[natedog7700]

Which state would you rather move to?

Long story short, my wife and I (as of last month) plan to move from Milwaukee WI to somewhere... less cold. We hate the winters more than anything but friends and family keep us here. I hear TN is nice but also a big bonus its only 9 hours from Milwaukee. Charlotte sounds like the up and coming well respected City down south but i hear job opportunities may be worse there than others. While Atlanta was called "recession proof" by a reviewer on youtube, it also looks like a genuinely nice city and isnt as far as FL. Florida is far, flat and boring and to be honest not my favorite but the beaches make up for nearly all of it. Who wouldnt want to live near the beach!

Edit: We are both in our 20s just starting out with no kids and prefer a quieter suburb than a rowdy city to live in. Although cities offer more opportunities and we don't like to live in the middle of knowhere so we prefer to be "near" a big city

[2000cs]

I have been to all of the cities listed. I currently live in Florida, but across the peninsula from Tampa, on the east coast.

I like the business and retirement “climate” in FL and TN, so those two states are top of my list. Other states not in the poll also are interesting but too far from family (per my wife, I don’t see it that way).

I chose Nashville over Tampa because of hurricane risk and the slightly worse climate (again, per my wife). Nashville has lots of affordable areas nearby, great entertainment in the city, excellent medical facilities, and a variety of recreation nearby. Tampa has the Gulf, and water sports and fishing. Golf is probably equal between the two. Nashville has more of a winter, tho mild, but the tornado risk is much lower than the hurricane risk in Tampa. We often look at houses in TN, especially lakefront, because my wife hasn’t adjusted to the FL heat as well as I have (it is hotter in TN today than here).

Atlanta too crowded and awful traffic. Lakes north of town are nice, and there is Road Atlanta. Charlotte is a mini-Atlanta IMO, getting bigger and more crowded. Charleston is great to visit but would drive me crazy to live and endure the old city layout, crowds, tourism concentrated in the downtown, etc.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by natedog7700

Which state would you rather move to?

You left out the "None of the above" choice.

[e90335e36m3]

I vote Charlotte. It's a mini-Atlanta in the sense that it's getting crowded, but it doesn't have as much violent crime and people on the whole are much more laid back and polite. I don't know what it is about Charleston or Nashville but I don't like either. Tampa would be good too, the draw being the ocean. In Charlotte you're 5-6 hours away from a beach.

I think the food selection in Charlotte is terrible, Atlanta is by far the best place in that sense. Definitely feels the most metropolitan as well of all the cities you listed.

[tcphoto]

I voted for Charlotte by default. After fifteen years in downtown Atlanta, I moved to a small town an hour east of Atlanta and loved it. Then work and family took me back to Nashville and I’m reminded why I left previously. The crime is insane, rent is unrealistic but the food scene is good. I have friends that love Asheville and it may be worth checking out.

[kscarrol]

We just moved to Greenville, SC. An hour south of Asheville, pretty solid food but certainly not what we left behind in New Orleans. Of course we also left behind the crime, hurricanes, flooding etc, etc. The beach/Charleston is three hours away, Charlotte 1.5 hours, easy access to the mountains, lakes, hiking.

[Sedan_Clan]

If I had to choose from that list, Florida!

[Housekeeping]

Atlanta? Oh hell no! Drugs, crime and hot. No thanks

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

I voted for Charlotte by default. After fifteen years in downtown Atlanta, I moved to a small town an hour east of Atlanta and loved it. Then work and family took me back to Nashville and I’m reminded why I left previously. The crime is insane, rent is unrealistic but the food scene is good. I have friends that love Asheville and it may be worth checking out.

We were back there about 3 years ago. To me, Asheville is at least as blue as the PRK.

[tcphoto]

Originally Posted by Sy1616

Atlanta? Oh hell no! Drugs, crime and hot. No thanks

The last place I had in Atlanta was just south of Mercedes Benz Stadium, large groups of people would drive around on small motorcycles and quads and create quite the chaos. Hence the move an hour east to a small town and a little quiet.

[kscarrol]

We had that in New Orleans as well… nothing the police would/could do about it.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

We had that in New Orleans as well… nothing the police would/could do about it.

In most of those situations it would take a heavy police presence to shut it down. A few patrol units wouldn't be able to effectively deal with it because of the tactical disadvantage due to being outnumbered. The police can't use deadly force in that scenario; some departments even limit the use of less lethal munitions under those circumstances.

When we break up "takeovers" or street races, tactics are a major consideration in those situations as well. In most cases we can only detain the most egregious offenders. The large majority get away.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

We were back there about 3 years ago. To me, Asheville is at least as blue as the PRK.

