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Comment by ketanmaheshwari | Hacker News Reader

I am curious to know, what would be the various advantages of living in TN vs CA that you speak of? Have you lived in both these states for substantial periods?

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TN does not have a state income tax, and no longer taxes interest/dividend income either. Cost of housing is about an order of magnitude lower. Property taxes are lower. For the most part a radically lower population density. If you cross the Atlantic a lot, you don't have to spend 6 hours crossing North America first. If you're inspired to make The Handmaid's Tale a reality, don't like a whole lot of racial diversity, and love you some guns, TN and a majority of its population are friendlier to you.

In practice the south is more "racially diverse" than the Bay Area, because minorities can actually afford to live near white people. Coming from Atlanta it was shocking to me how homogenous the Bay Area was.

55% of the Bay area is Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The major point how they differ is that the south has far more black people and fewer hispanics and Asians, vs the bay area having far more hispanics and Asians and far fewer blacks.

But in say Palo Alto, you’ll rarely see black or Hispanic people outside service roles. It’s 85% non-Hispanic white or Asian, which is about as diverse as Wyoming. The south is economically flatter, which means people mix more. Also, because of its affordability, the south is the major destination for upwardly mobile black and Hispanic people.

> If you cross the Atlantic a lot, you don't have to spend 6 hours crossing North America first.

Unfortunately Nashville International Airport doesn't have very many non-stop transatlantic flights so the geographic proximity savings is often eaten up by time spent connecting.

Wile Tennessee does not have a corporate income tax, it does have "business taxes" that are the same thing. And they also let counties and cities impose their own "business taxes" on companies. And these combined business taxes end up being more costly and time-consuming to businesses than a single state income tax return would have been.

Property taxes are lower. TN has an average property tax rate of 0.9x%. Los Angeles County has an average property tax rate of 0.5x% (i.e., nearly half). Property taxes in LA are only higher on an absolute basis because the property subject to tax is worth more.

Actually Nashville’s real estate market is very expensive. Belle Meade a Nashville suburb has the honor of being the richest town in America

These rankings are entirely false.

There is no richest town in America as a single individual moving anywhere could make it that overnight.

Also just prima facia there is no way belle mead is as rich as billionaires row Manhattan, Pacific Heights in SF or Bel Air in LA. Let alone the Hamptons/Jackson Hole zones.

That must depend on the definition of “richest town” because my quick search of that term disagrees.

Honestly this is hard to believe. Many uber wealthy suburbs attached to NYC, LA, and SF. Probably many other large cities too.

By what metric is this city the richest?

Some unambiguous ones: cost of living, ability to buy a house (maybe less of an issue for executives), lower taxes (much bigger issue for executives).

Others that vary by person: political conservatism, smaller city, closer to everything besides the West Coast.

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