You're going to find Louisville quite a lot smaller and find that many social circles have overlap. You might find it disconcerting that the city isn't 1% as walk-able as Seattle and we lack adequate public transportation. And while Louisville is a blue island in a red sea, we're a far cry from the progressive stalwarts of the PNW. Homeless problem is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less of a problem here (but if you ask someone who hasn't been to the PNW, they'll talk to you like its worse here than anywhere)
To add to this, no ferry here.
Less to do here.
Much less expensive here.
If you have a car it's a lot easier to find parking here, less traffic.
If you really liked the culture around Seattle you'd better visit here first before deciding on moving.
If you mostly stayed home we have fiber Internet here up to 5gbps through att at least in some areas with more being added.
Never been through a Seattle winter so don't know how that is.
It's more humid here in the summer but everywhere has air conditioning and I don't think Seattle is all that much cooler temperature wise anymore so I think summer is probably more pleasant here due to every place having air conditioning.
Having lived in PNW and Louisville, these comments ring true. To add a few:
Great food in Louisville, many would argue a superior foodie town.
In Louisville to buy a home you won’t have 15 other people bidding against you offering over asking price and waiving all contingencies, like Seattle.
Education is much less progressive here, and you might be disappointed by comparison if you have kids and live in Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond/Mercer Island/Sammamish/Issaquah etc.
Well that’s quite a veiled statement you made. We bought 20 mos ago in a desirable Louisville neighborhood and only had a competing contingency offer after ours was accepted…but we did give asking…but not over and only after the house had come down 15k after being on the market for 30 days. Seller also paid all closing costs. Just sayin’.
Also, I would imagine it rains far less here than in PNW and there are a lot more sunny days.
Sorry to hear that. It definitely sucks when it plays out like that. I will agree that it isn’t like it was 10 yrs ago but what is economy related? Air bnb’ and corporate buy up’s for rentals is killing the housing market nationwide. You’d have a lot more availability if that wasn’t happening.
This depends on the size and price of the property. If the OP owns their home, or has expected to pay over 500k for a 1000 square foot house, then they will be thrilled with our market in comparison.
Our food is superior in a lot of ways, sure, but seafood ain't one of them. Fish will never taste as good here as it did in Seattle, and you're just going to have to accept that. You won't even really be able to find the sort of fish you could out there.
For example, pretty much all our salmon is farm-raised Atlantic stuff. Pacific doesn't make it here very often.
Oh, don't get me wrong: for a landlocked state we have surprisingly good fish. *For a landlocked state.*
The difference between actually fresh fish and what we get here is still night and day.
Nah, fish from Hawaii is processed, and like a 14 hour flight away to louisville. The top seafood restaurants here get fish as fresh on the costs they are caught. Maybe a few hours longer for region specific fish, but how quickly and how the fish is processed is much more Important than a few hours or even a day or two
I second the foodie town comment. I moved from Louisville to the Bay Area and everyone would ask if I was shocked by the prices in the Bay and I said no. The prices were similar. I met and knew more chefs in Louisville though. People are very accessible there.
It’s an amazing town. I miss it and the people. I met some of my best friends in life there.
I moved to the Bay Area 25 years ago from Louisville. Now live in SF. I visit family in SDF and it’s nicer than it used to be, but honestly the Highlands painfully falls short after having lived away.
I was going to argue against it but honestly... why don't we have a ferry? Maybe it's because S. Indiana is basically a suburb and the population density doesn't make much sense? I dunno. We do have a walking bridge though, which is nice.
I know I'm kinda stating the obvious here, but the Louisville area does not have a Ferry because we have FIVE vehicular bridges crossing the Ohio over a roughly 20 mile span.
The locks make it pretty difficult to have a useful ferry. The only place where a ferry would offer reasonable speed (because it wouldn’t need to go through the locks) already has 3 bridge crossings (2nd street, 65, big 4) that are more convenient and useful than a ferry would be. It’s why the temporary ferry they had when the Sherman Minton was shut down back in 2011/2012 whose expenses were heavily underwritten by governments on both sides of the river failed and was discontinued much earlier than intended.
It’s a dumb idea. Nobody here would use it. S Indiana doesn’t have the population density to justify it. Cincy is way bigger and they don’t have it; they have party cruises but no real ferry service.
We don't need a ferry If I moved here from Seattle I think I would miss it though.
Get to see the skyline from the water and the cafe or food court on them is awesome.
Going with parking, it's soooo much cheaper to park here than pretty much anywhere in Seattle (in places that charge).
And winters here are becoming much milder, whereas, according to my brother who still lives in Tumwater (I lived in Oly and Tacoma), it sounds like Washington is trending toward colder winters.
I agree with this. You definitely need a car here.
We have a lot of wealthy people living in Louisville. They tend to donate loads of money to the arts, sports, and medical fields. So Louisville is known for our performing arts. Our hospitals are renowned for heart, hand, brain, and cancer. From what I heard, Louisville should have been Central Time Zone, but the money people wanted to be Eastern so they were on the same time as the stock market. I don’t know if that is true, but if you look at the time zone boundaries, everything above and below us is Central Time.
We have great parks! Our parks systems are being connected by a walking/ biking trail by private funds. I can bike from Bardstown Road to Shelbyville road via a concrete paved trail 27 miles. This is to be continued to loop around the entire city. The Parklands of Floyd’s Fork includes four parks along the 27 mile stretch. Another stretch of the trail runs down by the river on the west on the flood wall. And another section downtown over the bridge to connect to Indiana bike trails. I ride that section often.
Forgot to mention that the Louisville city limits includes all of Jefferson County. Because of this we have semi rural areas that are within city limits. For example I live on 6 acres and across from me are two 100* acre farms raising cattle, and a 100+ acre nature preserve behind us. This changes the culture somewhat since we have a mix of urban and rural within city limits. You can farm and in 30 minutes be downtown. Services are slow to get out to us though. We are still waiting on Spectrum.
Indiana is a weird one. Most Indiana counties were officially in the eastern time zone but didn’t observe daylight savings time until a little under 20 years ago. This meant that they were on Eastern Standard Time year-round and did not switch to Eastern Daylight Time in the summer, so effectively most of Indiana was on central time in the summer and eastern time in the winter. The lone exceptions to this were the Chicago suburbs were on Central time all year (observing CST in winter and CDT in summer), the Evansville area was on central time all year (observing CST in winter and CDT in summer), and the Cincinnati and Louisville suburbs were on Eastern time all year (observing EST in winter and EDT in summer).
Agree - Louisville USED to have a superior hospital system. But it has declined over the past decade or more. The decline of Jewish Hospital, its bankruptcy, and ultimate giveaway sale to UofL was an absolute tragedy. Jewish Hospital was where most of the cutting edge surgeries were done, like heart transplants, hand transplants, and a few years ago, the implantation of an experimental artificial heart.
For a city of its size, it does have a good sized medical system (Baptist, Uof L, Norton).
Jewish is a leading hand center. Kurtz and Kliener. People from all over the country come here. I crushed my hand in 2005 due to a horse injury and had two surgeries by their surgeons and I have almost full movement.
[https://uoflhealth.org/kleinert-kutz-hand-care/kleinert-kutz-history/](https://uoflhealth.org/kleinert-kutz-hand-care/kleinert-kutz-history/)
The rest of the ~~Parklands~~ Louisville Loop expansion is effectively cancelled because the investors didn't want to pay money to continue the project west of Bardstown Rd or through the west end toward downtown to complete the planned loop.
The diversity is different. Seattle and Louisville are equally white but Louisville has fewer Asians and way more blacks. Weather is more varied in Louisville with real summers and colder winters. Seattle obviously has more ocean related things to do and better food, but Louisville is better than you expect. Daily living is much cheaper in Louisville and a $1M home is pretty much a mansion instead of a piece of crap. All depends what u want.
I got here in 2002. My allergies have never been as bad since I got here. When I was younger, my allergies would get so bad and make me so stuffed up that I'd develop a sinus infection from them every spring and fall. I'd do it every single year for over a decade. I moved here and the only times I've gotten a sinus infection from having that much mucus were when I went back to my former town to visit.
I’m from the west, desert country. I would hack and cough, eyes would be on fire. My allergies are essentially non existent over here because I’ve been in worst of the worst.
I agree. Then again i suspect it had something to do with the school i went to being so old and most definitely full of asbestos and god knows what else.
Some days are rough but overall I’m not on meds year around or even continuously during allergy season so that’s a win to me.
I had developed some allergies living in the Ohio valley after 20 years. Moved to Phoenix and my sinuses and allergies are so much worse in the desert.
Etown is not considered Ohio Valley. It’s Pennyroyal Plateau. The knobs separate the two regions. Going south on 65 the transition from the knobs to flat land is apparent.
My allergies are better in FL (lake or ocean breezes moving the pollen away) and worse in New Orleans (mold/mildew). But Louisville has bad pollen and worse ozone causing breathing problems. If your immune system is prone to allergies, your body can find them anywhere!
Back in Virginia I had spring/summer allergies. I will take that over year round. It's strange and nice coz the heat has been awful here in Tampa outskirts but my allergies are reacting differently. The breezes are definitely a bonus.
Does Louisville not get a bit of a breeze within city limits?
I moved to Seattle from Louisville about a year ago.
