Being offered job/ move to Memphis, TN. Do it?

Hey guys - some advice please:

We are still negotiating numbers but it looks I may be making same or more than my current position in Manhattan. I know the cost of living would be lower in Memphis.

How is life down there, besides "slower"?

Edit: holy crap, I just it hit up the Wikipedia entry for the city:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Tennessee

I now realize my post/ question is going to look like a joke!

Crime


Although in 2004 violent crime in Memphis reached a record low for over a decade, that trend subsequently reversed. In 2005, Memphis was ranked the 4th most dangerous city with a population of 500,000 or higher in the U.S.[30] Crime in Memphis increased in 2005, and saw a dramatic rise in the first half of 2006. Nationally, cities follow similar trends, and crime numbers tend to be cyclical. Local experts and criminologists cite gang recruitment as one possible cause of the rise in crime in Memphis, and a reduction of 66% of federal funding to the Memphis Police Department.
In the first half of 2006, robbery of businesses increased 52.5%, robbery of individuals increased 28.5%, and homicide increased 18% over the same period of 2005. The Memphis Police Department has responded with the initiation of Operation Blue C.R.U.S.H. (Crime Reduction Using Statistical History), which targets crime hotspots and repeat offenders.[31] Memphis ended 2005 with 154 murders, and 2006 ended with 160. 2007 saw 164 murders, 2008 had 138, and 2009 had 132. Violent crimes dropped from 12,939 in 2008 to 12,047.

So in other words the crime rate in 2004 was one of the lowest, and "now" (2009) the murder rate is the lowest of all the data posted in that wiki.

Right?

Muggy and flood prone is the word I've heard. But I've not been there. Near useless post, sorry.

Good BBQ as far as I know.

i've been there to play golf a couple of times. parts of the city are beautiful like scenes from a movie about the old South, and other parts are downright dangerous and ugly.

If you could put up with the humidity, I say move since the cost of living should be lower then Manhatten, NY. Wherever I move I'd get a gun permit to be safe.

All cities have their good and bad areas. With a NYC-level income, you should be able to live in a very nice neighborhood.

My inlaws are in Millington, a suburb of Memphis and I have a cousin in Collierville. I've been to the city quite a few times. There are some really nice, historic areas I'm Memphis as well as upscale communities outside the city.

Beale Street is famous for the blues and if you are lucky, you might get to see BB King perform at his club before he retires. Memphis-style BBQ is outstanding as is southern food in general.

There are a couple restaurants that we don't miss when we go. Arcade Restaurant has the best beignets; yes, way better than Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Blue Plate is wonderful for breakfast. Both are downtown. There are several famous BBQ places, Corky's, Rendezvous and Interstate are the three biggies I know. Interstate ftw!

Great museums dedicated to Memphis blues and you have tacky-but-cool Graceland. Also, the Pink Palace (arts museum) and the Memphis Zoo was a pleasant surprise for me. Much nicer than I ever imagined.

The inner-city itself is ugly. The roads were crappy if I remember and there are many frightening areas. The downtown is next to the river which can be picturesque. There are some cool $$$$$ houses there, too.

Just south of downtown is pretty revitalized with hip restaurants and shops. The Martin Luther King Museum is there, too.

Mud Island is unique and there's a nice park. They have a big event, Memphis in May(?) which attracts big entertainers and BBQ competitions.

Very hot and sultry summers, winters are pretty mild I think. It's all relative.

You are just half a day from the Gulf beaches and New Orleans. Mountains to the east.

I don't know that I would want to live there, but living in the same city as my inlaws and my husband's siblings and their families has zero appeal for me. I also can't stand the heat and living on the NC coast is barely tolerable to me so that is also a personal preference.

Cost of living is low and I imagine you could live pretty well at the salary you will be making.

If you have children or anticipate having them, I would definitely do your research. That would make me *very* nervous.

Lots of crime and poverty. Politics seem especially dirty if I'm to believe my mother-in-law.

I would definitely visit in person before deciding. Spend several days and really check it out. Talk to folks you might work with there to get the scoop.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Melissa

I don't know that I would want to live there, but living in the same city as my inlaws and my husband's siblings and their families has zero appeal for me.

So what are you saying?

Originally Posted by Melissa

My inlaws are in Millington, a suburb of Memphis and I have a cousin in Collierville. I've been to the city quite a few times. There are some really nice, historic areas I'm Memphis as well as upscale communities outside the city.

Beale Street is famous for the blues and if you are lucky, you might get to see BB King perform at his club before he retires. Memphis-style BBQ is outstanding as is southern food in general.

There are a couple restaurants that we don't miss when we go. Arcade Restaurant has the best beignets; yes, way better than Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Blue Plate is wonderful for breakfast. Both are downtown. There are several famous BBQ places, Corky's, Rendezvous and Interstate are the three biggies I know. Interstate ftw!

Great museums dedicated to Memphis blues and you have tacky-but-cool Graceland. Also, the Pink Palace (arts museum) and the Memphis Zoo was a pleasant surprise for me. Much nicer than I ever imagined.

The inner-city itself is ugly. The roads were crappy if I remember and there are many frightening areas. The downtown is next to the river which can be picturesque. There are some cool $$$$$ houses there, too.

Just south of downtown is pretty revitalized with hip restaurants and shops. The Martin Luther King Museum is there, too.

Mud Island is unique and there's a nice park. They have a big event, Memphis in May(?) which attracts big entertainers and BBQ competitions.

Very hot and sultry summers, winters are pretty mild I think. It's all relative.

You are just half a day from the Gulf beaches and New Orleans. Mountains to the east.

I don't know that I would want to live there, but living in the same city as my inlaws and my husband's siblings and their families has zero appeal for me. I also can't stand the heat and living on the NC coast is barely tolerable to me so that is also a personal preference.

Cost of living is low and I imagine you could live pretty well at the salary you will be making.

If you have children or anticipate having them, I would definitely do your research. That would make me *very* nervous.

Lots of crime and poverty. Politics seem especially dirty if I'm to believe my mother-in-law.

I would definitely visit in person before deciding. Spend several days and really check it out. Talk to folks you might work with there to get the scoop.

Good luck!

Interesting.

OP lives in Manhattan.. so compared to THAT, I'd live just about anywhere except LA or Miami.

Basically any city you just buy a 'bubble' 5,10, 20 miles outside of town and life will be good- raise a family, good schools, restaurants, low crime, etc, etc.

MHO

A

"Slower" would drive me nuts. I'm a city type of guy but I suppose if the pay is that good then I may take the job offer (it would have to be very very good before I ever consider live in BFE lol..)

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

"Slower" would drive me nuts. I'm a city type of guy . . . . .

Me too. Got a great job offer in Atlanta once and just couldn't do it. I actually like Atlanta, but knew it would just be too slow for me.

Originally Posted by ard

Interesting.

OP lives in Manhattan.. so compared to THAT, I'd live just about anywhere except LA or Miami.

Different strokes is what makes the world go round. For someone living in Manhattan who loves it, he'd probably have a hard time adjusting to life in the burbs. I grew up in the Bay Area, but love LA. The only other place I think I could really love living (in the U.S.) would be Manhattan. I've thought about Miami because I'm a beach/coast person, real estate is cheap and there's no state tax, but I am afraid I'd be miserable. It would be too slow for me, and life's too short to live somewhere because it's cheaper and the tax rate is lower. I might change my mind at some point, but that's the way I feel now.

Not sure I'd decide on a place based on a crime report in Wiki though. Every city has good areas and bad areas, and I assume the OP would be making enough to live in a good area.

Originally Posted by 1Dreamer

Me too. Got a great job offer in Atlanta once and just couldn't do it. I actually like Atlanta, but knew it would just be too slow for me. Different strokes is what makes the world go round. For someone living in Manhattan who loves it, he'd probably have a hard time adjusting to life in the burbs. I grew up in the Bay Area, but love LA. The only other place I think I could really love living (in the U.S.) would be Manhattan. I've thought about Miami because I'm a beach/coast person, real estate is cheap and there's no state tax, but I am afraid I'd be miserable. It would be too slow for me, and life's too short to live somewhere because it's cheaper and the tax rate is lower. I might change my mind at some point, but that's the way I feel now.

Not sure I'd decide on a place based on a crime report in Wiki though. Every city has good areas and bad areas, and I assume the OP would be making enough to live in a good area.

