$100k salary, packing up from Chattanooga

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

if you left chattanooga

Asheville

nc · metro 417k

a dispatch from

asheville

NC

35.58°N

82.55°W

Asheville is what happens when a mountain town and an art school have a baby and raise it on craft beer. Downtown packs more breweries per capita than almost anywhere in America, plus buskers on every corner and Art Deco buildings the Depression accidentally preserved (the city went broke before it could tear them down). The Biltmore, America's largest private home, looms on the edge of town like a stone-carved flex. Remote workers keep showing up, which is how you know.

metro417k

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$589

the monthly premium over Chattanooga

Asheville runs a little pricier than Chattanooga. The case has to be about something other than rent.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

14% more expensive than Chattanooga(vs $1,524/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

$375/mo more in state tax than Chattanooga

vs 0% in Chattanooga

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$589 less than Chattanooga

gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.

04a house here

$430k

34% more expensive than Chattanooga

vs $322k in Chattanooga

05metro size

417k

vs 580k in Chattanooga

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Chattanooga barely cracks 167 pleasant ones.

A real upgrade on things to do: 1.5× Chattanooga's pace.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

4% lower than Chattanooga

vs 69/100 in Chattanooga

Closest outdoor draw: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 74.8 mi.

·walk score®

63/100

23% lower than Chattanooga

vs 82/100 in Chattanooga

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

0% fewer than Chattanooga

vs 8 nonstops in Chattanooga

04 · see also

neighbors of asheville on the map of tradeoffs:

compare asheville with: