Places to live in ATL
 

Looking for any good recs for ATL area. Prob going to start with a nice apartment in Alpharetta and start looking in that area. Single and no kiddos. Liked and lived in The Woodlands, TX for 12 years. Looking for something similar for anyone familiar with both areas. No clue on ATL area but tired of my current commute. Thanks in advance.

Alpharetta is lovely but depending on the time of day the traffic on 400 to get to the airport can be rough. Great area though as are the surrounding cities of Roswell and John's Creek. Dunwoody/Sandy Springs and Brookhaven are also great neighborhoods with a shorter distance to drive but a bit more expensive. I personally love the west side of town and recommend looking into it as well. Vinings/Smyrna is very conveniently located to ATL and easy to get into town while still being quiet and safe neighborhoods. Marietta as well a little bit further up. Or West Midtown (i guess it's called Westside these days) if you want a more urban feel. If you're into investing and want to gamble on property values in up and coming areas that aren't quite as nice yet, the Chamblee/Doraville area has lots of opportunities and two routes to drive to ATL giving you some options with traffic. A few of the downtown neighborhoods are getting redeveloped quickly too but i personally wouldn't be willing to put up with it during the process.

Then there's always PTC and Newnan if you're into that but I like being closer to town.

I moved to ATL about 5 years ago and rented for a year in the city near Virginia Highlands/Piedmont Park. Ive since bought a townhouse near Grant Park and love it. Shoot me a DM if you want more details. I am also single with no kids so there are lots of choices out there for you.

Yeah I’m wondering the same thing. I currently am divorced, but my 1yr old son would come stay with me during the summers or any time I have off. Wondering which area would be good for a single dad. Lol

If you liked the Woodlands, then you will definitely want to stay outside of the loop. If you do move to Alpharetta to rent for a while, I will make this prediction. You will NEVER leave. The Alpharetta/Roswell/Milton area north of Atlanta is some of the best living you can do anywhere in the Delta basing system. Clean, safe, nice people, great schools, huge variety of entertainment and dining, beautiful homes. The area has become very upmarket. You'll be 30 minutes away from lake life, and an hour away from mountain life. Dealing with traffic once a week is a small price to pay.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Northwest ATL area. Within an hour and a half of the mountains. Plenty of hiking, mountain biking and you got the lakes nearby if you're outdoorsy. And the traffic is a little better than Roswell/Alpharetta directly north of the city.

If you like the Woodlands, don't rule out Peachtree City. The Northside of Atlanta has better food, activities, and overall quality of people. Traffic is horrible on the northside. On the Southside, Peachtree City or Brooks. Stay away from Newnan, it's going downhill fast.

we love the south side of the airport near Senoia (Pike County area)

Really, really depends on what kind of experience you want. Hipster/Boho? Little Five Points or Inman Park. Upwardly mobile yuppie urban? Midtown/Buckhead. Wife + 2.3 kids with access to hills and lakes, a clean vector out of town, and no real budget? Northside suburbs (watch out for traffic). Same but with a budget and don't want to deal with as much traffic? PTC or Sonoia. College town? Auburn or Athens. Small town life? Rome. Want to drive to work, drive home, forget about Delta on your days off and be on semi-budget? Macon.

Truth is that after COVID, a lot of people left ATL proper, but the real estate market still went nuts. People cashed out their million dollars of equity in town and drew a circle about 90 minutes around ATL, and drove all the prices up in the towns inside that circle. Prices in town never really dropped. Point is, just about everywhere within 120 miles of ATL is over priced for what it is, you just need to decide how over priced you want to pay, and how much traffic you want to deal with. This is softening somewhat as businesses are tightening their belts somewhat, and calling people back into the office. Whether they go or not is still up for debate.

If your only stipulation is “no commuting”, and especially if there are no family issues, there are better Delta bases than ATL.

One pilot’s opinion, your experience may vary.

Otherwise, PTC with kids, Alpharetta solo (but expect traffic).

I would stay away from Peachtree City. Only advantage is it’s close to airport. Alpharetta is a good place to start. If you don’t like it there, pick a city in Florida and commute. It’s worth it.

Someone above recommended Macon. I do NOT recommend Macon.

we live there right now (due to wife’s job). We are out of here as soon as she retires from military.

the public schools stink. There aren’t many good restaurants. There aren’t a lot of clubs/activities for our young kid. It’s 1:05 to the parking lot with Zero traffic, but I’ve also had it take 2:00.

No thanks

One man's trash.... I guess you're gonna just need to rent for a year, drive around on your days off and see what you like.

Why is this?

What’s going on in Newnan?

This pretty much sums it up.

PTC is great for young families. Safe, good schools, a lot of youth activities. Alpharetta has a lot more to do for fun and you're close to the north GA mountains & lakes. Yes, traffic.

So thinking a 2-2.5 hr drive.....Ellijay or Blue Ridge too far huh?

And start following atlscoop on Instagram

Second Alpharetta and N GA area. If looking to be closer to outdoor life (Lanier Lanier and mountains), Cumming has seen steady growth in the last 15 years and insane growth in last 3. Lot of potential upside for return, great schools, and likely better priced homes compared to Alpharetta. Like all others have said though, the drive.... When my dad was flying for Delta (pre covid), normally it would be about 0:50. As of late, during non rush hour times, it seems 1:20-30.

It sounds like you plan to move more than once (since you'll be renting), so I'd recommend somewhere being closer to airport that has more yoing professional things to do (Virginia Highlands, midtown, etc). But if settling down with family, gworing up in Cumming as a kid was great.

