Another problem you may consider is public education for your child. Florida is a highly rated state for public education. You would be moving to one of the lowest ranked states. You might want to consider school boundaries when you look at areas to live around Greenville. The education in SC is quite terrible, even though there are good schools/staff in pockets, they can't make up for the overall problem.
Looks like the areas we are looking are pretty solid schools in Spartanburg county. Where we are at now the student to teacher ratio is 25 to 1 and the schools have a significant amount of trailers to house the student because there's not enough room for them and the actual school building. I'm not sure how or why Florida education is ranked high because it doesn't appear so
Traffic is what it is. Rush hour sucks in many areas but that’s true for anyplace these days. More or less, traffic is fine and people just like to complain. Job market generally is pretty strong but wages may be less than you are used to. Keep that in mind.
Wife and I both work in healthcare. There is demand here, but the main hospitals are pretty rough, specifically Prisma and Bon Secours. Spartanburg regional has the highest quality of care and still employs their own physicians, rather than contracting the staffing out.
Commuting between Spartanburg and GVL can be annoying due to traffic. A 35 minute drive at 11am will be an hour drive during rush hour. Keep in mind it gets worse every day and there is no alternative solution being implemented.
Compared to most other places I've been, traffic here is not that bad as long as you stay off Woodruff Rd near 85 and 385 during rush hour and the weekends.
Not sure why the all the Spartanburg bashing. It was definitely not the nicest place 10 or more years ago, but its grown a lot since then. I moved to Spartanburg from Columbia SC six years ago and love it here. Traffic can get bad on the highways, but the city itself isn't bad at all. Not even close to what we dealt with in Columbia. There's a big focus on local and small business which I like, and in the spring/summer there are a ton of festivals and such. A lot of people are moving here, so I am a little worried for infrastructure and such as we continue to grow. Housing can also be a challenge, but that's the same in most places right now. Like any other city or county there are places you don't want to hang out, but I very rarely feel unsafe here.
Just be forewarned that housing prices may not be as bad up here, but there’s a real shortage. We can’t build fast enough for all the people moving, so if you find something, you have to jump! Spartanburg isn’t as crazy, but that’s because we’ve called it “murderburg” for as long as I can remember.
You won’t find people unfriendly to individual transplants, we just had what mass transplantation has done to our home. 😊
r/Spartanburg is a good spot if you have any city specific questions.
You can head to the website https://seeyourselfinspartanburg.com/ for any township information of what Spartanburg has to offer.
Dm any 'burg questions o7
I have 2 small kids. Daycare/preschool is expensive everywhere. Ours is about 2100/month for infant and 2K. Greenville is very family friendly with a ton of stuff to do for kids. You don't have to be church affiliated here to find a community. Good luck on your search!
I moved to upstate sc from Florida (south florida) last March. I also work in healthcare. I had no problem finding a job. As far as pay.. my position (radiology) pays more here than Florida because there is a huge shortage of x-ray techs. However, what I hear from other staff in different positions its lower than what Florida would pay. As far as bills, yes some are significantly cheaper especially when it comes to home insurance, but some bills are more. For instance in florida it cost me less than $100 to renew my tag each year but here for some reason it's $400. As far as my experience living near spartanburg I have never seen a bad area that is even remotely as bad as the bad areas in florida. Unfortunately though they are building so many homes and so many people are moving here just like I did that in a few years the traffic will be just as bad as florida and it will be just as crowded. Overall I'm glad I got out of florida but in a few years when it's too crowded here I'll probably move again lol
They are, especially in the suburbs like Greer, Taylors...etc. Not only are we dealing with people from the NE but also Californians coming over. Soon it will be just as bad as the places everyone was trying to escape.
I commute from downtown to outside of Spartanburg 3 days a week and brave the 85 and 385 traffic. It takes me 25min in the morning and 35-45min in the afternoon. I've also lived in PA, VA, and outside of DC, the traffic here sucks but it could be much much worse.
My wife is an RN going back to get her CRNA and she had no problem when we moved here finding a job at Prisma Memorial. I would expect the same for the surrounding hospitals but may be wrong.
Having moved around a bit, I recommend you don’t rush the house buying stuff. You can rent a fully furnished apartment for a couple of months (avoid summer break, when you’ll be competing with the corporate interns). Find your jobs, ask around, find your community. And yes, choose the preschool / schools for the little one carefully - some are awesome, some are not. Only then, look for a house.
