Tennessee
A millennial nurse who moved from Tennessee to California said his new state is much more working-class friendly: ‘I genuinely didn’t know what a break was when I moved to California’
- A millennial who moved to California from Tennessee said California is much more working-class friendly.
- He said he gets more protections and benefits as a nurse in California, as well as a higher salary.
- While housing prices are higher in California, he said many of his costs are cheaper than in Tennessee.
Matthew, 38, was working in northeast Tennessee as an orderly at a hospital when he realized he could live a less stressful, more lucrative life in another state doing the same work.
Matthew — whose identity is known to Business Insider and requested partial anonymity for privacy reasons — and his wife, who is also a registered nurse, decided that California would be the ideal destination. California would give him paid family leave, mandatory breaks and lunches, and better overtime laws. He said the policies of California are a lot more working-class employee friendly than in Tennessee, and since he moved in 2016, he said his work-life balance has been a lot better.
Still, he didn’t want to move to a major city like San Francisco or San Diego with a high cost of living. He settled on a city in central California which had a much lower cost of living but comparable wages for jobs.
“Many that leave California to go to the East Coast or to corporate-friendly states like Texas and Tennessee don’t know any better,” Matthew said. “They were born in California. They don’t know how good they have it.”
Matthew’s move went a little against the grain compared to how many other Americans have been switching states. The California to Tennessee move was one of the more popular routes between 2021 to 2022 at nearly 22,600 movers — though around 5,500 still made the opposite move during the same period, according to US Census data.
Many former Californians are moving to Tennessee for cheaper cost of living, friendlier people, and a slower pace of life. But for Matthew and many other former Tennesseans, California has many more opportunities for workers — and not every part of the state is outrageously expensive.
Not everything is more expensive in California
When he moved in 2016, he said his $295,000 home in California cost about as much as his Tennessee home, though housing has gotten quite a bit more expensive, he said. Though homes cost more per square foot, he said they’re also sturdier due to earthquake standards. He also said housing insurance is actually cheaper in California, and new homes are often renovated and come with new amenities, compared to homes on the market in Tennessee that aren’t as well maintained.
Additionally, he said his home in Tennessee would be frequently reassessed, which would hike up property taxes.
He said that while gas is a lot more expensive in California, he’s also driving a third of the distance to get to work or the grocery store. He also said his water bill is around three times cheaper in California.
He said he’s also willing to pay more in California for dining out as California doesn’t have a tipped minimum wage — in Tennessee, employers can pay tipped employees as little as $2.13 an hour, provided wages and tips together add up to $7.25 an hour. California has an hourly minimum wage of $15.50, which will rise to $16 in 2024.
Though the temperature gets high in central California, he said the low humidity makes summers much more bearable than Tennessee, where humidity sometimes is 100%. He hasn’t once had to scrape frost off his car as he did in Tennessee, and he doesn’t miss the tornadoes or thunderstorms that would sometimes ravage through Tennessee.
He convinced one of his friends to move out to California, though he wishes more of his family would move from Tennessee, citing better healthcare and retirement options. He said contrary to what many believe, his area of California is more laid back than in Tennessee where in his industry, people would skip lunch and fire on all cylinders to get their work done.
California is ‘more working-class friendly’
Matthew didn’t want to work as a nurse in Tennessee where nurse-to-patient ratios are low, meaning he’d have to work longer hours with few breaks and not enough pay. California requires one nurse for every two intensive or critical care patients for instance, while Tennessee does not have state laws for these ratios.
California had all sorts of policies and laws in place to protect registered nurses, including state-funded temporary disability coverage and paid baby bonding leave for up to six weeks. California also has daily overtime laws in addition to double-time pay for working over 12 hours a day, compared to weekly overtime laws in Tennessee.
Matthew was in a car accident a few years ago in California and was out on leave for 60 days for physical therapy, and he said he made the same amount he would’ve made working due to the state’s temporary disability paid for by state taxes.
“If you’re in a car accident and can’t work in Tennessee, and you didn’t take out your own individual policy from an individual insurance company that has temporary disability, you’re probably going to go bankrupt because there’s nothing to protect you.”
Additionally, he recalled how he was shocked his employers in California forced him to take a 30-minute lunch break and two other 15-minute breaks or else they would get penalized per state laws. He said one of his friends’ offices has an alarm that goes off whenever it’s time for somebody to take a break.
While the process for approving to transfer his Tennessee nursing license in California was slow, Matthew said they moved as soon as they were approved, noting how California is “everything I thought it would be as far as being employee friendly.”
His area of central California has five different hospitals, compared to just one hospital system in northeast Tennessee.
“In California, you’ve got nurses that actually get their breaks most of the time, you’ve got nurse to patient ratios, so that makes the work culture better because not everybody’s exhausted,” Matthew said. “I genuinely didn’t know what a break was when I moved to California.”