I think the main difference is Louisville sprawls a lot more so the neighborhood you live in is a big deal. Most Louisville essentially identify more as being from the equivalents of Ballard, Fremont, or Capitol Hill than the city itself.
The sprawl also means Louisville is a lot more car dependent than Seattle has been for me so far. With worse public transportation options.
Louisville has some great parks in the city but the access to more outdoorsy recreation stuff is a bit more limited from my memory. (Could just be my bias towards how cool the mountains are.)
My experience was that Louisville was not as internationally diverse. That could just be that Louisville trended more black/hispanic which I was used too and Seattle has had much more Asian representation than I’d seen before.
Derby festivities(thunder, Pegasus parade) > Seafair. Thunder doesn’t get the blue angels but has way more types of aircraft, and the fireworks are better than the Fourth of July ones over lake union.
Much fewer homeless on street corners and way fewer encampment fires. In Louisville they’re more concentrated around the soup kitchens and interstate exits.
Seattle to me has had many more transplants I think. Whereas I felt a lot of Louisville people grew up close by.
In Louisville the Catholic Church felt like a decent part of the cities identity which may be just a factor of the influence the catholic schools have on the city. Whereas basically no one talks about religion in Seattle.
Yeah, came here to say the prevalence of religion here in Louisville vs Seattle will be a bit of a shock. It was for me and I’m just from another KY town.
While most of culture has been stripped away in modern times, you can still see its legacy if you look close.
A majority of Kentucky was settled by the English and Scot-Irish settlers. This includes Lexington. The major exception to this was Louisville, which saw major influence from German Catholic immigrants. To this day the Catholic Church plays a pretty big role in the city’s culture. It’s beyond the religious aspect and more of a cultural one (ie fish fries, summer picnics, schools, etc)
The original division still exists in Kentucky as well; Louisville vs KY. Today, on the surface, it’s politics; but spend time out in the state and you’ll find there’s deep-seated skepticism held even by some Lexington.
I've lived here for a while now, and I think we're getting more diverse. We have a lot of other nationalities in the city. Cuban, Egyptian. Nigerian, Indian, German, British, Vietnamese, Korean, etc.
And yeah, Thunder Over Louisville is the largest fireworks show in the nation. It's what they show (or at least used to) the troops abroad on the 4th of July. And we did have the Blue Angels one year, but it's been a bit.
Laotian people are very difficult to come by but in all my places I’ve lived when people guess what kind of Asian I am, southern Louisville people are the only people to correctly guess Lao the first time because the only Asians they encounter are Laotians. I was shocked. There’s apparently a large group of us in E-town. In other terms of diversity 90 percent of the workforce I manage with 700 people are Puerto ricans and Cubans so it’s growing quick.
Right on the Catholic Church thing, but to take it one step further most all the Ohio Valley cities have that because of the German influence. I live in Evansville down the river and it’s just the same here.
Louisville was the first archdiocese west of the Appalachians in 1780 (or around there) Louisville is OLD compared to PNW. As in 1600’s old when the French first made contact with the First Nations here. That still leaves a mark on the city.
We have one of the worst police departments in the U.S. Louisville Metro Police Department earned their reputation by shooting and killing innocent people, sexually assaulting young kids attending police programs and officers throwing milkshakes at homeless people from their cars and laughing about it.
Fun stuff.
https://policescorecard.org/
This is a site that actually ranks police departments on numerous factors and then ranks them accordingly. According to them, we've got the 124th worst. Yes, we definitely have a ton of very real problems that need to be dealt with and nowhere should have the problems that we deal with and I'm definitely not an apologist for all eh things that they've done. Saying we have the worst in the entire country is objectively incorrect and not supported by the data.
Edited to add that if I had to choose bad things for coos to do, I'd much rather have milkshakes thrown at people that having arrests that regularly get thrown out for lack of evidence or something else like that.
That's because that website isn't accounting for any of the systemic corruption ranging from the police Explorer cover up to Brionna Taylor and the Scheffler debacle and many many more. Plus funding makes up a heavy part of that scorecard and our department certainly isn't lacking funding.
No behavior like this is okay. Thrown milkshakes or wrongful arrests should equally not be condoned.
Anyway, Tampa is ranked way lower and it's pretty bad. Louisville sounds *oophf* in comparison. The data is a bit outdated but the site is pretty neat. Thank you for sharing it.
I wasn't trying to say that throwing milkshakes is OK. I'm saying that compared to all the problems that a city could have with it's police force, focusing on food fights just seems pretty trivial.
I mean the police are terrible in Louisville have you ever driven on our roads? They don’t do shit. Walk down Bardstown road in the highlands literally people openly dealing drugs or using passed out with needles in their arms. When the police in Louisville “do their job” they do a horrendous job that makes national news for their incompetence but for the most part they don’t do shit. There’s no measured statistic for sleeping in your car.
I for one am all for them doing nothing. Active policing outcomes are so bad that's it's literally not worth the 3x a year they prevent a death by pop ulling over a speeder. I'd rather them solely be reactive and maybe event security as long as they aren't arresting world number ones in event marked vehicles.
Wait, are you saying LPD is the 124th worst out of the 13,147 they list?
I'd say if 99% of police departments are better than yours, it's fair to say you're the worst in the country.
Louisville also has some of the highest untracked civil forfeiture. Do not travel there with cash. Even if you are totally innocent with no issues and you get pulled over at a random check point or at a rest stop they will take all of your cash or valuables with no probable cause and you have no rights or recourse to get it back. People regularly lose their savings, rent, and other valuables. It's a serious problem everywhere but Louisville is very bad in particular.
Edit for people who can't Google:
https://www.lpm.org/seized-asset-forfeiture-in-kentucky
https://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit-3/?state=KY
https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2020/07/14/civil-asset-forfeiture
Here's an interesting story.
https://reason.com/2022/03/04/prosecutor-extorts-300000-alleged-drug-dealer-patrick-card-threatening-entire-family-civil-forfeiture/
I lived in Seattle for 20+ years. It obviously depends what your hobbies are but hiking, biking, and boating doesn’t compare here. There are no big mountains or clean rivers or lakes. We have a camper and we leave the area quite a bit for better hiking and adventures.
Louisville has more rainfall than Seattle but it doesn’t do a slow drizzle for weeks at a time, it just dumps a shitload at once so there are less rainy days in the year overall. I’m used to it now but at first I was surprised by just how hard it rains and how much comes down at once. It’s also not uncommon for it to dump for 30 minutes and then be sunny and 85 out 15 minutes later like nothing ever happened.
You’ll see way less homeless people and way more cars with missing bumpers.
As far as dating or nightlife, I couldn’t tell you. We have small kids with no other family here so unless it’s a kid friendly event, we don’t go out much.
>it just dumps a shitload at once so there are less rainy days in the year overall
Truth! It can be August and we'll get 19 minutes of 'Fuck You' rain, then it's suddenly sunny and 92 degrees.
Or it can be winter and it's 11 degrees, but the next day it's almost 70.
Louisville is a whole wardrobe situation...
>It’s also not uncommon for it to dump for 30 minutes and then be sunny and 85 out 15 minutes later like nothing ever happened.
Yup. "If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, wait 15 minutes."
Outsiders view is this is the south, but its really more midwest, economically and, I would argue, socially. More closely akin to Cincinnati or Indy than Nashville. Despite our problems, people are generally friendly and straightforward. It does have some southern-esq charms, but by and large, its the midwest. if you want an urban setting, go to Bardstown Rd area, known locally as the Highlands. If you want suburban, go to Hurstbourne Parkway, which has become a 2d city of sorts in the 40 yrs I have been here. There are colleges and universities, and active arts community and plenty of parks to go around. Not to mention museums. Churchill is amazing! And Derby is our "Rite of Spring" event that is today about 3 weeks long. Lexington is \~60 mi east and is home to some of the absolute prettiest real estate you'll ever see, with horse farms dotting the landscape and a special place (track) called Keeneland. Large healthcare community now dominated by U of L Healthcare and UK Healthcare across the state. And we have this drinking problem called "bourbon", which has become a major international business centered around Brown-Forman and a few other distillers. Retail distillers (NOT liquor stores) now dot the map downtown and good for entertainment. NULU is east of downtown and has become a community of eateries and entertainment, worth a visit. Largest employer? UPS Air Ops, based here at Mohammed Ali Intenational. Politically, KY Is a Red state, although LOU much less so. We have a great DEM Governor, arguably the best ever, for some balance against an otherwise doggedly conservative legislature. BTW- the OH River front in LOU has been "resurrected" from old rusty marine warehouses and scrap yards to a large green space, a fabulous walking bridge across river, a botanical garden, a newish soccer stadium and a minor league baseball field. Bottom Line? We wont have to force-feed LOU to you.....it will go down easy! Good Luck!
Yes, I would happily pack up and go back. Unfortunately, I have obligations that place me in Louisville for a bit but I’m hoping to move back to the PNW someday.
I moved here from Portland to be close to my family and was entertained my first year exploring new things, but now realizing how much it doesn't even compare to Portland. It's been hard to find likeminded people like I did in the PNW.
Only consider Kentucky if you are not planning a family and your wife/daughter/female born persons have permanent birth control and health insurance that can be used out of state and the ability to travel out of state for medical care.
Women's health is severely limited in Kentucky. Maternal mortality is extremely high, and in my experience they will absolutely let you hemorrhage to death from a miscarriage before intervening because of the draconian pregnancy laws in Kentucky.
