I am in Florence Alabama, way north, only 18 miles from Tennessee line.
I noticed that it was hotter here lately than in St Leo and Boca Raton Florida, where I have friends.
I don't pay state income tax on government agency retirement benefits.
I have a friend in Chattanooga (Red Bank, actually) but it has been a long time since I was there and don't know how it has progressed.
Code Name: JET STREAM
Doesn’t Tennessee have a tax on ammo?
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One drawback to TN is that, if dining out while armed, one cannot enjoy an adult libation.
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
As we plan our escape from CA, with an early 21 or so year retirement in the next few years, TN is high on our list. I’m loving this thread, and plan to show it to my wife tomorrow. I’ll still have to work, so that will be a big factor, but I’d rather work happy than hope I’m still alive at the end dealing with the insanity that is CA for the next 14-15 years.
Florida has no state income tax because we can make up the difference in taxing the tourists. How is Tennessee going to make up the difference. One of the previous posters mentioned 9+% sales tax?
I hear that Perry County, TN, has an excellent Sheriff who is a well bred man.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
My wife, a nurse, says the best medical care in FL is a plane ticket to somewhere else. Your description sounds like Nashville area to me.Originally Posted by RJ
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
It was repealed this year, but it was a ten cent excise tax per package (i.e. a case of 20 boxes packaged in a cardboard box was still ten cents, but if you bought 20 individual boxes, you'd be paying 20 individual excise taxes). There's still a 9.25% sales tax which makes online ammo orders pretty attractive.
@RJ and @SoCalDep
Humidity is a fact of life in Tennessee. East TN is slightly less humid. Summers can generally be described as "hotter than two Julys wrapped in an August" everywhere except the actual mountains.
Given your description, I'd recommend the Knoxville area. You're close enough to the mountains but you won't be dealing with mountain problems, you'll have good medical care available (UT system), the Tennessee river runs through the area, there are plenty of smaller rivers in the general area, winters are fairly mild but you can expect a light snow or two a year. It'll still be hot, but less so than Chattanooga or Nashville. Nightlife is decent, and I actually prefer theirs to Nashville's. I'd consider Blount (Maryville), Loudon, or Sevier counties if you wanted to have your toe in Knoxville's water but not pay Knoxville taxes.
The Chattanooga area would be my second choice, and everything I said about Knoxville applies to it with the exception of the winters (tend to be warmer, less likely to snow). I would personally look at the counties to its north/east or west -- like Knoxville, you'd get to enjoy Chattanooga without necessarily dealing with Chattanooga problems.
Chattanooga and Knoxville both have a growing violent crime problem, but it's not Memphis or Nashville. Drugs along the I-75 corridor fuel a lot of that.
Both have regional feeder airports, but you'll be connecting to Atlanta or Nashville out of each one. Nashville and Memphis are the primary airports in the state should you like to travel/fly.
Murfreesboro is growing pretty rapidly, and while I like it out there, it doesn't fit any of your climate criteria (hot as hell, humid as hell) and you'll be dealing with some of the growth problems (in particular the rapid growth in crime). It does have one of the better gun stores in the state, however (Outpost Armory). You'd be about 45 minutes from Nashville provided you don't travel into the city between 7a and 9:30a, and don't try to leave the city between 4p and 6:30p. However, there's not a lot that you can't get in Murfreesboro anymore so your actual need to travel into Nashville would probably be pretty low.
Nashville, I'm sure you can figure out. Know that it's gotten very expensive, however, and your retirement dollars may not take you as far in Davidson County. Great food though and checks your medical care box. The river does run through it, but when I lived out there, river life wasn't really a thing there like it is in East TN. May have just been the area I was in, who knows.
Knox (Knoxville), Davidson (Nashville), Hamilton (Chattanooga), and Rutherford (Murfreesboro) counties will all tax you fairly heavily on property taxes relative to the rest of the state. Their governments also trend fairly liberal if you care about such things.
Bluntly, there is nothing in Memphis or the rest of West TN worth retiring to. It's "home" to me, but I'm glad I moved away. Visit for the barbecue sometime.
I've lived in all three regions of the state, and I have a strong preference for East TN.
Be aware that LE pay is probably nothing like you're used to for most places in Tennessee should that be your career choice if you move. The state agencies (THP, TBI) do pay reasonably well.
Some of the larger departments do pay better, but you'll start to deal with some of the "issues" that affect California LEOs with the larger city departments. I can tell you that small rural police departments here don't pay well at all -- I know of one agency around here who starts at $12/hour. Cost of living is, however, very cheap overall in Tennessee.
Watching with interest - my best friend and I have been looking at the Knoxville area for a vacation cabin. She’s in Tampa, and loves the mountains - she has vacationed in the Gatlinburg area for years.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
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