Moving to California has also made Matthew feel more economically secure about his long-term future. At his job in California, he gets a 6% 401(k) match in addition to company-funded guaranteed amount retirement pensions, compared to just 3% company matching at his job in Tennessee. He also said pay increases at his current role are a lot less arbitrary and more performance-based.
“It’s absolutely where I want to stay, unless there’s some miracle where Tennessee changes to be more employee friendly, which I don’t see ever happening,” Matthew said.
Have you recently moved to a new state? Contact this reporter at nsheidlower@insider.com.
Tennessee
Late Game Coaching Decision Pays Dividends For Tennessee Basketball Against Auburn | Rocky Top Insider
NASHVILLE, Tn. — Auburn’s Johni Broome was giving Tennessee fits. The Vols’ were playing strong defense and cutting off the tap for every Tiger besides the SEC Player of the Year.
That’s when Tennessee made a significant coaching move, sending a double team at Johni Broome while getting critical stops late in a 70-65 win.
“It worked out,” Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey said. “It ended up working out for us and forced them to shoot some jumpers. It was an adjustment that we made that worked.”
With just under four minutes left in the game, Broome had scored 23 points on nine-of-11 shooting from the field. Tennessee was playing good defense but Broome was delivering big buckets when Auburn was pulling away from the Vols.
After a few mistakes early in the game, Felix Okpara was doing a good job defending Broome but the SEC Player of the Year was still scoring.
“He had a lot of points at that time,” senior guard Jordan Gainey said. “We were making sure someone else scored and not him
“We wanted to be there on the catch that he couldn’t just pick you apart with the pass as you’re coming,” Justin Gainey said. “I thought we did a good job of that but it is tough. He had it going. He was in a flow. It felt like the other guys hadn’t really had touches and weren’t in rhythm so they’re going to be taking shots out of rhythm.”
Double teaming Broome is a risky proposition with how good of a passer the big man is. But with Auburn’s guards struggling, Tennessee was going to force anyone other than Broome beat them.
More From RTI: Johni Broome Compliments Tennessee After Being Eliminated by the Volunteers
Tennessee first doubled Broome with 3:12 left and Auburn ended up getting to the free throw line and making one of two attempts. Doubling Broome on the catch was a focal point for Tennessee because of his ability to “pick you apart” if he watches the double team coming.
The next possession, the Vols were a bit late and had just showed a double team when Broome whipped a pass to the corner and Miles Kelly missed a three-pointer.
On the next possession, Cade Phillips was there to double team Broome on the catch and the 6-foot-10 big mean threw a high pass to Kelly in the corner. That high pass slowed things down just enough. When Kelly swung the ball to Denver Jones, Phillips was there to contest and Jones’ shot missed.
“He’s a really good passer but we kind of kept his vision away,” senior guard Jahmai Mashack said. “Made it tough for him so I think being able to get to shooters when he passed it out, I think it was great executing on our part.”
“Getting into those scramble drills and getting out and running around is nothing new to us,” Phillips said. “We love that. We love the chaos of it. So getting the ball out of his hands where they’re swinging the ball around trying to find an advantage, we’ve got guys everywhere that can move and love to defend.”
On three possessions where Tennessee double teamed or showed a double team on Broome, the Tigers scored just one-point. Broome did not score in the final four minutes after Tennessee adjusted its defensive strategy.
With key stops down the stretch and a couple of big buckets, Tennessee held on to defeat Auburn and advance to the SEC Tournament Championship.
#1 Auburn Tigers (28-4) vs. #4 Tennessee (26-6)
SEC Tournament Semifinals
March 15, 2025 at Noon (CT)
Bridgestone Arena (18,500) | Nashville, Tenn.
Television: ESPN
Play-By-Play: Dan Shulman
Color Analyst: Jay Bilas
Sideline Reporter: Jess Sims
Radio: Auburn Sports Network
Play-By-Play: Andy Burcham
Color Analyst: Randall Dickey
Top-seeded Auburn (28-4) takes on fourth-seeded Tennessee (26-6) in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. It marks the first meeting between the two teams in the tournament since the Tigers claimed an 84-64 victory in the 2019 SEC Championship Game.
Auburn defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 62-57 behind a 23-point and 15-rebound effort from SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome.
Tennessee reaches the semi-finals after dispatching the No. 13 seed Texas Longhorns 83-72 on Friday afternoon. The Vols were paced by 23 points from Chaz Lanier and relied heavily on their starting five. The Vols got just 12 points from their three-man bench on Saturday.
The Tigers beat the Vols in their lowest-scoring game of the season in January. Broome came off the bench to score 16 points after an ankle injury, and the Tigers won 53-51.
» The Tigers compiled a 15-3 record in regular-season play to earn the No. 1 seed.
» Auburn is looking to repeat as SEC Tournament champions after winning its third SEC Tournament title in program history and second under head coach Bruce Pearl a year ago in Nashville. The Tigers also won the tournament title in 1985 and 2019.