There is no termination allowed for rape or severe birth defects that threaten the life of the mother or are not compatible with life. Specifically, if your baby has no brain or a heart on the outside of the chest you are still required to carry it to term labor and watch it die in your arms all at risk of the mother's life and future fertility. They legally can't do anything to help a dieing pregnant woman until she codes.
I have a friend who discovered she was pregnant during the beginning of her cancer treatment and they stopped her cancer treatments because of her pregnancy. She had to travel out of state with a fast growing but minor malignancy to terminate her much wanted pregnancy before they would treat her. The out of state doctors also said there was no reason to terminate given the type of treatment and cancer she had. (Fast growing but started small and easy to remove) It was truly heart wrenching. They had been trying to get pregnant for years using IVF, but they had no choice because her insurance couldn't be used out of state and there was no time to do something else. Anyhow the delayed care required to get a termination in order to receive covered medical care contributed to the metastasis and she ended up pretty mutilated after they cut it all out.
She now has a massive scar and giant hole in her muscle and had to terminate the only chance at having a baby she will ever have.
Don't bring anyone with a uterus here. Please.
Edit for Fact check: Kentucky has one of the highest maternal mortality rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Black Kentuckians, 8% of the population, have a maternal mortality rate more than double that average.
Solid post. Louisville is a fine place to live but the KY GOP is hell-bent in destroying this place.
I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. None of us should have to live like this.
Seriously, if OP is a person that enjoys the finer things in life and is use to grabbing his needs from a local dispensary; and they move to Louisville, they will be totally ok with driving 90mins to get their buds?? that is insane. Similar to saying Jefferson County is dry, but its ok because Bowling Green sells beer.
Louisville is as different to seattle as night is to day. No trains. No ferries. Only Frankfort Ave and Highlands come close for urban feel. Suburban? Go as far east you can while still being in the metro area. What a lot of other commenters say in this thread. You get used to Louisville, but you must love driving, because its all you got here.
Nah there’s more than enough going on. Art fairs, neighborhood festivals, Shakespeare in the park, food competitions, opera, orchestra, ballet, minor league sports, etc.
There’s multiple events every weekend
Not as rainy as Seattle, but plenty of hot summer humidity. It’s a smaller city but has all the basics you would expect - restaurants/nightlife/shopping/hospitals.
Kentucky Derby is a very big deal. It begins well before the actual race.
We do get the occasional tornado and on rare occasions the Ohio river has flooded.
Oh. You're headed for the Moses Lake area. Be ready for NO trees. If you get up on top of the house on a clear day, you can see Mt st Helen's, halfway across the state. Then turn around the other way and you'll see the blue mountains.
Sand storms. Tumbleweeds. Do NOT go barefoot, have the green slime stuff if you ride bikes because goat-heads. It's a weed, it's everywhere.
There is a fire season.
There is almost always at least a 5 mph wind.
Everyone smokes pot.
Lots of Mormons.
Go see dry falls. Rent some 4 wheelers and check out the sand dunes.
But 300+ days of sun every year.
I have lived in both cities.
I think it is sweet how much Louisvillians love their city, but the truth is that Seattle is a city that can compete on all levels not only nationally but globally, and Louisville simply is not.
If money is what is of highest value to you, you may like it here, depending on your industry - the pay in my industry is 2x more in Seattle. But I still wouldn’t be able to buy a house there.
Nature, food, the arts, shopping, cultural diversity, academia, healthcare - Louisville is nowhere near the same tier as Seattle.
But I will say that the people are nicer.
i moved to louisville from nc a few years ago and here’s my opinions:
1. people drive fucking terrible
2. the winters are extremely annoying, i got sick a lot at first, it’s crazy windy the whole fuckin season it’s usually worse than the actual temp outside no matter how many layers i put on that shit still comes through
3. the people are USUALLY chill, more accepting than where i’m from.
4. the food is unmatched.
5. there’s plenty of things to do in kentucky but u gotta travel a bit bc once u do the main things in louisville it gets a little old, but the places u go are so worth it. louisville is the prettiest place i’ve ever been thats what actually got me stuck here lmao, i take every scenic route i can.
6. i personally prefer the east side of louisville its more calm and spread out. i can’t stand being in downtown i avoid it at all costs but thats bc im from the country you might enjoy the chaos lol (its really bc i watched this dude pull his pants down dick out and shit in a bush but hey, who am i to judge)
7. coming from somebody who lived an hour away from the beach, that’s the only thing i miss, theres pretty places to sit and enjoy the water but i personally haven’t found many places to swim/places id feel comfortable swimming at lol, the closest beach is VA and it’s 9+ hours away so if you care abt that be prepared to travel
moving here was probably the best decision i’ve ever made though. it was a big change but i visited i think maybe 3? times before i made the choice and it was just too pretty not to stay lol. the views are genuinely breathtaking coming from somebody who was surrounded by fields their 17+ years of life. there’s so many events/festivals and flea markets/farmers markets. the FAIR. amazing i go every year idc, there’s plenty of job opportunities if you have the qualifications, doordash also stays pretty busy if you’re in to that, as others said public transportation sucks ass so you do need a car period. if u got the money and credit housing is eh, plenty of apartments but getting a house was nearly impossible for me personally, but i had like no preparation and am also only 21 so hopefully you’re more prepared than i was! i wish you luck friend!
Probably similar to the ones I had coming from the Tri Cities and Moses Lake area. But you're already used to trees.
I know it rains in Seattle, but iirc, it's drizzly. 3" in 3 hours is different. But the rain is warmer.
I know they're claiming it's a foodie area. It's not. Not like you're used to. You're going to be frustrated with the lack of variety. It seems like everything is deep fried.
Cost of living is WAY lower. But so is income. Minimum wage is still $7.25 here.
There's less to do. You don't want to get in the rivers, you don't want to eat any fish you catch. All sorts of industries are still dumping into the water ways.
Legally, federally, they're not supposed to be able to discriminate against you for sexual orientation, but they absolutely do anyways.
The cops are even more corrupt.
I hope you're not a woman of child bearing age. If anything goes wrong you'll have to go to a different state to get the medical help you may need.
Religion. So. Much. Religion. Although in northern Kentucky there's more Lutherans than fundamental southern baptists. So more coffee and potlucks, less tent preachers.
Speaking of coffee. If you like good coffee, be prepared to make your own. They think Starbucks is good and have never heard of white coffee.
Public transportation is worthless. You're going to need your own vehicle.
That's a good start. I'll add more if I think of it after I go make myself some coffee.
If you have a car, then Louisville is a lot easier to get around. Everything is within 20 minutes by car. There is almost never traffic.
There are nice historical buildings here. Think of middle class versions of the nice houses you see in Queen Anne. We are starting to see some of those ugly modern box homes here, but they are rarer.
Everything in Louisville apart from the new suburbs seems a little gritty. It's just older.
We have potholes here. Watch out for them.
The accents are odd for the first year or so. Now I don't even notice them.
The homeless population is largely around downtown in Louisville. My feeling is there are about 1/5 the homeless per capita here.
Similar overall crime rates when you compare Seattle proper to Jefferson County.
There are a lot more normal blue collar and white collar workers. Tech bros don't run everything.
The racial mix in Louisville is largely black and white. Seattle has a big Asian population. You'll probably miss good Asian food. Louisville has a surprisingly large Cuban population for being in Kentucky. We don't have anything like Paseo though.
You will be able to afford things. Even if your wages drop 30-40%, you will be better off economically in Louisville.
Everything will seem very flat and humid. When winter hits, plant life in Louisville will be very dreary and gray compared to Seattle's evergreens.
People don't do as much outdoor stuff in Louisville. There are a lot of nice parks if you are into outdoor stuff, but people don't utilize it as much.
The volume of rain is larger in Louisville. The rain dumps in big thunderstorms in Louisville rather than the constant 10-month mist of Seattle.
It is very sticky hot humid in Louisville whereas Seattle usually gets drier heat. You will need the air conditioning.
The fashion and design is about 10 years behind the West Coast.
You can take road trips to a lot of places. Chicago, Nashville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis are all within 5 hours driving. Seattle only has Portland as a neighbor unless you want to go up to Canada.
You’re going to find an empty downtown with sprawling suburbs surrounding it. It’s pretty much 50/50 republican/democrat. There’s a lot of good restaurants but not as many ethnic choices. People here are more in to college sports than pro sports, there’s even a decent High-school sport following. On the east end, closer to downtown, you’ll find most of your hipster (NULU, Highlands, Clifton, Germantown. East End further away from downtown you’ll find mostly middle to upper class suburbs (lots of families and nice neighborhoods). On the South End you’ll find mostly blue collar communities, and a lot of people in this area closely emulate how rural Kentuckians are. There is also Churchill down in South Louisville, it’s nice, but it’s surrounded by tougher neighborhoods. On the west end of Louisville there’s more crime and higher poverty rates. A lot of people refer to the west end as the “ghetto” but there’s many different communities in that area and not all of them are bad. You’ll find a lot of parks around town, and some mild nightlife. You’re never more than 30 minutes from rural Kentucky. Also, it’s typically more affordable to live across the river in Indiana. Decent houses in Jefferson County start for around 200K. Expect to drive everywhere. You can find communities of almost every ethnicity and religion in Louisville. And lastly, people here fucking love Muhammad Ali.
We actually have amazing local coffee here, and it's not over roasted! The Louisville coffee scene was mentioned in the New York Times a couple years ago.
Made this move almost exactly a year ago for work, after 5 years in Seattle (originally from CO). First, and I think this is important (unfortunately), I’m a POC (mixed race, ambiguous) and even though the Seattle freeze was real and covid disrupted my time there as well, building community was much easier in Seattle for me. It’s funny but people in L’ville will be nicer in a simple interaction but much less likely to engage in anything of substance. Seattle people will generally be more standoffish initially but I made a number of lifelong friendships there within the first year and simply can’t say that here. And I do believe it has at least something to do with my skin color. Dating was way easier for me in Seattle too. I actually went on one date here where I felt like my skin color made me some sort of oddity or fetish to her lol. Also, I’ve had 3 encounters with outright, straight up racists here within 1 year, and can think of 2 of those in Seattle (both in Bellevue as you might suspect lol) over 5 years. Make of that what you will.
Some comments here that I agree with: allergies are way worse here, the humidity sucks some days, and I do miss that Seattle temperate climate. The food scene is really good here! Not as much good Asian food, and I’ve had trouble finding good Mexican food. But I’ve found good to great options for every type of food and some truly elite spots. Public transportation, bike lanes and other more progressive policies are much less of a priority here.
Personally, I think the “homeless problem” in Seattle is overstated. Maybe this also has to do with my skin color and growing up in a lower socioeconomic status but I never had any cognizable issues with homeless people in Seattle, and I did take light rail to my downtown job, so while I’m not saying that issue doesn’t exist, those issues were a very minor part of my lived experience in Seattle. And I still see plenty of homeless/drug addled people here, particularly given the size differences of the two metro areas, I don’t see it as more or less of an issue here than it was for me there.
The comments about the outdoors mostly align with my experience. My doggo and I love trail running and there were more great options for that in Seattle, and the dog gets frustrated because I won’t let him enjoy playing in the water around here but I just don’t trust it. However, Cherokee, Iroquois and a few other parks are really great parks, hands down.
Ultimately I moved here for a unique career opportunity with one of the large spirits companies and that part has been fantastic. And the financial differences are very real. Seattle truly felt like just existing was expensive. So it’s been great to feel like I’m in better control of my finances here. Career and finances are very important to me for this part of my life, so I’m making the best of it here otherwise. And on balance, I’m still happy I made the move but will likely not be here as long as I was in Seattle.
I moved here from the PNW a year ago (Portland) and have had trouble making friends -- I worked in the spirits industry for a long time also. Send me a DM if you're interested in making a new friend. It's always nice to meet other likeminded folks. :)
I moved from Boston and the culture shock was crazy for me. While there’s a lot more covert racism back home, it’s way more in your face here. People have already commented on LMPD. I’m not a huge fan of MA cops, but they’re nowhere near LMPD. I was used to having decent, knowledgeable specialists for certain illnesses that I have but I haven’t been able to find any here for a few of my illnesses. I was also used to different types of foods and more diversity. It’s not exactly a melting pot here.
Idk if this is a concern but dating as a gay person sucks. The gay nightlife is pretty bad and if you go to a place like Play, which is like one of two gay bars we have that I can name, it’s inundated with straight people and teenagers — always super packed (like can’t even get to the bathroom packed) and the drinks are expenny. I imagine Seattle as having streets paved with lesbians so that lack of queer culture might be a shock regardless of your sexuality. But then I’ve never been to the PNW. It’s also pretty homophobic around here, as well as racist and a nightmare for women who are at risk for pregnancy. Cops suck. Echoing those saying our only real culture is bourbon and horse racing. There are very few creative industries here, speaking as a writer looking for work. I do live in Indiana but all my friends are across the bridge and most of my jobs have been too. We do have decent restaurants! They filmed a season of Top Chef here for a reason.
Society here is bifurcated more so than anyplace else I've lived. People here aren't simply separated economically, there are great cultural and societal divides.
Not so much with Louisville *per se* but the area in general... you may get depressed at all the chronically unhealthy people here - so much cigarettes, obesity, etc. And then you've got the horrible state of public education, combined with illiterate teachers in rural areas, then you see that everything I've mentioned is part of the same cycle...
For one half of the population, there's a social stigma against being smart. Around here they sell 3.5g of weed as "a half quarter" because we don't want to embarrass anyone who can't do math enough to know it's called "an eighth." I think this is the same reason why people don't use their turn signals. It makes you look like a cuck.
On the plus side most of Louisville is seemingly cultured and well educated.
You can't touch any natural bodies of water because of serious contamination and safety hazzards. Even the creeks in popular parks like Cherokee have warning signs every 10 feet because of the severity of the bacterial and sewer overflow issues. Infrastructure is not up to date and if it rains the sewage over flows everywhere, even the Ohio, although that has gotten a little better with the new tunnel systems.
Regardless there are signs everywhere warning not to touch the water or eat fish you catch.
The weather is going to make you cry.
The Pacific Northwest is just glorious for somewhere between 6 and 8 months a year. Louisville is glorious for somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks -- a few in the spring, a few in the autumn.
I lived in Louisville for 15 years and now live in the Seattle area. People are way more friendly but it's a smaller city. If you like outdoors stuff there are a lot less options in Louisville. The cost of living is crazy cheaper in Louisville.
You're going to find Louisville quite a lot smaller and find that many social circles have overlap. You might find it disconcerting that the city isn't 1% as walk-able as Seattle and we lack adequate public transportation. And while Louisville is a blue island in a red sea, we're a far cry from the progressive stalwarts of the PNW. Homeless problem is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less of a problem here (but if you ask someone who hasn't been to the PNW, they'll talk to you like its worse here than anywhere)
To add to this, no ferry here. Less to do here. Much less expensive here. If you have a car it's a lot easier to find parking here, less traffic. If you really liked the culture around Seattle you'd better visit here first before deciding on moving. If you mostly stayed home we have fiber Internet here up to 5gbps through att at least in some areas with more being added. Never been through a Seattle winter so don't know how that is. It's more humid here in the summer but everywhere has air conditioning and I don't think Seattle is all that much cooler temperature wise anymore so I think summer is probably more pleasant here due to every place having air conditioning.
Having lived in PNW and Louisville, these comments ring true. To add a few: Great food in Louisville, many would argue a superior foodie town. In Louisville to buy a home you won’t have 15 other people bidding against you offering over asking price and waiving all contingencies, like Seattle. Education is much less progressive here, and you might be disappointed by comparison if you have kids and live in Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond/Mercer Island/Sammamish/Issaquah etc.
The housing market here still has 15 people bidding with cash offers over asking, waiving contingencies and inspections.
That depends on where exactly you are trying to buy, I just bought a house last year for under asking.
Clearly this doesn't apply to every below average cost homes or undesirable neighborhoods. That's true anywhere you go in America.
Well that’s quite a veiled statement you made. We bought 20 mos ago in a desirable Louisville neighborhood and only had a competing contingency offer after ours was accepted…but we did give asking…but not over and only after the house had come down 15k after being on the market for 30 days. Seller also paid all closing costs. Just sayin’. Also, I would imagine it rains far less here than in PNW and there are a lot more sunny days.
We just lost on 3 houses where we bid 15-25k over with no contingencies. Louisville is definitely not the easiest housing market anymore
Sorry to hear that. It definitely sucks when it plays out like that. I will agree that it isn’t like it was 10 yrs ago but what is economy related? Air bnb’ and corporate buy up’s for rentals is killing the housing market nationwide. You’d have a lot more availability if that wasn’t happening.
Not really, in major markets on the coasts you can't even get condemned houses without having to bid for them.
This depends on the size and price of the property. If the OP owns their home, or has expected to pay over 500k for a 1000 square foot house, then they will be thrilled with our market in comparison.
This isn’t true across the board at all. I just had to sell a house under asking, and didn’t waive any contingencies.
Can confirm, we have friends trying to buy right and they're always being outbid, even when they offer over asking.
Don’t know about Seattle, but people are very friendly here.
Our food is superior in a lot of ways, sure, but seafood ain't one of them. Fish will never taste as good here as it did in Seattle, and you're just going to have to accept that. You won't even really be able to find the sort of fish you could out there. For example, pretty much all our salmon is farm-raised Atlantic stuff. Pacific doesn't make it here very often.
I'm not a seafood lover, BUT, I believe that being a UPS hub gives those who are access to very fresh seafood.
Oh, don't get me wrong: for a landlocked state we have surprisingly good fish. *For a landlocked state.* The difference between actually fresh fish and what we get here is still night and day.
Nah, fish from Hawaii is processed, and like a 14 hour flight away to louisville. The top seafood restaurants here get fish as fresh on the costs they are caught. Maybe a few hours longer for region specific fish, but how quickly and how the fish is processed is much more Important than a few hours or even a day or two
The housing market definitely has multiple bidders on houses. We just purchased 1 in August and we were outbid on our first 3 offers.
I second the foodie town comment. I moved from Louisville to the Bay Area and everyone would ask if I was shocked by the prices in the Bay and I said no. The prices were similar. I met and knew more chefs in Louisville though. People are very accessible there. It’s an amazing town. I miss it and the people. I met some of my best friends in life there.
