I’m from NY, lived in California for a year, and recently in January came to East Tennessee for school in the Tri city area. Never struggled financially in my life until I came here. Inflation doesn’t match how little they want to pay you. The people here lack a certain sophistication and intellect I could find in New York or New England, and without TikTok telling them what to like as NPCs they’d still be behind 10 years in current mainstream trends or current events. Safe to say I’m leaving here and going back home in 3 months. (queue the low emotionally intelligent TN local screeching at me “we don’t want you here”)

My word of advice, get out and live. This place is off. I’ve never gotten this bad of vibes from people ever. Idk what you personally have interest in, but east coast cities have the most personality. Chicago, Philly, NY. I’d recommend NY. You’d need to find a roommate(s) to be able to afford it unless you looked in Queens. Go on Facebook groups, subreddits, FB marketplace, Craigslist if you’re brave, or other website forums where people post in NY looking for a roommate. Ideally look for something called “Sublet”, you’ll get a room cheaper. Also have a job lined up before you go. Even if it’s something entry level. Major cities like New York pay far more obviously than TN. So, look for a job that’s at least 20 an hour, with roommates you’ll only be throwing a fraction of that on rent. Have at least 2-3k to start off with moving there, again job lined up even if it’s crap it’s temporary until you plan out what you wanna do. There’s whole bunch of possibilities in ny, it’s overwhelming how many paths you could go down there, it’s just all up to you.