... life's too short and Miami is too slow for you and you're on a message board at 2:46 a.m. riiight

Originally Posted by noego

... life's too short and Miami is too slow for you and you're on a message board at 2:46 a.m. riiight

Well, I've temporarily relocated to the Bay Area to take care of health issues my parents are having while working 12+ hours a day much of the time, and I work at the computer. If I have to work late into the night even on weekends to get it all done because my days are spent dealing with medical issues, then I do. And I don't really know anyone up here anymore, so . . . .

I admittedly have no life right now, but that's the way it's gotta be - and I'm OK with that. But I was speaking of the only places I could really be happy living. Living in the Bay Area is not my preference. Oddly, San Francisco does nothing for me despite being a very large city. You'd think if I liked Manhattan that I'd like S.F., but But I do know I like large, thriving cities.

I lived in OC for a number of years for work - right near the water in Newport and then Laguna. I'd often say it was hard to complain about living in paradise, but it just didn't do a lot for me. I found myself in LA most weekends. Sometimes in San Diego as I have a lot of friends there, but even that was too slow for me to consider living there. In OC, at least I could get to LA in an hour, but San Diego was too isolated - and I decided life was too short to stay in OC, so I eventually moved back to LA.

That's just me though. Everybody is different and every city has it's benefits, so I certainly wasn't knocking Memphis, or Atlanta, or Miami. I don't know Memphis, but there are things I really like about Atlanta and Miami. I used to go to Atlanta a lot on business and I could live there, but would I choose it and do I think I could really be as happy as I could be in LA or NYC? Probably not. Who knows though. Things change.

We all gravitate to different places for different reasons though. The OP clearly likes Manhattan, ard says he'd live anyplace but Manhattan, LA and Miami, and LA or Manhattan would make me happiest. Different strokes. That's what makes the world go round.

hang in there, 1Dreamer! you're doing a good thing.

I lived in Manhattan for 8 yrs, moved to the Bay Area for a new job, and left the Bay Area after 11 months to return to Manhattan. SF was too slow for me.

However, for the OP, for identical dollars for a significantly lower cost of living, that would:

a. Encourage frequent travel to interesting places more often (can be hard leaving the city)
b. Increase savings
c. Give the OP a chance to re-evaluate life in general

Downside to moving:
If you hate it, you're stuck for a while and time will move very slowly until you can get out.

Originally Posted by alee

I lived in Manhattan for 8 yrs, moved to the Bay Area for a new job, and left the Bay Area after 11 months to return to Manhattan. SF was too slow for me.

I remember that! I even remember you posting about moving there before you actually moved. Manhattan and SF are to very different animals. Most Europeans I know find San Francisco to be their favorite U.S. city, hands down. Not sure why that is. It's odd to me that I grew up in the Bay Area and yet I always feel like a duck out of water in SF - like i just don't fit - or it doesn't fit me. And although I've never lived in Manhattan, I've spent quite a bit of time there over the years for both business and pleasure and I feel completely comfortable and at home there. There's something about the energy the minute you walk out the door that just makes me feel so alive. Paris is like that for me too. Hard to describe.

The mountains are beautiful, but I'd go absolutely bonkers living in the country. I have friends where it's completely the opposite. One of my best friends just moved from LA to Austin so he could buy a bunch of land and now they live out in the boonies, they've got two goats, a donkey, few people around and he's in heaven. I don't know how they could leave LA for a life in the middle of nowhere, and they don't know how I could stay there.

The ocean for me is kind of like the mountains for some people though. I've spent up to a week on a boat (sailing) with no one around other than a couple of my best buddies and I love that. Don't know why that doesn't drive me bonkers like being out in the country too long, but it doesn't. Spent a lot of weekends sailing to Catalina and back when I lived in OC. Great times.

I went to Memphis on a business trip, and was shocked how run down and abandoned the feel was. Yes, there is some amazing ribs and great music down there, but the general vibe was depressing, IMO. Sort of like NOLA's red haired step sister.

I get to Memphis occasionally and the friends I have there live in the Germantown suburb - with a name like that how can you go wrong
Nice suburbia, but still suburbia.

It is HUMID in the summer, your feet almost stick to the pavement.

