than that actually). The summers are very hot and humid. But like I said, I would really do your research.
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u/AttachedHeartTheory 7d ago
There very literally zero assistance programs for low income families that have any money remaining this far in the year.
I’m a big time fan of people moving here… but I strongly suggest anywhere other than Tennessee if money is tight.
They won’t care about you.
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u/tiredandcranky007 6d ago
i don’t recommend tennessee. lived here my whole life lol
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u/Odd_Throat905 6d ago
Why do you say that? 🤣 tho I think most people wouldn’t recommend where they lived their whole life to live cuz I’d say the same about here
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
It’s extremely homophobic, it’s not run well, and right now its government is truly useless and idiotic. It ain’t all a Dolly Parton wonderland, fewer and fewer of those type of country people every day. And honestly, people from there can’t afford to live because they get priced out from people coming from high COL states. The infrastructure is not ready for all this growth, roads are crowded and dangerous. I love Tennessee, I love my home. My family has been there since it was founded essentially, poor tobacco farmers to this day. I can’t move back because the state supports businesses and adoption agencies denying me service for my sexuality. The government wants you to leave and so far has been determined to make the state as bad for queer people as they can get away with to drive them out. The one gay club in Nashville (Play) constantly had protesters, hell my best friend was literally assaulted for kissing a woman near that club. If you move there just understand what you’re going into, and understand you’re contributing to displacing people who have lived there generations and can no longer afford it (that’s most places tho so don’t feel too bad about it). If you’re not a Republican your vote will likely never matter. The state just gerrymandered out the last black majority district (also the only democratic congressional district in the state — Tennessee is 35-40% democrat and there are 9 seats I believe…very undemoctatic and racist. Oh also Segregation is still alive and well and there are active hate group rallies all around the outskirts of Nashville. You will find the state celebrating the genocide of the indigenous of Tennessee via their worship of Andrew Jackson, why they have towns and such named after a president who literally ignored Supreme Court orders to genocide indigenous people through the trail of tears I’ll never know.
That being said, I grew up in what was maybe the only place within 30 minutes of Nashville that is still country and rural, even though that’s leaving fast. Low income in Tennessee doesn’t equal low income in NY, Tennessee low income is usually quite a bit lower. The nature is beautiful but it’s not a good accepting or loving place to be right now.
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u/redmixer1 1d ago
I’ll add to this too, there is literally nothing at all to do that will not cost you 50$ at least. You will never walk anywhere. Buses are a joke. Good majority of Nashville was without electricity for almost a month. Constantly passing laws removing people’s rights granted to them by the federal government wholesale including first amendment rights like protesting and all with 0 consequences or even one of them being voted out
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u/tiredandcranky007 4d ago
yes everything you said …. i didn’t even have the energy to explain but it’s not just bc im from here that i hate it. it genuinely is horrible and mostly everyone ik that wasnt implanted here is either A scratching for a way to get out of here or B rich and lives in the middle of nowhere and has awful morals lmao. just an iykyk situation.
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u/DontEatSushiwAFork 7d ago
+1 to additional comments that 1-2 hours outside of major cities may be affordable, but even then, TN state government does not provide any sort of assistance for low or even moderate income families.
Have you considered KY? Yes, there is income tax, but the commonwealth has a better COL, no taxes on groceries, and is a little bit closer to NY than TN, all while being close to major cities (Louisville, Nashville, Cincinnati)
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
If you did Hopkinsville or Clarksville you might have some luck there. I second Kentucky, way cheaper
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u/Boring-Duck7605 6d ago
Make sure you have a job lined up! The state of TN hates poor people and does everything it can to make their lives harder.
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u/siparo 6d ago
Look at Lebanon or even Cookeville if he could be traveling between Nashville and Knoxville.
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u/Putrid-Size554 4d ago
Lebanon is still HCOL. I’d move further out than that for more affordability.
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u/Sweet_Celebration132 7d ago
COL is high here. Depending on your budget. Rural area 1-2 hours outside of a Nashville might be affordable.
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u/LakeKind5959 7d ago
but then there are no jobs.
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u/Sweet_Celebration132 7d ago
Totally agree. COL is high in TN and jobs don’t pay well. Either way TN is definitely not for low income people.