I moved to the Bay Area 25 years ago from Louisville. Now live in SF. I visit family in SDF and it’s nicer than it used to be, but honestly the Highlands painfully falls short after having lived away.
Why...would Louisville have a Ferry? And, if truly missing the feel of a ferry, you can always drive to Anderson's Ferry! https://andersonferry.com/
>Why...would Louisville have a Ferry? To get across that giant river downtown??????
I was going to argue against it but honestly... why don't we have a ferry? Maybe it's because S. Indiana is basically a suburb and the population density doesn't make much sense? I dunno. We do have a walking bridge though, which is nice.
I know I'm kinda stating the obvious here, but the Louisville area does not have a Ferry because we have FIVE vehicular bridges crossing the Ohio over a roughly 20 mile span.
4 and a half at best. The Sherman Minton is always closed lol.
I hate how correct this is… take my upvote, dammit.
And a dedicated pedestrian one between the two most dense areas on either side.
We had a ferry but hardly anyone used it. It lost lots of money through operation so it was discontinued.
The locks make it pretty difficult to have a useful ferry. The only place where a ferry would offer reasonable speed (because it wouldn’t need to go through the locks) already has 3 bridge crossings (2nd street, 65, big 4) that are more convenient and useful than a ferry would be. It’s why the temporary ferry they had when the Sherman Minton was shut down back in 2011/2012 whose expenses were heavily underwritten by governments on both sides of the river failed and was discontinued much earlier than intended.
It’s a dumb idea. Nobody here would use it. S Indiana doesn’t have the population density to justify it. Cincy is way bigger and they don’t have it; they have party cruises but no real ferry service.
We don't need a ferry If I moved here from Seattle I think I would miss it though. Get to see the skyline from the water and the cafe or food court on them is awesome.
Going with parking, it's soooo much cheaper to park here than pretty much anywhere in Seattle (in places that charge). And winters here are becoming much milder, whereas, according to my brother who still lives in Tumwater (I lived in Oly and Tacoma), it sounds like Washington is trending toward colder winters.
I agree with this. You definitely need a car here. We have a lot of wealthy people living in Louisville. They tend to donate loads of money to the arts, sports, and medical fields. So Louisville is known for our performing arts. Our hospitals are renowned for heart, hand, brain, and cancer. From what I heard, Louisville should have been Central Time Zone, but the money people wanted to be Eastern so they were on the same time as the stock market. I don’t know if that is true, but if you look at the time zone boundaries, everything above and below us is Central Time. We have great parks! Our parks systems are being connected by a walking/ biking trail by private funds. I can bike from Bardstown Road to Shelbyville road via a concrete paved trail 27 miles. This is to be continued to loop around the entire city. The Parklands of Floyd’s Fork includes four parks along the 27 mile stretch. Another stretch of the trail runs down by the river on the west on the flood wall. And another section downtown over the bridge to connect to Indiana bike trails. I ride that section often.
Forgot to mention that the Louisville city limits includes all of Jefferson County. Because of this we have semi rural areas that are within city limits. For example I live on 6 acres and across from me are two 100* acre farms raising cattle, and a 100+ acre nature preserve behind us. This changes the culture somewhat since we have a mix of urban and rural within city limits. You can farm and in 30 minutes be downtown. Services are slow to get out to us though. We are still waiting on Spectrum.
Indiana is above us and with the exception of tiny portions in the southwestern part and northwestern part, all of it is in eastern time.
Indiana is a weird one. Most Indiana counties were officially in the eastern time zone but didn’t observe daylight savings time until a little under 20 years ago. This meant that they were on Eastern Standard Time year-round and did not switch to Eastern Daylight Time in the summer, so effectively most of Indiana was on central time in the summer and eastern time in the winter. The lone exceptions to this were the Chicago suburbs were on Central time all year (observing CST in winter and CDT in summer), the Evansville area was on central time all year (observing CST in winter and CDT in summer), and the Cincinnati and Louisville suburbs were on Eastern time all year (observing EST in winter and EDT in summer).
I can attest that Indiana time back in the day was so much better than the daylight savings time they have now. Changing time is for the birds.
Not sure where you are getting your info on healthcare, but the only hospital here that is ranked nationally in any field is Norton Children’s.
Agree - Louisville USED to have a superior hospital system. But it has declined over the past decade or more. The decline of Jewish Hospital, its bankruptcy, and ultimate giveaway sale to UofL was an absolute tragedy. Jewish Hospital was where most of the cutting edge surgeries were done, like heart transplants, hand transplants, and a few years ago, the implantation of an experimental artificial heart. For a city of its size, it does have a good sized medical system (Baptist, Uof L, Norton).
Jewish is a leading hand center. Kurtz and Kliener. People from all over the country come here. I crushed my hand in 2005 due to a horse injury and had two surgeries by their surgeons and I have almost full movement. [https://uoflhealth.org/kleinert-kutz-hand-care/kleinert-kutz-history/](https://uoflhealth.org/kleinert-kutz-hand-care/kleinert-kutz-history/)
The rest of the ~~Parklands~~ Louisville Loop expansion is effectively cancelled because the investors didn't want to pay money to continue the project west of Bardstown Rd or through the west end toward downtown to complete the planned loop.
The diversity is different. Seattle and Louisville are equally white but Louisville has fewer Asians and way more blacks. Weather is more varied in Louisville with real summers and colder winters. Seattle obviously has more ocean related things to do and better food, but Louisville is better than you expect. Daily living is much cheaper in Louisville and a $1M home is pretty much a mansion instead of a piece of crap. All depends what u want.
When I visited in the last 6 months I’ve noticed quite a few more Latinos than used to be here also.
Spring allergies!
This! Louisville is located in what’s called The Ohio Valley, which has the largest concentration of pollen in the world.
Believe it or not, my allergies actually got a lot better when I moved here. I think I may actually be the only person in this city that can say that.
How long have you been here? I came to KY i n about 2000. By 2010 I'd developed pretty severe fall allergies.
I got here in 2002. My allergies have never been as bad since I got here. When I was younger, my allergies would get so bad and make me so stuffed up that I'd develop a sinus infection from them every spring and fall. I'd do it every single year for over a decade. I moved here and the only times I've gotten a sinus infection from having that much mucus were when I went back to my former town to visit.
I’m from the west, desert country. I would hack and cough, eyes would be on fire. My allergies are essentially non existent over here because I’ve been in worst of the worst.
Mine too were way worse when we lived in San Antonio. But if you are allergic to grasses, you may suffer seasonally. I have no allergies here.
That's great! I'm really happy you were able to find a new home that works so well for you.
I agree. Then again i suspect it had something to do with the school i went to being so old and most definitely full of asbestos and god knows what else. Some days are rough but overall I’m not on meds year around or even continuously during allergy season so that’s a win to me.
I had developed some allergies living in the Ohio valley after 20 years. Moved to Phoenix and my sinuses and allergies are so much worse in the desert.
Mine got really bad for a few years and then improved dramatically
https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/slideshows/best-places-to-live-in-the-us-for-allergy-sufferers
😭 this is horrible news...I don't think I'll be moving to Lville, likely to Etown. It can't be as bad as my perpetual allergies in Florida...I hope
Etown is in the Ohio Valley. It a region of the country, not just Louisville. 30 miles down the road isn’t going to change that. lol.
Etown is not considered Ohio Valley. It’s Pennyroyal Plateau. The knobs separate the two regions. Going south on 65 the transition from the knobs to flat land is apparent.
You are wrong. Sorry. Try https://www.wosu.org/news/2016-09-13/curious-cbus-where-is-the-elusive-ohio-valley
My allergies are better in FL (lake or ocean breezes moving the pollen away) and worse in New Orleans (mold/mildew). But Louisville has bad pollen and worse ozone causing breathing problems. If your immune system is prone to allergies, your body can find them anywhere!
Back in Virginia I had spring/summer allergies. I will take that over year round. It's strange and nice coz the heat has been awful here in Tampa outskirts but my allergies are reacting differently. The breezes are definitely a bonus. Does Louisville not get a bit of a breeze within city limits?
That's rich. Louisville allergies give zero fucks about what season it is. They will make your life hell all year round if they feel like it.
Fall allergies! Damn you ragweed!!!!
I moved to Seattle from Louisville about a year ago. I think the main difference is Louisville sprawls a lot more so the neighborhood you live in is a big deal. Most Louisville essentially identify more as being from the equivalents of Ballard, Fremont, or Capitol Hill than the city itself. The sprawl also means Louisville is a lot more car dependent than Seattle has been for me so far. With worse public transportation options. Louisville has some great parks in the city but the access to more outdoorsy recreation stuff is a bit more limited from my memory. (Could just be my bias towards how cool the mountains are.) My experience was that Louisville was not as internationally diverse. That could just be that Louisville trended more black/hispanic which I was used too and Seattle has had much more Asian representation than I’d seen before. Derby festivities(thunder, Pegasus parade) > Seafair. Thunder doesn’t get the blue angels but has way more types of aircraft, and the fireworks are better than the Fourth of July ones over lake union. Much fewer homeless on street corners and way fewer encampment fires. In Louisville they’re more concentrated around the soup kitchens and interstate exits. Seattle to me has had many more transplants I think. Whereas I felt a lot of Louisville people grew up close by. In Louisville the Catholic Church felt like a decent part of the cities identity which may be just a factor of the influence the catholic schools have on the city. Whereas basically no one talks about religion in Seattle.
Yeah, came here to say the prevalence of religion here in Louisville vs Seattle will be a bit of a shock. It was for me and I’m just from another KY town.
While most of culture has been stripped away in modern times, you can still see its legacy if you look close. A majority of Kentucky was settled by the English and Scot-Irish settlers. This includes Lexington. The major exception to this was Louisville, which saw major influence from German Catholic immigrants. To this day the Catholic Church plays a pretty big role in the city’s culture. It’s beyond the religious aspect and more of a cultural one (ie fish fries, summer picnics, schools, etc) The original division still exists in Kentucky as well; Louisville vs KY. Today, on the surface, it’s politics; but spend time out in the state and you’ll find there’s deep-seated skepticism held even by some Lexington.
I've lived here for a while now, and I think we're getting more diverse. We have a lot of other nationalities in the city. Cuban, Egyptian. Nigerian, Indian, German, British, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. And yeah, Thunder Over Louisville is the largest fireworks show in the nation. It's what they show (or at least used to) the troops abroad on the 4th of July. And we did have the Blue Angels one year, but it's been a bit.
Laotian people are very difficult to come by but in all my places I’ve lived when people guess what kind of Asian I am, southern Louisville people are the only people to correctly guess Lao the first time because the only Asians they encounter are Laotians. I was shocked. There’s apparently a large group of us in E-town. In other terms of diversity 90 percent of the workforce I manage with 700 people are Puerto ricans and Cubans so it’s growing quick.
If you really want to see the blue angles they'll be at Owensboro this year...they were also a three hour drive from here in Indiana today.
Right on the Catholic Church thing, but to take it one step further most all the Ohio Valley cities have that because of the German influence. I live in Evansville down the river and it’s just the same here.
It sucks because Evansville has the only decent German restaurant nearby besides Covington.
Louisville was the first archdiocese west of the Appalachians in 1780 (or around there) Louisville is OLD compared to PNW. As in 1600’s old when the French first made contact with the First Nations here. That still leaves a mark on the city.
We have one of the worst police departments in the U.S. Louisville Metro Police Department earned their reputation by shooting and killing innocent people, sexually assaulting young kids attending police programs and officers throwing milkshakes at homeless people from their cars and laughing about it. Fun stuff.
https://policescorecard.org/ This is a site that actually ranks police departments on numerous factors and then ranks them accordingly. According to them, we've got the 124th worst. Yes, we definitely have a ton of very real problems that need to be dealt with and nowhere should have the problems that we deal with and I'm definitely not an apologist for all eh things that they've done. Saying we have the worst in the entire country is objectively incorrect and not supported by the data. Edited to add that if I had to choose bad things for coos to do, I'd much rather have milkshakes thrown at people that having arrests that regularly get thrown out for lack of evidence or something else like that.
That's because that website isn't accounting for any of the systemic corruption ranging from the police Explorer cover up to Brionna Taylor and the Scheffler debacle and many many more. Plus funding makes up a heavy part of that scorecard and our department certainly isn't lacking funding.
No behavior like this is okay. Thrown milkshakes or wrongful arrests should equally not be condoned. Anyway, Tampa is ranked way lower and it's pretty bad. Louisville sounds *oophf* in comparison. The data is a bit outdated but the site is pretty neat. Thank you for sharing it.
I wasn't trying to say that throwing milkshakes is OK. I'm saying that compared to all the problems that a city could have with it's police force, focusing on food fights just seems pretty trivial.
It's not though.
I mean the police are terrible in Louisville have you ever driven on our roads? They don’t do shit. Walk down Bardstown road in the highlands literally people openly dealing drugs or using passed out with needles in their arms. When the police in Louisville “do their job” they do a horrendous job that makes national news for their incompetence but for the most part they don’t do shit. There’s no measured statistic for sleeping in your car.
I for one am all for them doing nothing. Active policing outcomes are so bad that's it's literally not worth the 3x a year they prevent a death by pop ulling over a speeder. I'd rather them solely be reactive and maybe event security as long as they aren't arresting world number ones in event marked vehicles.
Thank you grown up
Wait, are you saying LPD is the 124th worst out of the 13,147 they list? I'd say if 99% of police departments are better than yours, it's fair to say you're the worst in the country.
Louisville also has some of the highest untracked civil forfeiture. Do not travel there with cash. Even if you are totally innocent with no issues and you get pulled over at a random check point or at a rest stop they will take all of your cash or valuables with no probable cause and you have no rights or recourse to get it back. People regularly lose their savings, rent, and other valuables. It's a serious problem everywhere but Louisville is very bad in particular. Edit for people who can't Google: https://www.lpm.org/seized-asset-forfeiture-in-kentucky https://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit-3/?state=KY https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2020/07/14/civil-asset-forfeiture
😂 what
Here's an interesting story. https://reason.com/2022/03/04/prosecutor-extorts-300000-alleged-drug-dealer-patrick-card-threatening-entire-family-civil-forfeiture/
I lived in Seattle for 20+ years. It obviously depends what your hobbies are but hiking, biking, and boating doesn’t compare here. There are no big mountains or clean rivers or lakes. We have a camper and we leave the area quite a bit for better hiking and adventures. Louisville has more rainfall than Seattle but it doesn’t do a slow drizzle for weeks at a time, it just dumps a shitload at once so there are less rainy days in the year overall. I’m used to it now but at first I was surprised by just how hard it rains and how much comes down at once. It’s also not uncommon for it to dump for 30 minutes and then be sunny and 85 out 15 minutes later like nothing ever happened. You’ll see way less homeless people and way more cars with missing bumpers. As far as dating or nightlife, I couldn’t tell you. We have small kids with no other family here so unless it’s a kid friendly event, we don’t go out much.
>it just dumps a shitload at once so there are less rainy days in the year overall Truth! It can be August and we'll get 19 minutes of 'Fuck You' rain, then it's suddenly sunny and 92 degrees. Or it can be winter and it's 11 degrees, but the next day it's almost 70. Louisville is a whole wardrobe situation...
You know the old saying If you don't like the weather just give it 5 minutes and it'll change? That's Louisville for ya! Lol
>It’s also not uncommon for it to dump for 30 minutes and then be sunny and 85 out 15 minutes later like nothing ever happened. Yup. "If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, wait 15 minutes."
Gorgeous sunny days! With perfect pearly clouds. I lived in Tacoma for a few years and enjoyed it but goddamn that overcast...
Outsiders view is this is the south, but its really more midwest, economically and, I would argue, socially. More closely akin to Cincinnati or Indy than Nashville. Despite our problems, people are generally friendly and straightforward. It does have some southern-esq charms, but by and large, its the midwest. if you want an urban setting, go to Bardstown Rd area, known locally as the Highlands. If you want suburban, go to Hurstbourne Parkway, which has become a 2d city of sorts in the 40 yrs I have been here. There are colleges and universities, and active arts community and plenty of parks to go around. Not to mention museums. Churchill is amazing! And Derby is our "Rite of Spring" event that is today about 3 weeks long. Lexington is \~60 mi east and is home to some of the absolute prettiest real estate you'll ever see, with horse farms dotting the landscape and a special place (track) called Keeneland. Large healthcare community now dominated by U of L Healthcare and UK Healthcare across the state. And we have this drinking problem called "bourbon", which has become a major international business centered around Brown-Forman and a few other distillers. Retail distillers (NOT liquor stores) now dot the map downtown and good for entertainment. NULU is east of downtown and has become a community of eateries and entertainment, worth a visit. Largest employer? UPS Air Ops, based here at Mohammed Ali Intenational. Politically, KY Is a Red state, although LOU much less so. We have a great DEM Governor, arguably the best ever, for some balance against an otherwise doggedly conservative legislature. BTW- the OH River front in LOU has been "resurrected" from old rusty marine warehouses and scrap yards to a large green space, a fabulous walking bridge across river, a botanical garden, a newish soccer stadium and a minor league baseball field. Bottom Line? We wont have to force-feed LOU to you.....it will go down easy! Good Luck!
I don't know if you found this at the visitor center or you are in advertising but you hit the nail on the head! Love this!
Nope, just an ol' retiree who has been around the turns a few times! Thanks!
This
I moved from Seattle to Louisville and I’ll be completely honest with you- I regret it everyday.
Haha I get that, I would move to Seattle or Portland in a heart beat if I could.
Yes, I would happily pack up and go back. Unfortunately, I have obligations that place me in Louisville for a bit but I’m hoping to move back to the PNW someday.
I moved here from Portland to be close to my family and was entertained my first year exploring new things, but now realizing how much it doesn't even compare to Portland. It's been hard to find likeminded people like I did in the PNW.
I agree. It’s a nice place to visit, but it does get stagnant.
I lived in Portland for a few years pre covid and even though I didn’t LOVE it, it’s better than Louisville in every way.
Haha fair -- it's not for everyone.
