Pros and Cons | Living in Tennessee VS Kentucky

Today we are going to go over all the pros and cons of living in Tennessee vs Kentucky.  We will go over everything from things to do, schools, cost of living and more.  When your making a decision on which state to chose you need to be well informed on what each state offers. 

COST OF LIVING

First things first, lets talk about cost of living. One of the biggest pro for Kentucky is their cost of living which not only is it lower than Tennessee by quite a bit but it also is ranked by US News at #3 nationally which is a little over $1,700 a month.  Between the average electric bills, healthcare transportation food as well as cost of housing you will have a much lower cost of housing in Tennessee.  However Tennessee isn't too far from there is well ranking number 10 on that same list.
 

The biggest difference is in the two states are cost of housing, clothing and childcare. Childcare in Tennessee is almost 40% more than it is in Kentucky, clothing is nearly 15%  and cost housing in Tennessee is $310,000 as opposed to $201,000 in Kentucky. 

TAXES

Next up we are going to talk about taxes. Now this right here is one of the main conversation pieces I get from people deciding on living in Tennessee or Kentucky. Actually a lot of people think that kentuckys income tax is at 5% however back in January of this year legislature passed a bill reducing the rate down to 4.5%.  also GP leaders say they plan to cut the tax even further during next year's lawmaking session with hopes to totally eliminate the tax in the near future. 

That is fantastic, however Tennessee already has been beat there where they have no property taxes! 

Kentucky has one of the lowest median property tax rates in the United States ranked at number 8 with an average of .72% of properties assessed fair market value.  However Tennessee's taxes are even less at 68%.  However you have to also take into account that some counties and cities have their own property taxes in both states.

BIGGEST CITIES

With Kentucky having a population of 4.5 million people in Tennessee having a population of 7  million people we are going to go over some of the biggest cities in each state.

Now the bluegrass state of Kentucky as a whole is more of a rural state than Tennessee but they do have a couple of cities that have a big population. The three largest cities in Kentucky are Louisville which is at 630,000 people, Lexington at 327,000 people and much further down the line at number 3 is Bowling Green at a population of 75,000.  Of course all three are very well known for their college programs with University Louisville University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University respectively.  So the city of Louisville is mostly known to be the home of the Kentucky Derby The Louisville slugger and the greatest of all time Muhammad Ali!  The city of Lexington of course is home to University of Kentucky which has a legendary basketball team, is also birthplace to many famous people like George Clooney, Chris Stapleton and the late great Jim Varney who later in his life lived and died in my town of White House Tennessee!

Bowling Green Kentucky, despite being much smaller than Louisville or Lexington still packs a big punch for a smaller city and is one of the fastest rising cities in Kentucky. A couple things that it is most known for is of course home of the Corvette, right down the road from Mammoth cave which is a big tourist attraction and also home to beech bend Park that is a water park, theme park as well as has many races and other attractions throughout the year. 

Tennessee’s biggest city and Capital is Nashville with a population of nearly 700k is mostly known for the massive music scene obviously, but also is very well known for their sporting teams like Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators as well as the Nashville Soccer Club. 

The city of Memphis has a population of 630k and is mostly known for not only being home of Elvis Presely Graceland but also very well known for putting Blues music on the map with the legendary Blues bars on Beale Street in downtown.  Currently Memphis hosts the Memphis Grizzlies Basketball team, and lets not forget about the best thing to come out of Memphis. Their BBQ!!! :)  

 And at a much lower population  Knoxville and chattanooga are at around 185k each and Clarksville is trailing behind at a little under 160k.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Due to tax incentives that Tennessee provides to major companies there are more job opportunities with big corporations than in Kentucky. The unemployment rate in Tennessee is one of the lowest in the United States at 3.1% . However, Kentucky doesn’t fall too behind them with a 3.8% unemployment rate and does have many job opportunities through automobile industries are a big contributor to jobs in the state of Kentucky, with over 100,000 jobs state wide!  But this is another topic that really should be asked about what part of each state. There are parts of Tennessee that have less opportunities than North and South Central Kentucky. So that really is one of the topics that is circumstantial. 

Next up we are going to talk about another important topic and that is education.  Now, much like job opportunities when your talking about schools you need to understand that we are talking about the state as a whole but what truly matters is the specific area youre looking to move to.  

Now Tennessee as well as Kentucky are ranked pretty low nationally for education due to some very low scores in the very urban or very rural areas of each state. But that doesn’t mean that there are not some fantastic schools in both states. You will just need to do your research on certain areas your looking to move to or just reach out to me and I can help get you that information.  

So now that you have an overview of both states the question you need to ask yourself is which is better for you?

Between Kentuckys cost of living Tennessees low taxes and all the amount of outdoor activities and job opportunities in both states it really is a pick em as to which is the better state. So really is your choice as to what is the best option for you.  If you have any specific questions about either Tennessee or Kentucky reach out anytime. I would be happy to help.

Adam Hanes

Chamberlain Realty/Coldwell Banker Legacy Group

615-349-7724