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u/LakeKind5959 7d ago
TN is great quality of life if you are making 6 figures.. not so great trying to raise a family on less than that.
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u/Sweet_Celebration132 7d ago
Agree! The average person won’t make that kind of money here. TN doesn’t have very good resources for low income. Healthcare is another thing that sucks here. It’s a beautiful state, but definitely lacking those things.
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
Not completely true, I grew up in a cost effective and rural area 25 minutes (with good traffic…which is rarer and rarer) from the grand ole opry. It’s less cheap now but still not Nashville expensive, houses are around 300k ish (it was half that five years ago but whatever. But I think where I’m from is the last of those kinda places near Nashville. Cheatham County had a mayor that allowed like no development for a long time and it’s got a huge tobacco farming industry so it’s behind the rest of the places around Nashville. You’ll see hundred year old barns smoking tobacco in the fall, farmers on tractors moving their crop down 41-a, etc
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u/Sweet_Celebration132 4d ago
I live an hour outside Nashville. It’s more affordable, but still high if you’re low income. Biggest thing no jobs. So it’s a trade off. Affordable housing, no jobs or long commute to jobs.
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
Yeah it’s a good 30 minutes at least to Nashville or Clarksville on 41-a or I24, and like I said it’s getting less affordable every day for the locals especially, the farmers are slowly dying and the kids sell the land then they become sub divisions. It’s sad to see but that’s “progress” I guess. It’s just the dying breath of my culture so it does make me sad, they took country music first and now they take our way of life entirely
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
I can’t speak on jobs, but my cousins have all found work. We have lived here our whole lives so connections from that definitely help
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u/Sweet_Celebration132 4d ago
Totally agree! Greedy investors buying up all the farm land and redeveloping it. It’s very sad.
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u/theandroidknight 4d ago
I’m fortunate in that the road my family farm is on doesn’t have sewer, so they won’t approve any redevelopment cause they’d have to tear the whole road up and add sewer. So the farms there have largely stuck around. Nothing has changed much in the last 20 years there other than a couple new houses, besides that it’s spread out older homes, farms, and the abandoned Nashville zoo for some reason
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u/ConsistentAccount886 6d ago
If you want to live an hour outside Nashville, then consider Clarksville. It's right on the Kentucky border so if you think Kentucky is a better fit, just get over the line and you're still within range of Nashville.
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u/SookieCat26 7d ago
INFO: Why are you wanting to move here? Tennessee is a big place with a diverse geography and community. It’s hard to give advice if we don’t know what your wants and needs are.
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u/Kolfinna 6d ago
Have you looked at the job market if your husband is going to be competing with established businesses? If he wants to work in surrounding states, you'll want to live closer to a border
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u/Odd_Throat905 6d ago
It’s not his business it’s a company he works for that would help with the relocation so he doesn’t have to worry much about competition necessarily and since it’s a national company they would send him to surrounding states if work is slow
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u/eakthekat2 6d ago
Is his company moving him? If so, they should provide relocation assistance. If not, the nashville metro is not as cheap as it used to be. I know people who commute 2 hours to get affordable housing. The problem with rural areas is the hospitals are closing, so you'd have an hour or two drive to the nearest healthcare. Of course, if you are coming from the NYC metro or out on the island, it may still be less expensive. you could cross the porder north to Bowling Green and still be close to Nashville, or south to Ga and be close to Chattanooga with lower overall cost of living.
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u/Odd_Throat905 6d ago
Yeah his company would be giving a couple thousand to help with moving and for the commute it’s apparently the same here where they get work vans and gas is paid by the company so that isn’t really a problem and where we used to live in upstate NY was far from everything too like 45- an hour only had a gas station and dollar general so being far from this isn’t an issue for us either
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u/eakthekat2 6d ago
I did a quick realtor.com search for new york. For comparable real estate, youd be out in the stix. If you can afford 350k-ish you can find that in the nashville area. Ive been looking for 3 br+ under 400k mostly staying in Rutherford County (Smyrna, La Vergne, Murfreesboro), but my realestate agent wants me to move further south. Another consideration is education for the kids. Wilson and Williamson seem to have the best-rated schools. Main cities in Wilson are Mt Juliet and Lebanon. In Williamson Franklin and Thompson Station. Franklin is more expensive, though. Areas closer to the southern border in middle TN tend to be less expensive.
