Madison, Alabama meets all your requirements. Huntsville International is essentially in Madison (airport about the same traffic level as Jackson), schools are great, it's convenient to MSU (now 4 lanes all the way through Red Bay and Tupelo), low crime. high income. Statistics are very close to Madison, MS actually. The entire area is booming.
OT: Moving Question
- Thread starter ZombieKissinger
- Start date
Madison, Alabama meets all your requirements. Huntsville International is essentially in Madison (airport about the same traffic level as Jackson), schools are great, it's convenient to MSU (now 4 lanes all the way through Red Bay and Tupelo), low crime. high income. Statistics are very close to Madison, MS actually. The entire area is booming.
I ended up in Decatur and love it. Having been here a few months now, Madison would have been my second choice owing to the shorter drive times.
Yeah. Jackson's problems are well known.
But remember my Buy/Sell Thread earlier this month where I said SELL on applying for a non-state job in the Golden Triangle area and taking retirement money and an above average salary?
Well, I'm planning to apply for a job in Jackson (yes, the city itself) that has a lower salary than the Golden Triangle gig.
And that means....
Jackson >>>>>>>>> Golden Triangle
Of all the places I've been, the lone time I was robbed, was in Huntsvegas.
But it's still better than Jackson/Birmingham/Memphis/etc. I don't deny the reality though, based on my own experiences, like that dude who was arguing with me a few months ago on here about feeling safe in New Orleans, but not in Corinth, or something like that.
To you it is, which is fine, but not to me. And that's ok.... different people like and want different things. Again, Mississippi needs Jackson to be better and successful, because there are folks who want the city/urban feel and we need that component for our state.
My point is that its hard to spend state dollars on "luxuries" (lack of better word), when there are "necessities"
This will be like summer or fall 2024, but we're starting to figure it out
Decatur's not bad. It's older, and has more industry, I suppose, than white collar jobs. Pretty convenient to everywhere.
I just moved to the north Georgia mountains and love it. Beautiful, close to Chattanooga, and far enough away from ATL. Prices are still pretty reasonable too. There are lots of wineries and other outdoor activities. Blue Ridge and Dahlonega both have cool Ashville style vibes.
No. There actually was a short time period right after the start of 2023 when there were 4 or 5 homicides, but I don't think much since then. The average is 20-25/year, so compare that to Birmingham, Memphis, Jackson. That's way too many, but much lower than comparable sized US towns. Like any other town, there are places to not go but overall it's very safe. Downtown is small for a city of the size, but very safe.
Decatur’s a pretty cool town.
I saw the Travelin’ McCourys play at the Princess last year, which gets some nice acts.
Oh. I agree with that.
But I’d add (and maybe somewhat controversially here) that fixing Jackson is a necessity since a LOT of people want to be if not in an urban atmosphere but at least in the suburbs.
Like it or not what affects Jackson also impacts Madison, Brandon, and Clinton.
And it also affects many other Mississippians too.
That’s a shame. Because the drive along the river is beautiful & the location is great, close to the mountains, Birmingham & Atlanta and not far from the FL panhandle beaches.
We've been in Huntsville since '95 with both kids about to be in college next year. It's growing like something I've never witnessed before. If you want an apartment, look no further than Huntsville. They are everywhere and being built on every available plot of land. I work remotely and have been looking at moving out to the country. I found a great resource for determining what internet options are available at any location in the US based on the address. Just click on a house and it will show what's available. You'd be surprised what's available in rural areas nowadays. Lots of fiber even in remote areas due to government funding.
Wife and I are looking to move Q1 next year from Nashville (living here the last 12 years). Luckily I can work remotely and so can she. We currently live in the city but the appeal of living in Nashville isn't everything it's cracked up to be (traffic, fake cowboys and fake country folks, limited sense of community, tourists everywhere, etc). Cost of living is out of control (housing prices are exceeding $450-$500 psf), private school tuition is also incredibly high in Nashville and we don't really want to raise our future children here.
Our criteria for a new city is pretty straightforward: no state income tax in a city with a lower cost of living than Nashville and can't be in FL or TX. We've basically narrowed it down to Lookout Mtn or Signal Mtn (both outside Chattanooga) or possibly Memphis (I'm from Memphis). If it weren't for the no FL limitation I'd strongly consider the panhandle and if it weren't for the no state income tax limitation I'd be looking hard at Auburn, AL, Greenville, SC or outside Charleston, SC.
Lookout and Signal check a lot of boxes: No state income tax, reasonable RE prices, great communities, excellent private school options, almost no crime, if you work from home there is no reason to leave the mountain daily, and the Chattanooga airport is easy to get in and out of although you'll be connecting in ATL or CLT for most flights.
Best of luck where you land, but I'd be curious to find out where you decide and the factors that lead to the decision.
Decatur sucks. Huntsville’s version of Newark.
Huntsville is great. But it’s still Alabama. So are the surrounding towns. OP, stay in Madison County if you go that route.
Greenville is a great town with a bright future but I'm not paying 7% for the privilege.
Suburb.
Don’t pay the 7 percent and get some privilege.
You think the Clemson folks all live in Greenville?
See where they live.
Indeed. The Northeasterners and Californians have discovered OS, that's for sure.
According to a 2021 Wall Street Journal article, Greenville (SC), Des Moines (IA), and Provo (UT) were classified as "breakout" cities.
(Sorry I have no supscription, but the link is here: Breakout Cities on the Forefront )
I have been to Greenville off and on for business since 2008, and I can attest first-hand that the area has been growing since BMW's arrival in ~'92. The pandemic has only added fuel to its white-hot economy. There is nothing even remotely close to this in Mississippi.