Did you check a cost of living calculator for NYC to Memphis? We're talking like 45 cents on the NY dollar. Or if the salary is the same, you just doubled. I put in 75k for NYC (I'd guess that's a tough salary to live on for NYC):

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/?salar...city2=54748000

Hmmm interesting. I would go slow especially if paid to do so.

Originally Posted by brkf

Did you check a cost of living calculator for NYC to Memphis? We're talking like 45 cents on the NY dollar. Or if the salary is the same, you just doubled. I put in 75k for NYC (I'd guess that's a tough salary to live on for NYC):

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/?salar...city2=54748000

Wow.

A salary of $75,000 in New York, New York could decrease to $33,393 in Memphis, Tennessee

Thank you very much everyone for your insights. Love these forums.

More data on this page: http://www.city-data.com/city/Memphis-Tennessee.html
That web site is also a great source of info and discussions (forums) about pretty much any major city in the nation.

More info: we do have a young child and we are looking at bilingual schools here in the city for a Jan 2013 start. I could not find any french bilingual schools in Menphis. Start one?
The other drawback for us is that Menphis seems to have a very low Asian population (< 2%).
Don't mind the burbs, in fact at this stage of our lives we are attracted to them: more space, quieter, cleaner, better roads, less crime etc. How likely is it for someone to show up at our doorstep in our 'burb bubble though? See what happened to the OP in this thread, not sure where he is but that's terrifying. Imagine if one's family is at home alone. The burglary stats are pretty high (cf. Crime on that city-data link above) without distinction of where they occur.

Our take on this is close to what alee (post # 16 above) wrote.

Eventually if the talks progress, we will fly down as a family to take a look, drive around, talk to people etc.
The crime stats I posted were off-putting to me for a city of barely 1.7M people.

I have been looking for a situation to leverage a low cost of living for a while now. Had my mind set on South East Asia. Then this headhunter called. Life...

Originally Posted by 1Dreamer

Most Europeans I know find San Francisco to be their favorite U.S. city, hands down. Not sure why that is. It's odd to me that I grew up in the Bay Area and yet I always feel like a duck out of water in SF - like i just don't fit - or it doesn't fit me.

Comparing NY and SF? Yeah, they're in totally different leagues. SF is more Euro-like so I can totally understand where your European friends are coming from. It's almost like comparing SF to Hong Kong - walking in downtown SF to me was a relaxing experience, while in HKG I would be pushed around or being stepped over if I slowed down just a bit.

Originally Posted by brkf

Did you check a cost of living calculator for NYC to Memphis? We're talking like 45 cents on the NY dollar. Or if the salary is the same, you just doubled. I put in 75k for NYC (I'd guess that's a tough salary to live on for NYC):

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/?salar...city2=54748000

Duh.

Originally Posted by v12

Thank you very much everyone for your insights. Love these forums.

More data on this page: http://www.city-data.com/city/Memphis-Tennessee.html
That web site is also a great source of info and discussions (forums) about pretty much any major city in the nation.

More info: we do have a toddler and we are looking at bilingual schools here in the city for a Jan 2013 start. I could not find any french bilingual schools in Menphis. Start one?
The other drawback for us is that Menphis seems to have a very low Asian population (< 2%).
Don't mind the burbs, in fact at this stage of our lives we are attracted to them: more space, quieter, cleaner, better roads, less crime etc. How likely is it for someone to show up at our doorstep in our 'burb bubble though? See what happened to the OP in this thread, not sure where he is but that's terrifying. Imagine if one's family is at home alone. The burglary stats are pretty high (cf. Crime on that city-data link above) without distinction of where they occur.

Our take on this is close to what alee (post # 16 above) wrote.

Eventually if the talks progress, we will fly down as a family to take a look, drive around, talk to people etc.
The crime stats I posted were off-putting to me for a city of barely 1.7M people.

I have been looking for a situation to leverage a low cost of living for a while now. Had my mind set on South East Asia. Then this headhunter called. Life...

You're looking for french bilingual schools and you care about low Asian population? That's very interesting...

I'm sure there're some "better" suburbs for each of the metro in the US, you just have to find it, and how far it is from where you'll be working.

Originally Posted by Griffoun

[...]You're looking for french bilingual schools and you care about low Asian population? That's very interesting...[...]

For two different sets of reasons.