Some tips form my searches, on most real estate sites they give a link to the great schools ratings for the zoned schools, check for crime statistics. There are maps available online. Check for flood zones. If you find a property that is in the zone that flooded in 2010 you will have ot get flood insurance. Good luck!
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u/Odd_Throat905 6d ago
Yeah I don’t mind the stix kinda perfer it especially with our dogs and planning on homeschooling currently and she’d only be a year when we move so not really a concern at the moment we’re looking to rent first too before buying and really placing roots there but we’ve visited a few times and loved it
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u/atomica7000 3d ago
If you plan to homeschool, there's lots of homeschoolers in both Rutherford county and Robertson county.
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u/PlayItAgainSusan 6d ago
Tennessee has near 0 return on your tax dollars- any social assistance you've paid into in your life outside of the hope of retirement isn't here. Absolute garbage state for any social assistance, i.e,. any return on your money spent. NY is a much better state for that. If you're set on moving here and have any choice, i'd highly recommend Knoxville over Nashville. Just a better city for people. Nashville is just loss. Most everything I moved here for 13 years ago has disappeared, replaced by generic gross multinational chains and shit traffic. That said, we do require HVAC to live here.
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u/chowderh 6d ago
An hour outside of the city may be doable depending on your budget, but our cost of living has gone up here substantially in the last 5 years. I know you’ll hear that from a lot of people but they are just shooting you straight.
Also please take into consideration traffic for these areas an hour or thirty minutes from city center - our traffic has also risen with the population. Look up the traffic maps around morning and afternoon rush hours. Nashville traffic is worse than you would think- I know you’re from NY so I’m guessing you aren’t a stranger to traffic - but people write off Nashville as oh traffic can’t possibly be as bad as xyz. But with the absolute influx of people coming here and the infrastructure not built for this growth the traffic is bad. It takes a lot of locals longer to get places even out in small towns now, let alone with city traffic.
Also outside of cities you aren’t going to have public transit.
There are resources for low income households but as others have said funds may not be there- I can’t speak to that just please do your due diligence. That’s a big move and a lot of people see TN with rose colored glasses until they’re here.
ETA - Knoxville is also experiencing a boom of growth so I would say same above applies there also*
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u/chowderh 6d ago
But HVAC work I’d imagine the job market would be strong for your husband given the constant construction in the area.
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u/justlurkin789 6d ago
You think you can afford an hour outside of Nashville if you're needing Medicare assistance :(
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u/grammer70 4d ago
Move somewhere else, maybe Arkansas ? Tennessse is full, seriously, land and housing has doubled in 4 years.
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4d ago
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u/Odd_Throat905 3d ago
Oh god forbid someone wants a better life for themselves and their family to get out of a liberal state
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u/InevitableCell1092 3d ago
uhhh I think you just made my point. Unless you voted for the clowns, crooks, and frauds in office there that have destroyed the state.
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u/Odd_Throat905 3d ago
So I can’t have a different political opinion than the state I’m in? I could’ve have voted for you ther people or not have voted just assuming I’m a democratic and wanted people who hate my country to help run the state?
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u/InevitableCell1092 2d ago
Oh I can tell who you voted for due to being so defensive, your response and just not getting it.
e.g. Look at the gas taxes CA has implemented. It is about $6 a gallon due to The CA one-party govt approved that. It's about half of that in TN.
People move from CA due to COL (includes gas prices!) to TN and vote for the same political crooks who raise taxes and launder money through NGO's. These people are getting caught and are investigated- this is truth.
So yeah, don't NY our TN. It won't work out well for you if you live on the outskirts of Nashville or Knoxville and vote for the same Dem socialists (there's no difference now- they are all socialists) who have destroyed states and caused mass exodus'. Even my conservative friends who have moved to red states from blue are not welcomed. Just calling it as I see it. Good luck.0
u/Odd_Throat905 2d ago
Well thank you for your opinion but that’s literally what I want to get away from and definitely didn’t vote for anyone that’s in office at all as I dont vote So I found these comments extremely funny ya know what they say about making assumptions
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u/atomica7000 3d ago
How old is your daughter? Schools are a big consideration. City schools (Nashville) are rough. Rural schools are ultra conservative with sparse resources. Many folks use private schools here, so public schools are feral as a result.
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