Provo, on the other hand, with its rich natural beauty (mountains) and being a college town (BYU), is the probably the best of breed of the emerging cities. Of course, the highest elevation in Mississippi is like....what?....Tishimingo County?
@Maroon Eagle
Not only that but imagine the first cookout you get invited to. We’re having soy burgers with vegetable kabobs. Help yourself to the seltzer cooler or if you like the hard stuff we have an open wine spritzer bar inside. Oh the humanity!!!!
TMML
Fortysomething years ago, the cheerleaders at the private school I attended had this as a cheer:
We eat soybean burgers! We eat soybean burgers!
(repeat until they get tired)
I’m surrounded by Californians. They always identify themselves as the “good kind” when they say they’re from CA. They’re eager to learn how locals do things but they’re still stupid with money.
Agree with most here. Somewhere between Birmingham and Huntsville. And in Huntsville may not be bad, but the area is growing and even they are starting to have traffic and crime issues increase. I like Decatur, AL and you're within about 20-30 minutes from the Huntsville airport. I would say a small Alabama town within 30 miles of either Huntsville or Birmingham would be fine if I was you.
I actually think ATL is highly underrated as a connecting airport. Its the busiest airport in the world for a reason….its well designed, well run, and efficient. Very simple grid layout with the terminals and the train. Pretty easy to get around. I’m a Delta guy though so I’ve just gotten to where I have my favorite crappy airport food places and bars, and I know where to go for whatever I’m in the mood for.
That being said, I can’t imagine someone driving any more than 30-45 minutes to fly directly out of Hartsfield, as it is a total PITA (both the airport and Atlanta in general) with the parking, check-in, security, and so forth. You have to add a minimum 30 minute buffer to the already 1 hour early arrival to account for Atlanta traffic variation. Makes way more sense to just drive to a nearby regional airport to take a connection to ATL if you are somewhere like Auburn / Montgomery, Bham, HSV, Chattanooga, or even GTR in Starkville. And its usually cheaper fare, too. I know everyone hates another leg, but those regional flights are fairly dependable and on time way more often than not from my experience….regardless of airline.
We live in Florence, Al. It is the most NW city in Alabama. 3 hours from starkville, 2.5 hours from Nashville, 1.5 hours from Huntsville. Its a great "small town" (think 95000 in the entire county) with great local food/music but also has a target, sams club, etc. We love it so far.
This is nearly accurate. Except for the well-run part. It's in 'too-big-to-fail' mode though, so it's not surprising that it appears well-run. And not always the lowest fares either.
But people in MS should absolutely be using the local commercial service airports and connect in ATL (or DFW for that matter). DFW is very well-run. Unless another airport like BHM, MEM or MSY has a direct flight that you can't get at JAN or GPT. Tupelo can only get you to Nashville, GTR to ATL and Hattiesburg-Laurel only gets you west.
My wife just had to spend the night at ATL this week. She was flying to NY and connecting through ATL on Delta. She landed at 3:00pm and was supposed to fly out at 5:00PM but the plane was grounded for mechanical issues. She ended up having to stay the and fly out at 6:00 am.
There were no less than a dozen flights to NY that Delta had that evening, but every one of them had a bunch of people on standby before her flight was cancelled. I had a similar thing happen in Denver with United trying to get to DC in early December. Landed in Denver at 8 am and they couldn't get me out of there until 10pm.it's just too busy at those 5 airports. As many flights as there are, there are still more àsses than seats.
Give me Seattle, Salt Lake, Nashville, Minneapolis, and Charlotte as the sizes of the biggest airports I want to 17 with these days.
Somewhat OT post: Just remember, if you use a commercial moving company, DO NOT sign the mover's shipping manifest of your inventory without noted losses. If you sign without exception, you will be giving the mover a waiver for any lost goods. So called "cargo Insurance" you might purchase through them is just a self-funded account managed by the mover or its agent and will not have your best interest at heart. End public service message...............
Damn. Had no clue South Carolina was such a high tax state. 7% income and 6% sales is pretty damn high when basically everything is taxed at 7%. Of course so is 5% income and 7% sales tax when basically everything is taxed at 5%.
Out of curiosity, why no Florida? I don't know that I'd want to live anywhere in the panhandle other than maybe the Pensacola or Gulf Breeze area, but they'd be up there.
I might could do the cape san blas and/or appalachicola (sp?) area. Have just barely been through there so not sure if those areas are the best of both worlds because they have tourist stuff with out massive crowds, or the worst of both worlds because they have tourist hassles without much else.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the prices of regional airfare lately compared to hubs. Or maybe I should just be disappointed that the hub airfare isn't cheaper. When I was younger, flying out of small airports like JAN was brutal. You'd have like a $500 flight out of JAN with a connection in ATL and if you flew out of Atlanta and took just the second, much longer leg, it'd be like $100, so 80% of the costs were in getting to the hub. Seems much more reasonable now (although granted I'm not pricing JAN flights, so maybe they are still that bad).
When I speak of “well-run”, I’m mainly referring to its role as a hub for connections. I’ve only flown directly out of there once, and I hope I never have to do it again. Haven’t had enough experience to say that means it wasn’t well run in regards to security, parking, check-in, baggage check, pick-up / drop-off, and so forth. But I could easily tell that all of that was a lot to deal with for any traveler just due to overall volume / traffic of everyone and everything that was coming in and going out (besides airplanes).
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