Across the board, Chattanooga’s older neighborhoods and communities are experiencing revitalization. Neighborhood associations are partnering with various public and private funding sources to enhance quality of life for families with an infusion of greenspace, long term planning, improved streetscape, neighborhood-scale shops, quality home options and preservation of vintage home styles.

Chattanooga’s thoughtful investment downtown has created a growing demand for urban lofts, townhomes and condominiums. Many people are choosing to move back to the city, where they can be close to work, cultural and culinary venues and a pedestrian-centered lifestyle.

New developments downtown include Lovemans on Market, First and Market condominiums, The Crabtree on the Southside, the lofts at the Southern Railway Building, and Lindsay Court near UTC. Cowart Place on the Southside is a Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise initiative that is pioneering a sustainable mixed-income urban neighborhood model.

Well-defined neighborhoods with distinct personalities offer a variety of home styles and amenities. Chattanooga’s comprehensive greenway program, an accessible river and lake, mountains, parks and attractions offer a myriad of recreational activities to residents. Families choosing homes based on educational offerings have good choices in private, parochial and public schools including over a dozen theme-focused public magnet schools.

Historic neighborhoods such as Fort Wood, Highland Park, St. Elmo, M.L. King, North Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge are dotted with architectural gems and reflect a strong sense of place with their festivals, tours and landmarks.

Signal Mountain and Walden-located on the southern rim of the Cumberland Plateau-offer a self-contained village atmosphere created by their unique geography. Homes enjoying views of the Tennessee River Gorge, city lights or rolling valleys can be found here as well as on Lookout and Elder Mountains. Affordable family-style homes can be found in these locales that offer some of the region’s most exclusive residential addresses.

Some of the most popular suburban areas experiencing a boom in residential construction include Hixson, Soddy-Daisy and East Hamilton County which includes the towns of Ooltewah, Harrison and Collegedale. Older communities such as East Ridge and Red Bank are experiencing a revitalization of their infrastructure as residents rediscover the charm of their cottage-scale homes and commercial shops. Convenience to downtown is a significant amenity for those choosing to live in these communities.

This Chattanooga region in general offers a preferred scale for those who have not lived in larger metropolitan areas where daily traffic hassles quickly erode quality of life. Short commute times make traveling to work, shopping and school pleasant and convenient.

It is quite common for residents of nearby cities such as Cleveland and Athens in Tennessee and those in nearby Northwest Georgia such as Dalton, Fort Ogelthorpe and Rome to commute to Chattanooga. The drives from these so-called "bedroom communities" are scenic and uncongested.