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Tennessee offers a compelling combination of a low cost of living, tax advantages, distinct seasons, abundant outdoor activities, down-to-earth people, and educational opportunities, making it an attractive place to live and advance.
Tennessee presents a favorable living environment characterized by a relatively low cost of living, particularly when compared to states like California or New York. While Nashville might have higher costs, areas outside of popular cities offer significant savings on rent, food, and gasoline. This affordability is further enhanced by the state's tax advantages, notably the absence of state income tax. Instead, Tennessee taxes consumption, meaning individuals who consume less generally pay lower taxes, offering a different financial dynamic than states with a fixed income tax.
The state boasts a moderate population density, ranking around 15th nationally, which prevents it from feeling as overwhelmingly crowded as larger states like Texas or Florida. Tennessee experiences four distinct seasons, offering a noticeable change in weather and atmosphere throughout the year, including milder winters compared to the Midwest. This allows for a variety of outdoor activities, such as hiking along rivers like the Tennessee and Mississippi, boating, fishing, and hunting, with residents actively enjoying these pursuits despite potential heat or cold.
Beyond the practical advantages, Tennessee is noted for its down-to-earth population. While some affluent neighborhoods in Nashville might exhibit a different social dynamic, much of the state retains a strong blue-collar presence, fostering honest conversations and a sense of community. Furthermore, Tennessee offers significant educational benefits, including free community college tuition for eligible residents under 25 and generally reasonable in-state tuition rates for higher education. These factors combine to create an environment where individuals, regardless of background, can potentially advance and build a good life.
The primary advantages of living in Tennessee include a low cost of living, especially outside major cities, and significant tax benefits like no state income tax. You'll also experience four distinct seasons, abundant outdoor activities, and a friendly, down-to-earth population.
Yes, Tennessee generally offers a low cost of living, often cheaper than states like California or New York. While popular areas like Nashville can be pricier, many other regions provide significant savings on rent, food, and gasoline, making it an affordable option for many.
Tennessee's main tax advantage is its lack of a state income tax, which can save residents a substantial amount of money. The state does tax consumption, meaning your tax burden is tied to your spending habits rather than your earnings.
Tennessee experiences four distinct seasons with generally milder winters than the Midwest. You can expect a noticeable change in weather throughout the year, offering a pleasant climate for enjoying the state's many outdoor activities.
Tennessee offers a wide array of outdoor activities, including hiking, boating, and fishing, thanks to its numerous rivers and natural landscapes. Hunting is also popular among residents who embrace the outdoors year-round.
Tennessee provides notable educational opportunities, such as free community college tuition for eligible residents under 25. Additionally, in-state college tuition rates are generally quite reasonable, offering accessible higher education options.
0:01 Hey YouTube, Alex Conley here. Today with another video. Today's video, I want to talk about some of the advantages of Tennessee. So, advantages of living in the state of Tennessee in the United States. And the first and most obvious advantage that I notice about living in Tennessee is that there is a relatively low cost of living in Tennessee compared to many other places.
0:22 Tennessee is actually not so expensive. Now, some people might disagree with this when it comes to Nashville, but even Nashville is objectively cheaper than California or New York, Chicago, places like this. And if you get outside of the hip or the popular areas, certain costs definitely go down, things like rent, food, and gasoline.
0:49 Aside from the most obvious things as far as cost of various goods, Tennessee has relatively low taxes. They have no state income tax. And actually, in Tennessee, the way they tax people is they tax people based on consumption. So, typically in Tennessee, the more you consume, the more you're going to pay in tax.
1:04 So, the property taxes are high. So if you own a large or expensive home, you're going to pay higher property tax. What else? If you purchase a lot of goods, well, the sales tax is close to 10%, so you will pay a premium when it comes to sales tax. However, if you are living a pretty low-cost, low-key way of life and you don't consume as much, you will pay lower taxes than say, places like California, where there is a sort of a base level of taxation that's basically hard to avoid.
1:38 So, what else? So Tennessee, I think, has around number 15 in terms of populations of various states. So it's not as crowded as say, like a New York or in California or a Florida or a Texas. It's definitely a step below that. It's not the least populous state, obviously, number 15, it's in the upper third population as far as states are concerned, but it's not going to feel as busy as like a, you know, say like a Chicago or like an Atlanta or like a Miami, for example.
2:21 What else? Something that some people really get tired of living. You know, I'm gonna pick on California a little bit just because that's another state that I have experience living in. But some people say, well, you know, I wouldn't want to live in California because it's the same weather year-round. Much of California has fairly mild weather that stays, you know, in a certain range. Most of California doesn't really get below 40 very much and it doesn't really seem to get above 80 very much.
2:50 Now, of course, this depends on where you go. The weather is more mild near the coast, but generally speaking, Tennessee has four seasons. Tennessee has a fairly distinct summer, a fairly distinct fall, distinct winter, and spring. And these different types of year have different weather patterns, different temperature fluctuations. There's a sense of change. If you wait three months, you're gonna experience a different kind of experience.
