A Smaller City With Character Coming Into Its Own
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8/7/2018
When my husband's job required us to move here five years ago from California, I was distraught. But once we arrived, I was impressed by the friendliness of the people, the vibrant art, writing and music community, the excellent public radio station, and the restaurants which are getting better and better as the population diversifies. Water sports enthusiasts can boat, kayak and paddle board on the TN River, and hang glide off Lookout Mountain. You can find excellent hiking trails locally or within a half hour drive. Chatt has its own symphony and ballet, plus live theater. To have all of this is all but unheard of in smaller towns.
We're picky, having lived in the Bay Area most of our lives, so these features are important, to say the least. We were thrilled by the extremely low cost of housing. CA averages are now around $700K. Here comparable dwellings will cost you around $220-300K. When your mortgage, insurance & property taxes are well under $1000, life becomes pretty much stress-free. Other services are dirt cheap, i.e. getting my car smogged in CA cost over $80, here a mere $9. Gas there is almost $4/gal, here it's $2.30.
Yes, there are challenges here: schools need a lot of improvement, yet there are many bright lights. Chatt State offers a low-cost mechatronics program to transition people into modern manufacturing jobs at places like Volkswagen. Crime is high in poverty areas, as it is in many other cities, but pretty low elsewhere. As other companies relocate here and unemployment falls, that will likely change significantly.
Chatt made up its mind to clean up the city and the beautiful Tennessee River in the late 90s, rightfully earning it the title, Scenic City. And because EPB went Fiber Optic, we're also known as Gig City, due to our cheap high-speed internet. Thanks to TVA, our electricity cost per kilowatt hour is 50% lower than in CA. And then, of course, we pay no state income tax (saving this family over $30K per year).
Chattanooga abounds with many cultural things to do--art galleries, museums, the Aquarium, free summer concerts every Friday, Riverbend, the Bluegrass Festival, Jazzanooga... If you listen to WUTC in the afternoons, you'll often get to hear live interviews with top local and visiting musicians, curated by Richard Winham--one of the nation's authorities on music. Public art can be seen everywhere, and we've got acres set aside to feature amazing metal sculptures. As older neighborhoods such as the South Side are revitalized, children and pets enjoy more parks.
Of course, Chattanooga and nearby Chickamauga are important destinations for Civil War buffs, and Chatt now hosts the Ironman Competition. It's difficult to understand why anyone would give this town a bum rating when it checks so many boxes. Maybe the sour pusses need to spend time elsewhere, as I have, because Chatt rates near the top of all the cities I've ever lived in or visited, including San Francisco, LA, San Diego, or Washington DC. If you haven't made enough friends, join Meetup. If you're struggling to find better employment, check out Chatt State's many programs that can help with that.
If you're worried about investing in a home here, just remember the airport is being expanded. Once that happens, more companies will relocate here. Think about it. Atlanta & Marietta are overcrowded, so construction is moving north. Floridians and East Coasters are coming here to escape the increasing hurricanes. Northerners are coming down here because they're sick of being snowed in, and Westerners are coming here because they can't afford the cost of living. IMO, Chattanooga is the place to be if you want to put down roots that will bear fruit in the long run.
Samantha | East Ridge, TN