I was born and raised in Illinois, but moved to Memphis to attend college. I ended up falling in love with the state and stayed for seven years. When my dad fell terminally ill, I relocated back to Illinois to help take care of him. I always swore I'd move back after he passed away, but it's been 6 years since he passed away and I'm still here in Illinois. I am seriously considering moving back to Tennessee again. The town I live in is very economically depressed, costs seem to be getting higher, and I'm just not happy here anymore. I have no preference to what side of the state I'd move to. I've spent time in various spots and loved every inch I've traveled. However, how is the state doing economically? Are there jobs to be found or is it just like the place I'm leaving? I'm trained in the automotive field if that helps. Thanks.

 

Can't answer level of Economics here verse other places; but here in my town its been steady work and with the help of new industries and especially Fort Campbell; our job rate is steady and town size is increasing rapidly!

 

Because of the recession, more people are getting their cars fixed instead of buying new ones. The auto repair industry is doing well, so I doubt you would have a hard time finding a job here.

 

I'm sure you don't want to move back to Memphis! Our economy is in the toilet. Automotive might be good, but you won't make much money. If you have school age kids, we are going through a mess with our school systems. The city looks like will drop its charter and make the county pick them up. Shelby county schools are among the best in the state, but the city is the worse. Its all about money and the "cityfolk" wants the suburban money.

Tipton and Fayette counties are great.

 

Might be a good time to move... Just today, Illinois just increased their state income tax by 67% The rate went from 3% to 5%.

No state income tax here (except for dividends), but the sales tax is probably a couple percent higher.

Anyway, come on down and put your skills to use!

 

Chattanooga has a new Volkswagen plant, Alstom Power is expanding, AMAZON.Com has just secured a deal to build 2 distribution centers in the area and several contractors/suppliers are locating in the area to supply the VW complex. I would recommend this area if you are looking for a job.

 

Thanks for the info thus far! I don't have any kids so no worries about schools at this point in my life. We pay income taxes and our sales tax is 8.25% here. I also pay a little over $2400 in property taxes every year on our four lot property. For all the money I pay into the system, our schools are failing, our roads are crumbling beneath our feet, they've threatened to close entire fire stations down and cut down the police force... it just goes on and on. The city I live in is constantly on the Most Miserable & Worst Cities lists. The thing I'm worried about is if our house will sell for what it's worth. We have foreclosures in my neighborhood starting at $20k that aren't even selling. How is the housing market faring out there?

 

X 2 - Chattanooga, seems to be doing very well. Also check out nearby Cleveland, TN.

I think our new Gov. Haslam will do what's necessary to help boost the economy as a whole in TN. But there will always be more rural areas that will be depressed due to mountainous terrain, poor roads, and good ole' boy local government that doesn't want change.

 

Housing market is soft everywhere....you can get some good deals in this area. Taxes are very reasonable, compared to Illinois. Sales tax can be higher, but NO income tax in Tennessee. I would recommend a smaller city or a county location if you don't want the city life. For all its screwups, Chattanooga is still a great place to live. Hamilton County politics are sometimes a bit interesting. Check out chattanoogan.com for the local electronic newspaper. The last month or two have been......interesting.

 

TN is a big state and each section West, Middle, East, has positives and negatives, and different things that affect the local economy. I live in the Northeast part and overall the housing market here seems okay, all things considered. Over the past ten years there have been alot of retirees from other areas of the country moving here, but the trend has slowed with the down economy since those wanting to relocate haven't been able to sell their houses in other parts of the country. As with everyhere else right now, supply is greater than demand so its a buyer's market.

You might want to check out this website. It usually has good discussions about each area and their pro's and con's.

Tennessee Forum - Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum

 

I live in the Memphis area, and we have too many political issues. If you have children who will attend public schools, I would strongly recommend you move to Tipton (or possibly Fayette) county. If you end up getting a job in Memphis, it will be well worth the commute. The crime in Memphis is getting pretty bad, and they are actually talking about dissolving Memphis City Schools and letting the county take over. Basically, the leaders of our school system have screwed it up so bad they think it can't be fixed. I agree. But, they are talking about surrendering the city school charter, and they have done no planning to facilitate the merger of the city and county schools. I live in Shelby county about 5 miles from the Tipton county line, and I wish like heck I'd built my house in Tipton county! Financially, the city is OK - not great. We are finally done with our long term crooked mayer - "King" Willie Herenton. Thank goodnes he's gone. We have had some good news on the business front lately. Pinnacle airlines just relocated its headquarters here to the downtown area. Electrolux is planning to build a plant somewhere around here (probably not in Memphis proper). I know I have bashed Memphis proper pretty hard, but there are a lot of people (mostly without kids) who love living in midtown or downtown. We have lots of great restaurants and some of the best hospitals in the world.

 

The Memphis area housing market is very flat. Meaning if you come here with a decent down payment, you should be able to buy plenty of house. Like everywhere, there a lot more homes on the market than buyers. New construction is almost nonexistant. Here in Bartlett there has been a decent building boom for many years until 2008. I've seen 2500+ sq.ft. homes (not all the way finished mind you) going for under $100k. Our real estate taxes here in Bartlett are around $2400/yr. Its almost double in Memphis for less reliable services.

 

Middle TN is doing fairly well economically. You can find some nice places with low property taxes and the like and still be close to say Coolsprings or Nashville.

School systems(K-12) are going down the crapper everywhere. The flush rate just depends on the particular system.

 

x2...Its growing here like crazy