Very true re. Macon proper vis a vis public schools, with the notable exception of ACE. Good private schools, and there are some excellent restaurants. Kinjo downtown has become one of our favorites. Marrow 41 in Bolingbroke is also noteworthy. Grits in Forsyth is still on our list to try.
Monroe County has benefitted (dubiously) from the idiocy of Bibb.

The traffic thing is only really a problem if you intend to bid 1-2 day trips, IMO. If you're gonna work 3+ day trips I consider it a small investment of time to be where I want to be.
I picked the NW side of ATL. We have a really nice one-way toll system (peachpass) to avoid congestion at the worst hours. I'm about 14 miles up 575. On rush hour days I can spend $2-6 to avoid most of the traffic and still be about a 1hr drive. Sometimes it goes longer, but I only drive 1 time a week typically.

Kennesaw - Busy college town, plenty to do. Lots of apartments, shopping, and busy roads.
Woodstock - More of your microbrew, coffee shop, young families in townhouses vibe. Downtown woodstock is very eclectic. Lower crime, higher home values on smaller lots.
Canton - Nice suburban town with all the typical suburban shopping/dining. Okay school district, not PTC quality. Proximity to Allatoona Lake (more of a marina lake with fluctuating levels year round).
Ball ground - Quiet suburban / rural vibe. More bang for the buck, but less shopping nearby. Close proximity to GA airport KCNI.
Jasper - A rural cowboy / gun toting vibe. Yellow flags abound. Shooting range and GA airport nearby. I like Jasper, but it's too far for me.
Beyond Jasper - Moutain cabins, airbnb rentals.

Alpharetta is extremely nice. Very similar to the Woodlands. Good schools keeps the property values high. Bid for a few 700-800k houses there last Spring that all ended up going $1m+ to the winning bidder. Settled in Smyrna(pretty nice area, 30 min drive to airport, but terrible schools) for now and will wait til a WB Capt for the Alpharetta forever home. Traffic is a small price to pay for living in that fantastic community.

Look for Avalon. Alpharetta old town area. Draw a 5 mile circle. Great area, worth the :50-1:30 drive to airport for sure. WB trips leave between traffic peaks most of time. Cumming is a little less expensive but great for raising families (most schools still keeping traditional values) Alpharetta better for singles.

Come to florida and pocket 6% a year.

then you have to live in florida.

and I’d pay double that to not commute.

So been lurking here for a long time, familiar with your "stance". Heck you happily pay >60% of your income in taxes, so your opinion on that really doesn't matter now does it?

==== back on topic ====

OP, I drove from Blue Ridge to ATL.

We liked it. Our kids were teenagers at the time.

We are/were not into "city" type living though

Being single I'd do like one poster said - draw a 5 mile ring around center of Alpharetta and start your search there.

BTW what's up with Newnan? Used to be pretty nice.

Why does every person in Florida love to tell others to move to Florida? (Then spends the rest of the time lamenting commuting)

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I do? **** I better talk to my tax professional about underpayment

So Alpharetta is good for singles?

Brace yourself. The TN/TX/FL commuters are coming to tell you how dumb you are, give you unsolicited tax advice, and possibly derail this into a political circle jerk.

Yes.

ten char

Will do thanks. Will likely pay thru the nose but that's one place I'm willing to do that.

Good grief lighten up. Socialism is a tough burden on the soul; I understand. But please live a little, life is too short.

From a strictly financial standpoint it is hard to argue against preventing 6-10% of your income taken from you every year from a state now isn't it. Unless.....

…unless living in a city in which I want to live is worth it *and* living in base makes it easy to earn 6-10% more, anyway? And I don’t waste hours of my life commuting?

Based on your knowledge of LA and LAX base, I'm going to take a guess you live in California.

Make no mistake, IMHO California is the most naturally beautiful, ecologically diverse state in the country - hands down. I love wine country, the temperate rain forest up north Cali, the ruggedness of the Sierra Nevada, Sequoias, and the southern California (Orange county and south) vibe.

Cali has a total tax burden of 9.72% (Forbes). It has the #4 highest individual tax burden in the country (Forbes). You get a break on your property taxes (2% mas increase on value) thanks to Prop 13. So if your home is appraised for taxes at 750k, the property tax rate on that is 2.76% (Forbes). That's a 20k tax payment. State also gets its bite from you in the incidentals - fuel, sales, vehicle registrations, etc.

I'm not going to wager on your yearly earnings. None of my business. So going to just say for fed tax purposes you are north of 250k a year so that puts you in either the 24or 32% tax bracket. I would wager to say you pay in total over 50% of you earned income to some form of tax by living in California. That's cool if you like living there I guess. I don't care what you get in return or what your accountant does. I'm talking about outright tax burden.

Me? I prefer to keep as much of my hard earned $$$ for my family. I live in a state with little to no taxes on my income and property. Best thing about America right now is we all have choices. You choose to subsidize others and give away your money, I choose the opposite. Nothing wrong with either position.

Do you think I don’t understand that I pay a higher tax rate than most Americans?

property taxes and homeowners insurance will certainly eat into that 6%. and it’s not like you can’t make that up with the added flexibility living in base affords.

-Florida commuter.

yeah but still not even close to the total burden you pay in Cali, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, NY or Hawaii.

- not a Florida or TX commuter.

I was thinking more vs Georgia.

Agree with you about the total tax burden of some places, but I don’t think GA is one of them.

Ah yah, gotcha

Sorry about that. I see what you're saying now.