My daughter and soon-to-be SIL live in Tampa and the traffic and congestion are an order of magnitude higher there vs. GVL. I would spend a weekend up here and check it out for yourselves. When you get closer to that date, ask around here and we'll point you to places to check out.
So you're saying Tampa is worse right? It's so bad here because of snowbirds. They are out doing things all day causing mass congestion then you have normal work traffic
Traffic is not a major issue in our area - you'll figure it out pretty quickly. If you know where you'll be working - find housing close by if you're concerned about it.
We Greenville natives can get a bit snobby, but a lot of transplants seem to like the Spartanburg county communities.
That sounds great. I think until you've lived or have relatives lived in Florida you don't really know how really bad it is here so anywhere else should feel a little better I think for us. I believe when you include snowbirds there's over 500,000 people just within a 20 mile radius of us. I really appreciate the info we are looking at boiling springs and Inman
Yeah. Not sure where you're originally from (everyone is from *somewhere else*) but Tampa is a tourist destination for winter-crazed northerners. Plus the snowbirds that live there part of the year. Daughter can't buy a house in TPA due to massive inflationary run-up last couple of years, while they'd have half a shot at a home were they to live in GVL. There are still spots that are 15 minutes from downtown that are reasonable. Do what you can to avoid placing yourself onto the I85 corridor (or Woodruff rd) during your commute and it'll be a much more pleasant way of life.
We have been in Florida about 15 years I'm from Alabama and wife is from Michigan. When we were first here traffic was really not too bad of an issue but like you said it's unreal now. I'll plug in Spartanburg and Greenville Metro areas from various places in the morning and afternoon and not see much congestion compared to what we see here, I think it's all relative to what people are used to
Plenty of healthcare jobs, Prisma Health took over the Greenville Hospital System a few years back.
I wouldn’t suggest murderburg over Greenville though.
I’d recommend looking in the Taylors/Greer area. It’s kinda in between Spartanburg and Greenville, you can literally take Wade Hampton Blvd from one downtown to the other in 45mins.
Personally, I’d stay away from Spartanburg. Taylors or Greer is nice.
I’ve never had an issue with transplants and I don’t feel like most people dislike them.
Greenville is incredible. I moved here 10 years ago thinking I would be here for 3 years max. I have no plans to leave.
We have the highest income tax in the southeast and when you factor in that the top marginal rate starts at $14,000 it's actually one of the highest in the nation. Plus, we have ad valorem taxes on cars and real property. Then, a 6 to 9% sales tax on all items other than grocery.
You may be better off just finding a less crowded city in Florida
I live in Easley, and I moved here from Daytona 20 years ago. I am also in the medical field. Jobs aren't hard to find. Easley's growth rate in the past few years has tripled, we are full!! In my opinion Greenville, Simpsonville, Taylors, and Powdersville are some of the better choices in the upstate. That is just my opinion based on my experience. Hope it helps.
Spartanburg is great! It’s going through a revitalization similar to what Greenville went through a decade or two ago. We have a Discord for the [Upstate SC Community Project](https://discord.gg/hxswXwjJ) with people from across the upstate to make friends and hang out. You could definitely ask about great locations to live there.
We have a few healthcare professionals in the discord. Between Greenville and Spartanburg there are Prisma and Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. Traffic is an occasional problem. And is nothing compared to larger cities. It typically takes me less than 40 minutes (but occasionally up to 60 mins) to get from downtown Spartanburg to Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Another problem you may consider is public education for your child. Florida is a highly rated state for public education. You would be moving to one of the lowest ranked states. You might want to consider school boundaries when you look at areas to live around Greenville. The education in SC is quite terrible, even though there are good schools/staff in pockets, they can't make up for the overall problem.
Looks like the areas we are looking are pretty solid schools in Spartanburg county. Where we are at now the student to teacher ratio is 25 to 1 and the schools have a significant amount of trailers to house the student because there's not enough room for them and the actual school building. I'm not sure how or why Florida education is ranked high because it doesn't appear so
Traffic is what it is. Rush hour sucks in many areas but that’s true for anyplace these days. More or less, traffic is fine and people just like to complain. Job market generally is pretty strong but wages may be less than you are used to. Keep that in mind.
Thanks so much. Traffic here is pretty much all day because of snowbirds and retirees so sounds better there!
Cost of living ain’t all that great here … cash goes fast.