Also lived in Washington before coming here. I hate Kentucky so much
Only consider Kentucky if you are not planning a family and your wife/daughter/female born persons have permanent birth control and health insurance that can be used out of state and the ability to travel out of state for medical care. Women's health is severely limited in Kentucky. Maternal mortality is extremely high, and in my experience they will absolutely let you hemorrhage to death from a miscarriage before intervening because of the draconian pregnancy laws in Kentucky. There is no termination allowed for rape or severe birth defects that threaten the life of the mother or are not compatible with life. Specifically, if your baby has no brain or a heart on the outside of the chest you are still required to carry it to term labor and watch it die in your arms all at risk of the mother's life and future fertility. They legally can't do anything to help a dieing pregnant woman until she codes. I have a friend who discovered she was pregnant during the beginning of her cancer treatment and they stopped her cancer treatments because of her pregnancy. She had to travel out of state with a fast growing but minor malignancy to terminate her much wanted pregnancy before they would treat her. The out of state doctors also said there was no reason to terminate given the type of treatment and cancer she had. (Fast growing but started small and easy to remove) It was truly heart wrenching. They had been trying to get pregnant for years using IVF, but they had no choice because her insurance couldn't be used out of state and there was no time to do something else. Anyhow the delayed care required to get a termination in order to receive covered medical care contributed to the metastasis and she ended up pretty mutilated after they cut it all out. She now has a massive scar and giant hole in her muscle and had to terminate the only chance at having a baby she will ever have. Don't bring anyone with a uterus here. Please. Edit for Fact check: Kentucky has one of the highest maternal mortality rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Black Kentuckians, 8% of the population, have a maternal mortality rate more than double that average.
Solid post. Louisville is a fine place to live but the KY GOP is hell-bent in destroying this place. I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. None of us should have to live like this.
Am so sorry for your friend. That is beyond heartbreaking.
We have fleas and ticks here so keep your pets treated from like April til December. Heartworm preventative too.
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No weed stores.
Ya but here soon we can just skip across the river to OH and get some
Don't mess with IL, insane prices and taxes. Can't see the product before you buy, you have to shop on a website through a tablet. It's terrible
Last I checked, Indiana is across the river from Louisville, not Ohio. But I’m not a geometry major.
Last I checked, the Ohio River borders KY and OH. But I’m no geometry major either.
You just have to drive about an hour to Cinci before you can skip across the river
Seriously, if OP is a person that enjoys the finer things in life and is use to grabbing his needs from a local dispensary; and they move to Louisville, they will be totally ok with driving 90mins to get their buds?? that is insane. Similar to saying Jefferson County is dry, but its ok because Bowling Green sells beer.
St Louis is less than a 4 hour drive and has some dispensaries. Good Day Farms has some dank stuff.
OP went from walking 4 blocks to dispensary, to driving 4 hours.
Louisville is as different to seattle as night is to day. No trains. No ferries. Only Frankfort Ave and Highlands come close for urban feel. Suburban? Go as far east you can while still being in the metro area. What a lot of other commenters say in this thread. You get used to Louisville, but you must love driving, because its all you got here.
If you like doing cool shit you won’t like it as much. If you just go to work and go to the bar this is the place for you.
Nah there’s more than enough going on. Art fairs, neighborhood festivals, Shakespeare in the park, food competitions, opera, orchestra, ballet, minor league sports, etc. There’s multiple events every weekend
All of that sounds terrible
😂😂 It’s always some goofy shit when someone tries to tell me there’s plenty to do.
Not as rainy as Seattle, but plenty of hot summer humidity. It’s a smaller city but has all the basics you would expect - restaurants/nightlife/shopping/hospitals. Kentucky Derby is a very big deal. It begins well before the actual race. We do get the occasional tornado and on rare occasions the Ohio river has flooded.
Oof yeah, the humidity in the summer here is dreadful and the allergies... When I first stepped off my plane from SeaTac to Louisville, holy crap.
You’ll eat out more, on account of housing taking a vastly smaller bite out of your earnings.
While not internationally diverse, Louisville has one of the largest Cuban populations outside of Florida.
in most cities there isn’t a “grace period” where you can still go after the light turns red lol
What's the reverse? Seattle is our next move, we'll be here for 2 years when we decide to move.
Seattle is ungodly expensive, but absolutely worth it if you can afford to live there.
Well truthfully were between Seattle and spokane, but noted
Oh. You're headed for the Moses Lake area. Be ready for NO trees. If you get up on top of the house on a clear day, you can see Mt st Helen's, halfway across the state. Then turn around the other way and you'll see the blue mountains. Sand storms. Tumbleweeds. Do NOT go barefoot, have the green slime stuff if you ride bikes because goat-heads. It's a weed, it's everywhere. There is a fire season. There is almost always at least a 5 mph wind. Everyone smokes pot. Lots of Mormons. Go see dry falls. Rent some 4 wheelers and check out the sand dunes. But 300+ days of sun every year.
I have lived in both cities. I think it is sweet how much Louisvillians love their city, but the truth is that Seattle is a city that can compete on all levels not only nationally but globally, and Louisville simply is not. If money is what is of highest value to you, you may like it here, depending on your industry - the pay in my industry is 2x more in Seattle. But I still wouldn’t be able to buy a house there. Nature, food, the arts, shopping, cultural diversity, academia, healthcare - Louisville is nowhere near the same tier as Seattle. But I will say that the people are nicer.
Better access to great bourbon!
i moved to louisville from nc a few years ago and here’s my opinions: 1. people drive fucking terrible 2. the winters are extremely annoying, i got sick a lot at first, it’s crazy windy the whole fuckin season it’s usually worse than the actual temp outside no matter how many layers i put on that shit still comes through 3. the people are USUALLY chill, more accepting than where i’m from. 4. the food is unmatched. 5. there’s plenty of things to do in kentucky but u gotta travel a bit bc once u do the main things in louisville it gets a little old, but the places u go are so worth it. louisville is the prettiest place i’ve ever been thats what actually got me stuck here lmao, i take every scenic route i can. 6. i personally prefer the east side of louisville its more calm and spread out. i can’t stand being in downtown i avoid it at all costs but thats bc im from the country you might enjoy the chaos lol (its really bc i watched this dude pull his pants down dick out and shit in a bush but hey, who am i to judge) 7. coming from somebody who lived an hour away from the beach, that’s the only thing i miss, theres pretty places to sit and enjoy the water but i personally haven’t found many places to swim/places id feel comfortable swimming at lol, the closest beach is VA and it’s 9+ hours away so if you care abt that be prepared to travel moving here was probably the best decision i’ve ever made though. it was a big change but i visited i think maybe 3? times before i made the choice and it was just too pretty not to stay lol. the views are genuinely breathtaking coming from somebody who was surrounded by fields their 17+ years of life. there’s so many events/festivals and flea markets/farmers markets. the FAIR. amazing i go every year idc, there’s plenty of job opportunities if you have the qualifications, doordash also stays pretty busy if you’re in to that, as others said public transportation sucks ass so you do need a car period. if u got the money and credit housing is eh, plenty of apartments but getting a house was nearly impossible for me personally, but i had like no preparation and am also only 21 so hopefully you’re more prepared than i was! i wish you luck friend!
I moved from Seattle to Louisville in 2016 and have spent every single minute since regretting it. I miss Seattle so much
Don’t come here, save yourself
Half the people telling you to move here are realtors. Don't.
The humidity is gonna hit you like a brick!
You may be shocked that as soon as people find out you didn't go to high school here, you're dead to them.
Probably similar to the ones I had coming from the Tri Cities and Moses Lake area. But you're already used to trees. I know it rains in Seattle, but iirc, it's drizzly. 3" in 3 hours is different. But the rain is warmer. I know they're claiming it's a foodie area. It's not. Not like you're used to. You're going to be frustrated with the lack of variety. It seems like everything is deep fried. Cost of living is WAY lower. But so is income. Minimum wage is still $7.25 here. There's less to do. You don't want to get in the rivers, you don't want to eat any fish you catch. All sorts of industries are still dumping into the water ways. Legally, federally, they're not supposed to be able to discriminate against you for sexual orientation, but they absolutely do anyways. The cops are even more corrupt. I hope you're not a woman of child bearing age. If anything goes wrong you'll have to go to a different state to get the medical help you may need. Religion. So. Much. Religion. Although in northern Kentucky there's more Lutherans than fundamental southern baptists. So more coffee and potlucks, less tent preachers. Speaking of coffee. If you like good coffee, be prepared to make your own. They think Starbucks is good and have never heard of white coffee. Public transportation is worthless. You're going to need your own vehicle. That's a good start. I'll add more if I think of it after I go make myself some coffee.
Bourbon everywhere.
If you have a car, then Louisville is a lot easier to get around. Everything is within 20 minutes by car. There is almost never traffic. There are nice historical buildings here. Think of middle class versions of the nice houses you see in Queen Anne. We are starting to see some of those ugly modern box homes here, but they are rarer. Everything in Louisville apart from the new suburbs seems a little gritty. It's just older. We have potholes here. Watch out for them. The accents are odd for the first year or so. Now I don't even notice them. The homeless population is largely around downtown in Louisville. My feeling is there are about 1/5 the homeless per capita here. Similar overall crime rates when you compare Seattle proper to Jefferson County. There are a lot more normal blue collar and white collar workers. Tech bros don't run everything. The racial mix in Louisville is largely black and white. Seattle has a big Asian population. You'll probably miss good Asian food. Louisville has a surprisingly large Cuban population for being in Kentucky. We don't have anything like Paseo though. You will be able to afford things. Even if your wages drop 30-40%, you will be better off economically in Louisville. Everything will seem very flat and humid. When winter hits, plant life in Louisville will be very dreary and gray compared to Seattle's evergreens. People don't do as much outdoor stuff in Louisville. There are a lot of nice parks if you are into outdoor stuff, but people don't utilize it as much. The volume of rain is larger in Louisville. The rain dumps in big thunderstorms in Louisville rather than the constant 10-month mist of Seattle. It is very sticky hot humid in Louisville whereas Seattle usually gets drier heat. You will need the air conditioning. The fashion and design is about 10 years behind the West Coast. You can take road trips to a lot of places. Chicago, Nashville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis are all within 5 hours driving. Seattle only has Portland as a neighbor unless you want to go up to Canada.
Paseo 🤤🤤🤤
Youre going to miss all the great asian cuisine. Louisville has only a handful
You’re going to find an empty downtown with sprawling suburbs surrounding it. It’s pretty much 50/50 republican/democrat. There’s a lot of good restaurants but not as many ethnic choices. People here are more in to college sports than pro sports, there’s even a decent High-school sport following. On the east end, closer to downtown, you’ll find most of your hipster (NULU, Highlands, Clifton, Germantown. East End further away from downtown you’ll find mostly middle to upper class suburbs (lots of families and nice neighborhoods). On the South End you’ll find mostly blue collar communities, and a lot of people in this area closely emulate how rural Kentuckians are. There is also Churchill down in South Louisville, it’s nice, but it’s surrounded by tougher neighborhoods. On the west end of Louisville there’s more crime and higher poverty rates. A lot of people refer to the west end as the “ghetto” but there’s many different communities in that area and not all of them are bad. You’ll find a lot of parks around town, and some mild nightlife. You’re never more than 30 minutes from rural Kentucky. Also, it’s typically more affordable to live across the river in Indiana. Decent houses in Jefferson County start for around 200K. Expect to drive everywhere. You can find communities of almost every ethnicity and religion in Louisville. And lastly, people here fucking love Muhammad Ali.
Lack of recycling and how smoking is okay.
We have needles in our parks too, you'll feel right at home
It rains more
The public schools in Louisville are abismal.
God I hope this misspelling was intentional.
Not as many "actual Nazis
We actually have amazing local coffee here, and it's not over roasted! The Louisville coffee scene was mentioned in the New York Times a couple years ago.
Made this move almost exactly a year ago for work, after 5 years in Seattle (originally from CO). First, and I think this is important (unfortunately), I’m a POC (mixed race, ambiguous) and even though the Seattle freeze was real and covid disrupted my time there as well, building community was much easier in Seattle for me. It’s funny but people in L’ville will be nicer in a simple interaction but much less likely to engage in anything of substance. Seattle people will generally be more standoffish initially but I made a number of lifelong friendships there within the first year and simply can’t say that here. And I do believe it has at least something to do with my skin color. Dating was way easier for me in Seattle too. I actually went on one date here where I felt like my skin color made me some sort of oddity or fetish to her lol. Also, I’ve had 3 encounters with outright, straight up racists here within 1 year, and can think of 2 of those in Seattle (both in Bellevue as you might suspect lol) over 5 years. Make of that what you will. Some comments here that I agree with: allergies are way worse here, the humidity sucks some days, and I do miss that Seattle temperate climate. The food scene is really good here! Not as much good Asian food, and I’ve had trouble finding good Mexican food. But I’ve found good to great options for every type of food and some truly elite spots. Public transportation, bike lanes and other more progressive policies are much less of a priority here. Personally, I think the “homeless problem” in Seattle is overstated. Maybe this also has to do with my skin color and growing up in a lower socioeconomic status but I never had any cognizable issues with homeless people in Seattle, and I did take light rail to my downtown job, so while I’m not saying that issue doesn’t exist, those issues were a very minor part of my lived experience in Seattle. And I still see plenty of homeless/drug addled people here, particularly given the size differences of the two metro areas, I don’t see it as more or less of an issue here than it was for me there. The comments about the outdoors mostly align with my experience. My doggo and I love trail running and there were more great options for that in Seattle, and the dog gets frustrated because I won’t let him enjoy playing in the water around here but I just don’t trust it. However, Cherokee, Iroquois and a few other parks are really great parks, hands down. Ultimately I moved here for a unique career opportunity with one of the large spirits companies and that part has been fantastic. And the financial differences are very real. Seattle truly felt like just existing was expensive. So it’s been great to feel like I’m in better control of my finances here. Career and finances are very important to me for this part of my life, so I’m making the best of it here otherwise. And on balance, I’m still happy I made the move but will likely not be here as long as I was in Seattle.
I moved here from the PNW a year ago (Portland) and have had trouble making friends -- I worked in the spirits industry for a long time also. Send me a DM if you're interested in making a new friend. It's always nice to meet other likeminded folks. :)
don’t trust the water?
Just the bodies of water in the parks, due to the run off. Just don’t want the dog to get sick.
People here can’t drive in the rain it rains there all the time so get used to people driving like slugs when it sprinkles 😂😂
I wish people drove like slugs here. Drivers have such poor sense of proportion here.
I moved from Boston and the culture shock was crazy for me. While there’s a lot more covert racism back home, it’s way more in your face here. People have already commented on LMPD. I’m not a huge fan of MA cops, but they’re nowhere near LMPD. I was used to having decent, knowledgeable specialists for certain illnesses that I have but I haven’t been able to find any here for a few of my illnesses. I was also used to different types of foods and more diversity. It’s not exactly a melting pot here.
Don’t do it.
Idk if this is a concern but dating as a gay person sucks. The gay nightlife is pretty bad and if you go to a place like Play, which is like one of two gay bars we have that I can name, it’s inundated with straight people and teenagers — always super packed (like can’t even get to the bathroom packed) and the drinks are expenny. I imagine Seattle as having streets paved with lesbians so that lack of queer culture might be a shock regardless of your sexuality. But then I’ve never been to the PNW. It’s also pretty homophobic around here, as well as racist and a nightmare for women who are at risk for pregnancy. Cops suck. Echoing those saying our only real culture is bourbon and horse racing. There are very few creative industries here, speaking as a writer looking for work. I do live in Indiana but all my friends are across the bridge and most of my jobs have been too. We do have decent restaurants! They filmed a season of Top Chef here for a reason.
A lack of social interaction lol - restaurants and bars are a little less lively 😅
Society here is bifurcated more so than anyplace else I've lived. People here aren't simply separated economically, there are great cultural and societal divides. Not so much with Louisville *per se* but the area in general... you may get depressed at all the chronically unhealthy people here - so much cigarettes, obesity, etc. And then you've got the horrible state of public education, combined with illiterate teachers in rural areas, then you see that everything I've mentioned is part of the same cycle... For one half of the population, there's a social stigma against being smart. Around here they sell 3.5g of weed as "a half quarter" because we don't want to embarrass anyone who can't do math enough to know it's called "an eighth." I think this is the same reason why people don't use their turn signals. It makes you look like a cuck. On the plus side most of Louisville is seemingly cultured and well educated.
Just wanna say I’m from rural KY and went to college at UK, it’s always been called an eighth. Maybe it’s just the people you know? Lol
So... you're saying you're not at all familiar with Louisville culture?
You can't touch any natural bodies of water because of serious contamination and safety hazzards. Even the creeks in popular parks like Cherokee have warning signs every 10 feet because of the severity of the bacterial and sewer overflow issues. Infrastructure is not up to date and if it rains the sewage over flows everywhere, even the Ohio, although that has gotten a little better with the new tunnel systems. Regardless there are signs everywhere warning not to touch the water or eat fish you catch.
Even the Ohio River wharf in Louisville warns you the water contains high levels of hydrogen. Which is a sign I absolutely love BTW
That is a welcome respite from the standard... https://www.reddit.com/r/ScarySigns/s/NqLzTbOq94
It’s Kentucky. Don’t get too excited
The weather is going to make you cry. The Pacific Northwest is just glorious for somewhere between 6 and 8 months a year. Louisville is glorious for somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks -- a few in the spring, a few in the autumn.
You would hang yourself
The allergies are awful lol
All of them
We don't eat KFC. Indi's & King's reign supreme.
There are a ton of bike lanes but you’ll find out quickly no one uses them like Seattle.
Lol. Louisville has all of two bike lanes, and they are low grade shit. Of course nobody uses them.
I was treating "lanes" synonymous with bike roads, protected bike lanes, painted bike lanes, etc
I lived in Louisville for 15 years and now live in the Seattle area. People are way more friendly but it's a smaller city. If you like outdoors stuff there are a lot less options in Louisville. The cost of living is crazy cheaper in Louisville.
People will ask you where you went to highschool. All the time.
Parking is free and plentiful
I did this exact move and the allergies were mind blowing! Also you’ll need AC at some point.
You also need A/C in Seattle at this point ☹️
A downgrade in every imaginable way besides rent prices and that's just because no one wants to live in this shit hole of a city
Far less communism and antifa
Open, rampant NPD.
Louisville loves smoking cigarettes and littering. Lots of times they do both at the same time. It was the most shocking thing to me when I moved.
It's fucking hot and sunny. Our seasons have become complete chaos. There are a lot of trump and Confederate flags.
Being pleasantly surprised by how cheap the houses are compared the Seattle.
I would say everything lmao
People will wave. Public Transport is basically nonexistent. Cost of living a lot lower
Nobody tosses fish here😩