» Since 2018, Auburn has won three SEC regular-season championships and two tournament titles, which leads the league for overall championships over that span.
» Bruce Pearl and C.M. Newton, who won two Associated Press SEC Coach of the Year honors at Alabama and Vanderbilt, are the only head coaches to win the award at two different league schools. Pearl, who won the award in 2006 and 2008 at Tennessee and twice at Auburn in 2022 and 2025, is tied with Newton for the second-most AP SEC Coach of the Year awards all-time, one behind Adolph Rupp’s five at Kentucky.
» Johni Broome was honored as SEC Player of the Year by the Associated Press and the league’s coaches this week. Broome joins Charles Barkley (1984) and Chris Porter (1999) as the only Tigers to win the AP honor.
» Auburn matched program records with the 2021-22 squad with 15 SEC wins & 27 regular-season wins.
» Auburn, which had been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for eight-straight weeks, is one of only two SEC teams to ever be ranked first for at least six-straight weeks in the AP Poll, joining Kentucky. The Tigers are No. 3 in both national polls behind Duke and Houston.
» The Tigers have been ranked for 32-consecutive weeks, which is the seventh-longest active streak in the country and matches the longest streak in program history. Four of Auburn’s five longest ranked streaks in program history have come since January 2018. Saturday’s contest is the 56th-straight game the Tigers have played as a ranked team.
SERIES HISTORY vs. TENNESSEE
» Auburn is 8-3 in the last 11 contests against Tennessee including the top-ranked Tigers’ 53-51 victory over the sixth-ranked Volunteers on Jan. 25 at Neville Arena – the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season.
» Ten of the last 12 games in the series, including the last six, have been decided by 10 points or less. The last six contests in the series have been decided by an average of 5.3 points.
» Tennessee leads 7-5 the series at neutral sites and 8-4 in the SEC Tournament, but Auburn defeated the Volunteers, 84-64, in the 2019 championship game the last time the two teams met in postseason play.
» Bruce Pearl is 9-7 as a head coach against Tennessee with all 16 games coming during his 11 seasons at Auburn. He is 1-1 versus the Volunteers in the SEC Tournament including an 84-64 victory in the 2019 title game.
» Pearl is 11-7 in head-to-head meetings with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes including a 9-6 mark at Auburn versus Barnes at UT. Pearl went 2-1 against Texas under Barnes during his six seasons at Tennessee.
» In those coaching matchups, the Volunteers defeated No. 6 Texas, 95-78, in Austin on Dec. 17, 2005, behind 21 points from Chris Lofton and 111-105 in overtime on Dec. 23, 2006 behind 35 points and 11 rebounds from Lofton. Meanwhile, the No. 15-ranked Longhorns knocked off No. 7 Tennessee, 97-78, on Nov. 24, 2007 in Newark, N.J.
PLAYER TO WATCH: JOHNI BROOME
» Senior big man Johni Broome joined Charles Barkley (1984) and Chris Porter (1999) as the only Tigers to earn SEC Player of the Year honors from the Associated Press.
» He is the only player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to record 2,500 points, 1,500 rebounds and 400 blocks in his career.
» Broome is averaging 18.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game on the season. Against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, he scored 23 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for his 18th double-doubles this season, tying Mike Mitchell’s single-season school record for double-doubles during the 1974-75 season.
» Broome is making his third SEC Tournament appearance and was crowned the Most Valuable Player of last year’s tournament.
» This season, he led the Tigers to a No. 1 national ranking for a school-record eight consecutive weeks, 16 Quad 1 wins in the regular season, the 2024 Maui Invitational crown and the program’s fifth Southeastern Conference title (regular season or tournament) over the last eight seasons.
» The SEC Player of the Year (coaches and AP) and two-time All-SEC First Team selection was also recently recognized as the National College Player of the Year by the Sporting News, co-Player of the Year by the Field of 68 Network as well as Player of the Year by the NCAA’s Andy Katz and by Jon Rothstein for College Hoops Today.
Tennessee
WATCH: Tennessee's Rodney Garner and Levorn 'Chop' Harbin Break Down Vols' Spring Practice | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee wrapped up its fourth practice of the spring camp slate on Friday morning in Knoxville.
After practice, Tennessee had veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner and newly-appointed outside linebackers coach Levorn “Chop” Harbin speak with the media as the Vols’ lone two media representatives entering the weekend. Tennessee had players speak after the first three practices but did not have any player interviews on Friday due to a post-practice lift that was scheduled by the team.
This was also Tennessee’s last practice before spring break next week, meaning that the Vols will return to practice on Tuesday, Mar. 25, ahead of the Orange & White Spring Game on April 12 in Neyland Stadium.
More from RTI: What Tennessee Transfer Star Thomas is Bringing to the Vols’ Running Back Room
Check out both defensive coaching interviews from Friday morning in Knoxville below:
Tennessee DL Coach Rodney Garner
Tennessee OLB Coach Chop Harbin
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