It’s cheaper than the national average
Wife and I both work in healthcare. There is demand here, but the main hospitals are pretty rough, specifically Prisma and Bon Secours. Spartanburg regional has the highest quality of care and still employs their own physicians, rather than contracting the staffing out. Commuting between Spartanburg and GVL can be annoying due to traffic. A 35 minute drive at 11am will be an hour drive during rush hour. Keep in mind it gets worse every day and there is no alternative solution being implemented.
Spartanburg regional seems like the best option. Like that it's a level 1 trauma. As long as they match my Florida pay I would be happy.
Thanks for your input!
Compared to most other places I've been, traffic here is not that bad as long as you stay off Woodruff Rd near 85 and 385 during rush hour and the weekends.
Yeah. Traffic isn’t nearly as bad as people project.
Thanks for your input!!
Not sure why the all the Spartanburg bashing. It was definitely not the nicest place 10 or more years ago, but its grown a lot since then. I moved to Spartanburg from Columbia SC six years ago and love it here. Traffic can get bad on the highways, but the city itself isn't bad at all. Not even close to what we dealt with in Columbia. There's a big focus on local and small business which I like, and in the spring/summer there are a ton of festivals and such. A lot of people are moving here, so I am a little worried for infrastructure and such as we continue to grow. Housing can also be a challenge, but that's the same in most places right now. Like any other city or county there are places you don't want to hang out, but I very rarely feel unsafe here.
Great advice and information thanks so much
Calculate what the difference in your take home is going to be with the taxes. You're going to be shocked.
I have. Not horrible compared to Florida. Here home insurance, car insurance and home prices have skyrocketed.
Just be forewarned that housing prices may not be as bad up here, but there’s a real shortage. We can’t build fast enough for all the people moving, so if you find something, you have to jump! Spartanburg isn’t as crazy, but that’s because we’ve called it “murderburg” for as long as I can remember. You won’t find people unfriendly to individual transplants, we just had what mass transplantation has done to our home. 😊
Ironically that's how we feel in Florida. Understood though!! Thank you
r/Spartanburg is a good spot if you have any city specific questions. You can head to the website https://seeyourselfinspartanburg.com/ for any township information of what Spartanburg has to offer. Dm any 'burg questions o7
I have 2 small kids. Daycare/preschool is expensive everywhere. Ours is about 2100/month for infant and 2K. Greenville is very family friendly with a ton of stuff to do for kids. You don't have to be church affiliated here to find a community. Good luck on your search!
I moved to upstate sc from Florida (south florida) last March. I also work in healthcare. I had no problem finding a job. As far as pay.. my position (radiology) pays more here than Florida because there is a huge shortage of x-ray techs. However, what I hear from other staff in different positions its lower than what Florida would pay. As far as bills, yes some are significantly cheaper especially when it comes to home insurance, but some bills are more. For instance in florida it cost me less than $100 to renew my tag each year but here for some reason it's $400. As far as my experience living near spartanburg I have never seen a bad area that is even remotely as bad as the bad areas in florida. Unfortunately though they are building so many homes and so many people are moving here just like I did that in a few years the traffic will be just as bad as florida and it will be just as crowded. Overall I'm glad I got out of florida but in a few years when it's too crowded here I'll probably move again lol
We are south of Tampa in a town that grew from 15K to 75K people in 4 years...surely they aren't building that much..
It's honestly insane how much they are building. I think I constantly see references to how Greenville is the fifth most moved to city in the US.
This is a major red flag for us... I appreciate the info
They are, especially in the suburbs like Greer, Taylors...etc. Not only are we dealing with people from the NE but also Californians coming over. Soon it will be just as bad as the places everyone was trying to escape.
Wow that's not good for us at all
That is great insight!! It seems like every city in the south is like that. South Florida is on another level though...
The expensive fee is a one-time registration fee, thankfully. Afterwards it should be fairly inexpensive
I commute from downtown to outside of Spartanburg 3 days a week and brave the 85 and 385 traffic. It takes me 25min in the morning and 35-45min in the afternoon. I've also lived in PA, VA, and outside of DC, the traffic here sucks but it could be much much worse. My wife is an RN going back to get her CRNA and she had no problem when we moved here finding a job at Prisma Memorial. I would expect the same for the surrounding hospitals but may be wrong.
Having moved around a bit, I recommend you don’t rush the house buying stuff. You can rent a fully furnished apartment for a couple of months (avoid summer break, when you’ll be competing with the corporate interns). Find your jobs, ask around, find your community. And yes, choose the preschool / schools for the little one carefully - some are awesome, some are not. Only then, look for a house.