I don’t know what PRK is, but Asheville is as blue as blue gets.

For OP, I’d pick FL (ok I actually did pick FL) but all listed places are good locations.

[natedog7700]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

You left out the "None of the above" choice.

I was going to put "other" but id like to hear everyone's opinion on the "best" of those listed if possible.

[natedog7700]

Originally Posted by Sy1616

Atlanta? Oh hell no! Drugs, crime and hot. No thanks

I currently live in Milwaukee and the crime here is to my surprise, worse than Atlanta.

[AnOldBiker]

Check outside of Nashville. You can get a large lot or acres for a reasonable price with a nice house. It has the 4 seasons, and yes, once in a while get cold, but nothing like you have now.

We move here when we retired from our jobs in California and never looked back.

[br438]

I hear Chattanooga is gorgeous.

I vote Charlotte. Definitely not Nashville. Nashville is full. hahahahaaaa....

best of luck. We love NC...but personal property taxes is a thing. Greenville area is nice.

Nashville is home, and I'm not sure I'll ever move, but man... there are a lot of days (crime) that make me want to get the heck out of town. Also, Nashville has the worst (distracted) driver-base in the world... and yes, I frequently travel all over. No joke. It's not unusual to see 3 or more drivers cross the center line RIGHT in front of me on any given day.

[dreamingat30fps]

Well since you don't like the winters it seems GA, FL and SC would be the main choices as I believe they have winters in TN and NC (probably not WI winters). Im personally not a fan of big cities, so for me it would be Sarasota. Maybe Charleston second. Although you may also not be able to handle the heat in FL. I do like TN but Nashville is a bit crowded for me and so is Charlotte and Atlanta. Also FL and TN have no income tax if that matters to you.

Should probably spend some time in those areas.

[Suds]

How much longer are you and your wife looking to work?
Are you near done or just getting started?

Originally Posted by natedog7700

Which state would you rather move to?

Long story short, my wife and I (as of last month) plan to move from Milwaukee WI to somewhere... less cold. We hate the winters more than anything but friends and family keep us here. I hear TN is nice but also a big bonus its only 9 hours from Milwaukee. Charlotte sounds like the up and coming well respected City down south but i hear job opportunities may be worse there than others. While Atlanta was called "recession proof" by a reviewer on youtube, it also looks like a genuinely nice city and isnt as far as FL. Florida is far, flat and boring and to be honest not my favorite but the beaches make up for nearly all of it. Who wouldnt want to live near the beach!

[spazzyfry123]

I moved from Atlanta to Florida. Currently looking to move to upstate South Carolina.

Atlanta traffic and crime was bananas.

Florida (where I’m at, at least) is great. But the heat is just too much and there aren’t any outdoor things that I like. Don’t like the beach. Lots of swamps. I find a new species of big each week. If I could just pick up the culture and the pace to drop it in a different climate…

Also used to live outside of Charlotte. Was great when I was there, but it’s a mad house now.

Would love Tennessee, but not Nashville. Would likely go east of there.

What’s your goal? Retirement? Career change? Empty nesters? YOLO?

[H2O_Doc]

The realities of climate change are going to increasingly affect low elevation coastal areas and that's been part of my calculus. Even if you don't get flooded, it will increasingly start to affect property values, I suspect.

[Mein11]

Really depends on what kind of lifestyle you want based on where you move to. I've lived in both NC and SC and have enjoyed both for entirely separate reasons. Charleston seems like life has slowed down a lot compared to the "busier" life in Raleigh. I prefer being near the beach and the "quaintness" of Charleston compared to the bigger city like Charlotte/Raleigh. Charlotte however leaves you closer to mountains, and is a bit of a drive to the beach if that's more your thing.

Summers are equally hot at both, but SC definitely worse of course so take your tolerance of 100% humidity and 100º days in consideration for a couple months. To offset, I get to golf and play tennis comfortably at times in Jan/Dec. NC you might get hit with snow once or twice a year which shuts everything down, no chance of that down here. People worry about hurricanes, but you have so much notice in advance it's not something that just creeps up on you. I'll generally use that as an excuse to take a vacation somewhere and come back after it passes.

Originally from MI, all immediate family is still there, but I absolutely despise winter and have no plans of leaving SC. I wouldn't discount other locations but TN, GA, FL are places that are more fun to visit than I would expect for daily life, but different strokes for different folks.

If you have the opportunity, my aunt and uncle (from MI) stayed at AirBNB's in different cities of where they wanted to move. They ultimately bought a house in Murrell's Inlet (around Myrtle Beach) and are very happy. They were also considering some of the same locations you noted.