I'm in the information gathering stage of deciding whether to take a job there at UK. What do you all know about the area? Any information at all, no matter how random, is appreciated.

In general, I like the Lexington area. I lived north of Knoxville for about 4-5 years. There are lots of things to do and you are not far from some pretty cool places (several national parks, outdoor stuff, etc.).

My wife and I are actually trying to move back to the area. I think I've applied for one position at UK... Natural Resources / Education type positions.

PS - PM me if you have more detailed questions.
What type of things are important to you in where you move?

[This message has been edited by ZooGuy (edited 9/24/2013 11:50a).]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I don't want to PM because I have the one month trial and I am afraid it runs out pretty soon.

Well, we would mostly be interested in public schools (elementary and middle school at first). We are also just interested in the overall attitude of the place. We are both native Texans and we have never lived outside of Texas.

I don't know anything about the schools. I've been through Lexington a couple of times; we lived outside Knoxville. Knoxville (people-wise) wasn't that different from Texas (I grew up in rural Texas). College basketball is of course big there. I believe Lexington is the 2nd largest city in Kentucky; I do know that there are tons of outdoor things to do if you into that kind of thing. The downside is that you'll have no "real" Tex-Mex (their version of salsa is chopped up tomatoes with salt and pepper). I know a Chuy's went in in Knoxville; not sure about the Lexington area.

Again, I grew up in Texas.. lived around the Knoxville and Chattanooga areas for 4 years, moved back to Central Texas 2.5 years ago, and am now hoping to move back to the East Tennessee area (or KY, NC, GA, etc.) if that tells you anything (even though my mother-in-law who gives us too much attention lives there).

It is a beautiful area of the country, its nice to have actual seasons, and the people in general are good people. I say that they are similar to people in E. Texas or W. Texas.

Yeah, I can't find anyone who says a bad word about Lexington. In fact, I've met several people who are like you who left Texas, moved to Kentucky, came back, and now wish they hadn't come back. Apparently you get used to having seasons and being able to go outside in the summer without melting.

Yeah, I loved that it never got above 90 in the Summer (at least while I was there, although the humidity was bad). Still better than Texas Summers.

I've got some pretty good chances of getting interviews for jobs I've applied for recently, and am going to TN in 2 weeks to visit family.

Geez, I miss snow!

I lived there for a few years in grad school. Clearly there's different priorities for a family when looking at the city.

That being said, it's a great city to live in and UK is a great place to work. I'd take a position there in a heartbeat. UK's budget (like all state institutions around the country)has taken a beating the last few years, so there's that.

As mentioned earlier, you're in short driving distance to lots of really great stuff in the outdoors, and other interesting cities. Nashville is only three hours away, Cinci is 90 minutes, so getting out of town to explore other parts of the country (especially since you've only lived in Texas) will be great.

Seasons are truly awesome. Fall and spring in Lexington are hard to beat for weather. Summer is much more pleasant. Winters do see some snow and ice, but in my time there, campus shut down once for a freak ice storm. I think it had been 6-8 years since the previous shut down.

Public transportation has much improved since I lived there, though still has a way to go to be really useful, in my opinion. There was a program a few years back which gave some nice tax breaks for people willing to move in close to downtown - don't know if that's still in place, but something to check out. Some really neat homes in some of those neighborhoods.

Most of my colleagues live on the south side of town between Harrodsburg and Richmond Roads. During my time there, the northwest part of the city wasn't the most attractive, though that may have changed.

The food scene in Lexington is great. I think they're still in the top five in the country for number of restaurants per capita.

Yay, my application got forwarded to the hiring agency for a job I applied for in KY! Woo hoo! The most movement I've had on jobs in a couple of months!

Awesome!! Good luck man.

[This message has been edited by CrottyKid (edited 10/1/2013 8:53p).]

Glad to read that, Zooilogical guy!

Just moved to Dallas from Lexington a few months ago after living in Lexington the last three years. I absolutely loved it there and would move back in a heartbeat if a decent job opportunity came along. I'm Kentucky born, but my fiance is a native Texan, and she loves it there as much as I do. We took a trip back for a friend's wedding last weekend, and we both still felt like we still lived there and were sad to fly back to Dallas on Sunday.


How old are you? Do you have children? What are you looking for in a city? Do you have any major concerns?

I'm happy to answer any questions I can, my email should be in my profile if you'd rather not post everything on the public forum.

LOL, Greg, I'm the opposite.. I'm from Texas.. my wife is from TN. I met here there.. we moved here to Austin.. now, after 2.5 years, we're ready to move back. I'm fine with moving back.. too much t-sips here and too much heat during the summer!

Hi Greg,
I am married with a couple of young kids(elementary school age). So schools are REALLY important. We are in our early thirties. I am a country boy at heart, but I don't want to drive 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store. I have lived in suburbia before and could do it again, but I prefer not to look out my window and into my neighbor's.

We will probably have to rent first because I don't have a lot of money to put down on a house, and my income/debt ratio won't be that great at first.

