r/Murray • u/hdfire21 • Jul 20 '26
Living in Murray as a non-student without a car?
So, I've been living overseas a long time. Got married, had a kid, have income now where I can live anywhere. We've been looking for a place in the US to settle down with good public schools and affordable housing, which is a pretty rare situation.
Murray came up a while back, but it seemed maybe a bit too small/remote.
One of the things we really don't like about the US though is having to have a car. My eyes are really bad, and my wife never learned to drive. I haven't driven in maybe 14 years. Cars are super expensive in the US right now too. It would make us feel a lot safer/better if we could at least get by/survive with walking/public transport. I figured that was basically impossible anywhere we could afford, but looking at Murray a bit more closely, maybe that's a real possibility there? We're ok walking up to maybe 2 miles each way for shopping/restaurants. No shame at taking a backpack of groceries on a bus. That seems doable in Murray?
How's life for people who aren't university students, and don't work for the university? We're in our early 40's and mostly homebodies. Honestly might not matter too much where in the world you plop us, but would be nice to know there's at least an option of some sort of social life for middle-aged people with families. We're not into sports. Honestly not totally sure what middle-aged Americans do now that I think about it. I left the US around 30 and my wife is Chinese. We live in Malaysia right now. Son goes to international school, and I think I'm the only American parent in the primary school.
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u/McSkillz21 Jul 20 '26
Its been over a decade since I was in murray consistently, but the last time I was there its was noticeably different but one thing I didn't notice, public transportation. Things may have changed but I dont know that there is a bus system, much less an organized and efficient public bus system.
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u/hdfire21 Jul 20 '26
It looked like there were 3 loops done by bus or shuttle of some sort. Mostly during the day when normal people are at work. Guessing they're designed for the university students primarily. Not a public transportation system, but if you lived in town, had a flexible schedule, and were willing to walk a bit to a stop, it looks like you could get to and from the cheaper supermarkets easier. Hospital/medical appointments too maybe.
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u/arpm White College Jul 21 '26
Murray has three bus routes, but depending on where you are going, sometimes it is just faster to walk than to take the bus. Walking is pretty easy as it is mostly flat with some hills here and there, and the city is a grid, so finding your way is not hard. Just keep in mind that while the main roads all have sidewalks, it's mostly the residential areas that lack them. Also, depending on how rough the winter is, the snow will hinder your step. For your grocery runs, the buses do go to and from all the major grocery stores. However, a full route takes about 50 minutes to complete, so it might be a long ride depending on where you end up living. If you ever need a backup, taking a cab within Murray is actually very affordable, as the intracity rate is only seven bucks. I will say that getting in and out of Murray without a car is pretty rough since there are no buses or trains that go through town. You could take a cab for intercity travel, but that is going to cost you. As for the social side, since it is a college town, there are a lot of transplants. You'll find a lot of events at the university, nearby recreational areas, and quite a few places for hobbies, so there is definitely a social life available for middle-aged families.
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u/hdfire21 Jul 21 '26
Yeah. It looked like getting to the airport in nashville would cost you a pretty penny. Saw some old facebook posts saying about $200 each way.
Thanks for the information. Was focused on how long it would take to get from a house to walmart, and for some reason didn't think that walmart to the house might be a totally different story.
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u/Lower_Web_1331 Jul 21 '26
Paducah is nearby and much better for riding a bus to get places, owensborow i hear has many oppertunities.
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u/hdfire21 Jul 21 '26
We were looking at Paducah. A lot more stuff there that we like. But the areas we were really interested in (because of better schools) like Lone Oak I really don't see how you could live without a car, realistically. Basically zero walkability. Murray it seemed like you could do basic stuff by foot and home prices are a bit cheaper too it seems like.
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u/arpm White College Jul 23 '26
Murray is infinitely more walkable than Paducah. Much more compact and no overpasses.
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u/hdfire21 Jul 23 '26
Yeah... I saw the university was founded in 1923 or something. If parts of the city were planned out back then, they would have been a lot more dense. Just guessing.
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u/Lower_Web_1331 Jul 23 '26
Id never put a child on a bike to go any distance like how i do, i have done this in many cities and every singke one i have almost been peeled off the road with a snow shovel and cleaned off the concrete with cocacola
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u/KnockNocturne Jul 21 '26
It's hard to get around, but not impossible. I lived in town and wasn't able to drive for a period of time. Winters are going to suck the most, and forget about ever leaving the town.
Personally, I'd look elsewhere.
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u/hdfire21 Jul 21 '26
Yes, I'm sure the depths of winter and the peak of summer would both be pretty unpleasant if you had to walk everywhere.
Is there enough of a walking space on the side of the road so that you could walk to wal-mart or food giant or whatever without cars honking at you and having to move to avoid you?
Where would you look to as a better place?
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u/FitAd5746 29d ago
As some other people said, transportation outside of town will DEFINITELY be an issue. Murray is rural enough that other towns are very spaced out. Without a car, it would be very expensive if you need/want anything not in Murray. However, I will also state that Murray has plenty of international students from the university and is generally more accepting of immigrants. I would honestly steer you away from alot of the South due to risks of the people there being incredibly racist towards your wife and son. The attitude towards immigrants declines everyday here and I would aim for more liberal areas. Murray is much better than the surrounding area due to the college, but I'm just saying it might be something to keep in mind.
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u/hdfire21 29d ago edited 29d ago
We'd end up getting a car for quality of life, I'm sure. But would be nice to be able to wait for a car we like before buying, instead of being forced to buy a car we don't really like (or that sucks) because it's all that's available and we need a car. Or if there's a particularly lean time/bad year in the market and our car goes kaputz, we can wait a while before buying another.
The racism issue is always interesting. I grew up in rural OR. We prided ourselves on not being racist like the southernors. It was easy to do because there weren't basically any black people. I mean, yeah, there was massively negative sentiment and blatant discrimination towards hispanics, but that was all about immigration /national identity/culture, not race. Right?
We were also massively prejudiced against basically the entire rest of the US. Southernors were racist hillbillies playing the banjo. New Yorkers were assholes. Californians were stealing our land.
And sometimes, complete and utter ignorance can look a lot like prejudice/racism.
Parents in Bellevue, an affluent liberal area near Seattle, had a petition going around during covid to segregate children at school who were of Chinese descent. They tracked anti-asian acts a lot during covid and the big liberal cities were the worst.
Looking at houses all over the US, basically all the large midwest cities have very pronounced black ghettos. In the south, where you had forced school bussing, it doesn't seem nearly as bad.
I'm just saying.. The prejudice and racism stuff just doesn't seem quite as clear cut to me as red state bad, blue state good. Or deep south bad, coasts good. From my experience it just seems way more nuanced than that.
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u/FitAd5746 29d ago
Yes absolutely!! I'm from the South and intend to stay. By no means is every area bad. In fact, Murray is pretty solid on that front in my opinion. The area surrounding Murray is just very set in their ways due to being such a rural area. I was just suggesting it as a factor in your choice! I hope you find a lovely spot to settle down whether that be here or elsewhere!!
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u/Mean-Fondant-8732 Jul 20 '26
The public transportation there is severely lacking and the sidewalks are nonexistent in many places.