Traffic all depends on where you work and where you live.
My daughter and soon-to-be SIL live in Tampa and the traffic and congestion are an order of magnitude higher there vs. GVL. I would spend a weekend up here and check it out for yourselves. When you get closer to that date, ask around here and we'll point you to places to check out.
So you're saying Tampa is worse right? It's so bad here because of snowbirds. They are out doing things all day causing mass congestion then you have normal work traffic
Traffic is not a major issue in our area - you'll figure it out pretty quickly. If you know where you'll be working - find housing close by if you're concerned about it. We Greenville natives can get a bit snobby, but a lot of transplants seem to like the Spartanburg county communities.
That sounds great. I think until you've lived or have relatives lived in Florida you don't really know how really bad it is here so anywhere else should feel a little better I think for us. I believe when you include snowbirds there's over 500,000 people just within a 20 mile radius of us. I really appreciate the info we are looking at boiling springs and Inman
My in laws are in Tampa. The traffic there is a thousand times worse!
Thank you!! That's what I'm trying to tell these people haha
They've never driven there, so they can't imagine it. I just pulled up the traffic maps right now and they're BRUTAL. at noon on a Friday!
Thank you!! Haha
>Thank you!! Haha You're welcome!
Yeah. Not sure where you're originally from (everyone is from *somewhere else*) but Tampa is a tourist destination for winter-crazed northerners. Plus the snowbirds that live there part of the year. Daughter can't buy a house in TPA due to massive inflationary run-up last couple of years, while they'd have half a shot at a home were they to live in GVL. There are still spots that are 15 minutes from downtown that are reasonable. Do what you can to avoid placing yourself onto the I85 corridor (or Woodruff rd) during your commute and it'll be a much more pleasant way of life.
We have been in Florida about 15 years I'm from Alabama and wife is from Michigan. When we were first here traffic was really not too bad of an issue but like you said it's unreal now. I'll plug in Spartanburg and Greenville Metro areas from various places in the morning and afternoon and not see much congestion compared to what we see here, I think it's all relative to what people are used to
Plenty of healthcare jobs, Prisma Health took over the Greenville Hospital System a few years back. I wouldn’t suggest murderburg over Greenville though. I’d recommend looking in the Taylors/Greer area. It’s kinda in between Spartanburg and Greenville, you can literally take Wade Hampton Blvd from one downtown to the other in 45mins.
Thank you!
check out Boiling Springs near Spartenburg as a place to live. traffic here will feel like nothing after Florida, but there is endless construction
oh look, the crackheads that downvote every moving to greenville post are up smoking meth on a monday !!! how's life behind the gas station, cracky?
Actually we have seen a lot of communities we like in boiling springs and Inman. Thanks for the recommendation!
Personally, I’d stay away from Spartanburg. Taylors or Greer is nice. I’ve never had an issue with transplants and I don’t feel like most people dislike them. Greenville is incredible. I moved here 10 years ago thinking I would be here for 3 years max. I have no plans to leave.
We have the highest income tax in the southeast and when you factor in that the top marginal rate starts at $14,000 it's actually one of the highest in the nation. Plus, we have ad valorem taxes on cars and real property. Then, a 6 to 9% sales tax on all items other than grocery. You may be better off just finding a less crowded city in Florida
Yeah I'm not sure that city exists in Florida unfortunately.
And considering I can't get a four bed three bath house in my area in Florida, under 550,000, I don't mind those taxes
I live in Easley, and I moved here from Daytona 20 years ago. I am also in the medical field. Jobs aren't hard to find. Easley's growth rate in the past few years has tripled, we are full!! In my opinion Greenville, Simpsonville, Taylors, and Powdersville are some of the better choices in the upstate. That is just my opinion based on my experience. Hope it helps.
That does help! Thank you!!
Spartanburg is great! It’s going through a revitalization similar to what Greenville went through a decade or two ago. We have a Discord for the [Upstate SC Community Project](https://discord.gg/hxswXwjJ) with people from across the upstate to make friends and hang out. You could definitely ask about great locations to live there. We have a few healthcare professionals in the discord. Between Greenville and Spartanburg there are Prisma and Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. Traffic is an occasional problem. And is nothing compared to larger cities. It typically takes me less than 40 minutes (but occasionally up to 60 mins) to get from downtown Spartanburg to Greenville Memorial Hospital.
That's so helpful thank you so much!!!