I visited Lexington recently, and I liked the size of the city and everything. I mainly need advice on what part of town is good and which areas have the best houses for the dollar and the best schools for the dollar (that's a tough task because property values are positively correlated with school ratings).




How old are you? Do you have children? What are you looking for in a city? Do you have any major concerns?

Hey Crotty,

I'm sorry for the delay, I completely forgot that I had posted here until this afternoon. It's not a board I frequent very often, so I hope this response isn't too late to be helpful to you.

The south side of the city is definitely the better side, and there are some very nice neighborhoods, with some pretty affordable living. One of the best parts of living in Lexington is that you're never far from the country. From wherever you are in the city, you can be surrounded by horse farms within 10 minutes of driving time.

Some of the best houses for the dollar are going to be in a neighborhood on the northwest side of the city called Masterson Station. I have a few friends who live there, some with elementary aged children and I never heard them complain about the area. The houses are pretty new and nice, But there are some definite drawbacks, like the relative proximity to some prisons just to the west, as well as some less than stellar areas of town not too far to the south and east. So those would certainly be some concerns that a Realtor might not mention while showing you a nice house in the neighborhood.

I don't have children, so I don't know much about the Lexington school system, but I know that the Beaumont area in the southwestern part of Lexington is known for having some of the best schools in the city, which funnel into Dunbar High, which is pretty well regarded academically (I can say that Dunbar is quite disproportionately represented in UK Law's student body). But that is a pretty expensive part of town. The Veterans Park neighborhood and surrounding area in south central Lexington is also supposed to have some high quality schools, and should be a good bit less expensive than Beaumont while still being a very nice, family friendly part of town.

I lived in an apartment in south central Lexington near the intersection of Man O War and Tates Creek, and I loved it. Tates Creek is a relatively easy route to get to and from UK/Downtown, there are nice parks nearby, a nice Kroger that is currently being expanded into a much larger Kroger (should be done soon from how it looked when I was there a couple weeks ago), and you are very close to a lot of good restaurants, stores (Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc. as well as the Fayette Mall which has normal mall stores like Macy's), and good access to the rest of the city between Tates Creek, Man O War, and Nicholasville roads.

Commuting on Nicholasville Road during peak hours will take a toll on you. It can take a very long time to travel even a modest distance and the direction of the lanes change with the traffic flow (more lanes towards downtown in the morning and away from it in the evening) which can be harrowing in and of itself, so try to avoid that if you can. Smaller roads like Tates Creek and Alumni are much less stressful commutes from the southern side of the city, and are usually much faster as well.

If you really want to avoid suburban living, Nicholasville is just south of the Fayette county line, not really much further out than Veterans Park area and you certainly won't have to worry about looking into your neighbors windows as minimum lot sizes are much larger once you cross into Jessemine County. And there is some new development down there as well, with grocery store, restaurants, movie theater etc. so you wouldn't really have to drive any further to a grocery than you would on the Lexington side. I have no idea what Jessemine County schools are like, but it might at least be an option to explore with a Realtor.

Really it's hard to go wrong on the south side. The area known as Woodhill in the southeast can be a little rough, but other than that, you'd be hard pressed to find a bad area anywhere along Man O War Boulevard.

I hope I was able to give some insight. I'm sorry I don't know more about the schools, but I hope I was still helpful to you. I hope you get to go to Lexington, it really is a great place to live. Friendly people, nice slow pace of life, and overall just a pleasant place. I would go back in a heartbeat if a job opportunity came along. Best of luck, and let me know if you have any other questions, I'll try not to wait 2 weeks to respond.

This might be a useful tool for you. Not sure how credible the website is, but you can view and compare the elementary schools in the city which are rated on a 1-10 scale, and see them laid out on a map of the city, kind of a nifty thing:

http://www.greatschools.org/kentucky/lexington/schools/?view=map&pageSize=100&gradeLevels=e&st=public

[This message has been edited by GregZeppelin (edited 10/29/2013 1:21a).]

I took the job. I will be moving to Lexington in Summer 2014.

I still haven't found anything.

Sorry to hear that.

Congratulations Crotty!

Be sure to hit up the local A&M club when you get there. There were usually about 15 or so people who would show up for game watching parties, but never the same 15, so there's a pretty good contingent of Ags in the city. The Club is the Kentuckiana A&M Club based in Louisville, but they usually announce both a Louisville and a Lexington location for each event they hold.

The best way I've heard Lexington described is as "a city of hidden treasures." It'll take some time to learn your way around, and really discover what the city has to offer, as it tends not to be immediately obvious to new residents. But within six months or so you'll start to really settle in, and find your favorite places.

But for starters, the Arboretum on the southern edge of UK's campus is a great place to go for a run/walk. Winchell's on Southland Dr. is a great hole-in-the-wall sports bar for watching games, Keeneland is definitely something to be experienced, Raven Run Nature Preserve is just south of the city, and has some good hiking trails up and down some hills and with a couple of nice little waterfalls, and of course the bourbon distilleries start just west of the city.

Congratulations again, and I hope enjoy your time up there!

Thanks. I'll be sure to report after I'm there for a bit.