3:24 So, next, something you know, we just talked about, you know, there's four distinct seasons in Tennessee. Tennessee definitely has milder winters than the Midwest. So if you're coming from like a Chicago or Milwaukee or a Minneapolis, you're gonna notice that the winters in Tennessee are not nearly as rough. It's going to snow much less frequently, the temperatures are not going to get nearly as cold.
3:45 There are sometimes cold snaps. A few years ago, it got down to like three degrees or negative three degrees, and it was really cold. These types of things are not nearly as prevalent as say, in Minnesota or North Dakota, places like Fargo. So keep that in mind if you're looking to get away from winters where you know you have to make sure that you've got snow tires and you've got, you know, tons and tons of winter clothing and you're making sure to say, drip water so your pipes don't freeze.
4:29 These types of things are much more moderate in Tennessee. It doesn't mean they're a non-issue. You definitely need to keep winter changes in mind, but it's not going to be the same experience as people in, say, Chicago have.
4:45 Kind of moving on. Another advantage, kind of uncommon, that people don't necessarily think about when it comes to Tennessee is a lot of outdoor activities. So Tennessee has a variety of places throughout the state where a person can get out in the woods and go hiking. They can explore various natural bodies of water, the Tennessee River, you know, places like the Mississippi River.
5:08 These types of places, you know, might be hard to find a player here to swim, but boating is really popular. You'll find that if you come to Tennessee, boating is very popular, fishing is really popular, hunting is really popular.
5:21 People, you know, you might think, oh, it gets really hot, it's sweaty and mosquitoes. People overcome that. People in Tennessee are not held back by heat or cold or inclement weather. There's a certain toughness that they're going to move through past these things and get out and enjoy the outdoors on the state of Tennessee.
5:46 Well, it's kind of a final, another advantage of Tennessee. I find that people are relatively down-to-earth here. There's certain neighborhoods in Nashville or an exemption from this that are kind of people are a bit rude, uppity, snarky. You know, they may look at their wealth as sort of a reason to look down on others, but that's pretty rare and that's limited to a few neighborhoods in Nashville.
6:15 A lot of Tennessee is still has a strong blue-collar presence. You're going to find a lot of people that are working-class people, people that, you know, may not live this fancy lifestyle or frivolous lifestyle, may not be able to relate to you on a lot of travel or, you know, fancy restaurants, things like that. But people will have honest conversations with you.
6:40 And there's a substantial number of people here that, I don't know, you can see that they come from a different background, but they're still looking for that common ground.
6:59 So, a final point, Tennessee recently implemented free college tuition. For my understanding, of course, it's not free, it is paid for by taxpayers. But essentially, I believe if you haven't used any of the credits or done any college by the age of 25, they're willing to allow you to attend community college as long as you keep your grades up and meet the requirements. They will essentially subsidize your tuition.
7:25 It's a really big advantage. States trying to address some basically some challenges related to education. This is one of the things they're doing. So I definitely keep in mind, in-state tuition in Tennessee is very reasonable compared to many other states. And so if you're looking to go to a college and you're not picky, you're not looking for a top ten time college, Tennessee may be a good option for you.
7:47 Consider that even if you have to pay out-of-state tuition, that cost of living here being moderate, even if you were to pay a higher tuition rate here, you may pay less in rent, food, transportation, these types of costs in the long run.
8:00 So, actually, Tennessee's really popular for college students. If you're Memphis, there's the University of Memphis. Nashville has Belmont, Vanderbilt, TSU, Aquinas, Lipscomb. There's also some technical schools for tradespeople. There are art schools that are called. There's at least one culinary school. So it's not just one type of thing. I know that healthcare dominates Middle Tennessee, but there's a variety of different educational paths that you can take.
8:36 And if you don't necessarily feel like you want to pursue education, keep in mind that because the cost of living here is moderate, you can just get a job. And if you're willing to live frugally, you know, over the course of the long run, if you're willing to budget it, it should be a place where you can get ahead.
8:54 I feel like there's certain parts of the country or the world, perhaps even most of the country and the world, where people do feel limited based on their socio-economic background. But here, it seems like there's this different kind of feeling where the average guy can still get ahead.
9:11 So they will hate me for making this and say, oh, don't tell people about the good things about Tennessee. But I'm gonna make a video about my critiques of Tennessee. But I want to do a balanced perspective. And then call up people, no, it's not just good or bad, but actually, if they're educated, they'll know what kind of city makes the most sense for them.
9:29 So anyway, you know, I was born here in Nashville. I've lived here most of my life, about probably like 80% of my life. And I think it's a fantastic place to live. I don't think it's for everybody. I don't think everybody will enjoy it, but I certainly think those people that are interested in contributing to making Nashville a better place, you know, I welcome those people.
9:52 And anyway, thank you for watching. My name's Alex Conley. If you like this video, if you like this content, if you have any tips or suggestions, let me know down in the comments below, and I will see you guys next time.
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