What’s it like living in Atlanta?

I love it here. Pre COVID it was very welcoming. And they have great restaurants and the clubs are pretty good. Art Museum needs improvement. Music Theatre are OK. Not NYC, not Chicago, but OK. I'm happy here and It's been 7 years for me.

I can’t tell you anything about the costs, but if I moved to Atlanta I’d want to live in Inman Park. Historic neighborhood, younger crowd, some great cafes and excellent transportation in the area.

Lived and worked there from 1980 through 2008, so almost 30 years. It was and still is a great city for young people and job opportunities. There are beautiful neighborhoods both intown and in the suburbs, great shopping and restaurants, lots to do, The are four distinct seasons and the weather is mostly mild but summers are hot and humid. Spring and fall are great, winters are hit or miss, but that's the shortest season. My partner and I lived both inside the city and in the suburbs, both had their pros and cons, It's a gay friendly city with a large gay population. With the Atlanta airport being one of the worlds busiest you have terrific opportunities to fly anywhere in the world from there if you have the time and money. The biggest downside to the whole metro Atlanta area is the awful traffic. It's a constant frustration for everyone who drives Try to live reasonably close to where you work otherwise expect to spend lots and lots of your life in slow moving traffic.

I love Atlanta, if only for Swinging Richards, the strip club.

I also wonder, is Atlanta a walkable city? Is it possible to live there and NOT own a vehicle?

R5, it’s possible but it’s not as easy as it would be in some other cities.

I have family there. They absolutely love it.

I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in Atlanta, but couldn’t see living there.

I lived there for around 10 years late 90s early 2000s and enjoyed it.

I would say it depends on where you live and work, R5. If you live and work downtown, I think it might be possible. Otherwise, I would probably say you need a car.

OP, I'm a 67 year resident of Atlanta. I don't know much about the rental market but I did a little research and found this resource for you at the link. I am admittedly biased as Atlanta is my hometown, but as with any other city it is what you make of it. If one's expectations are not unreasonable Atlanta can provide a person with a wonderful life. Yes, the traffic is horrendous, but it's far less horrendous than many other cities, both larger and smaller. Of the 20 worst traffic cities in the US Atlanta is # 11, so it could be a lot worse. The food is top notch, and there are lots of entertainment venues. The shopping choices are just as good in Atlanta as they are in any other city.

I’m a native considering returning for aging parents. 100% agree with R3’s suggestion to live near your job, although it would still be weird to not have a car, as lots of stuff is in the suburbs or >1 hr across town.

Many people love it, but to me it's always seemed like a hotter more humid LA with no ocean.

The trendy restaurant of the moment is likely to be in a strip mall between a Supercuts and a Staples.

Plus it's not all that walkable.

But I never lived there, just business trips, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Live here now after a job transfer. Atlanta is a city of folks who have given up living in a real city like LA, NYC, Houston, or Chicago. I’m only here for an 18 month contract to set up a regional office and then I’m gone, hopefully to never return. Atlanta is full of basic non-creatives who just aren’t very interesting. I should know, I’ve interviewed 50 people here. No standouts.

Well, if R12 has interviewed 50 people she certainly has a handle on a place.

“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”

Housing took a hit in the Great Recession because so many people worked in the housing sector and were trying to make a quick buck. Now prices have increased dramatically (like 60% in the last couple years). The rental market has probably lagged, but will catch-up.

Atlanta is all about traffic. It's not a great walking city. The restaurant scene has gradually improved but frankly it remains pretty mediocre. It isn't as liberal as it makes itself out to be and it attracts a gay population that skews younger and frankly pretty incurious. People don't stay long and there's a lot of superficial status seeking. For a city it's size, it has weak cultural institutions. The number of people with real money is smaller than you'd expect and there's a tendency to buy rather than build things---the orchestra has chronic financial problems but got a new hall a number of years ago. The art museum isn't very good but an expensive new wing 15 years ago for large exhibits it lacks the endowment to mount. there are lots of people interested in movies and some good small film festivals but they've never been able to build a strong regional one. Shopping is big leisure activity, yet greater Atlanta has an enormous number of dead and dying malls. Summers are hot and humid and people stay close to a/c. Winters are gloomy and damp with an ice storm every other year that cripples the place.

Atlanta has been trying to sell itself as various superlatives (the N YC of the South, the Next World City) for decades but by now lots of people have visited there enough or like me had the misfortune of living there and found that it doesn't live up to the hype. You could have the same kind of experience experience in a smaller city with less horrible traffic and a lower cost of living like Columbus, Ohio. You probably should consider that, although Columbus also is an overhyped cultural wasteland.

People I know who lived in Atlanta has said that even 25 years later, Thomas Wolfe's "A Man In Full" is pretty accurate.

^^HAVE said

R5 Not really. With Uber I guess it is possible. But, really almost anywhere in the South, you need a car.

R12-I don't consider Los Angeles to be a REAL city nor Houston.

Here you go OP

I’ve never lived in Atlanta but I was in a long distance relationship for a couple of years with a guy who does, so I’ve been there about a dozen times for long weekends.

The falls are nice and the springs are beautiful, provided you don’t have pollen allergies. Granted this was five years ago, but it seemed like a city that you could move to as a “normal” college grad and find a decent job and get on the property ladder in your twenties, which is no longer in the cards for millennials in New York, LA, SF, Boston or DC. I could especially see the appeal for Black people, because it really did feel like a city where they was tons of prosperous middle class Black people everywhere you looked.

Most of the things I found off-putting about Atlanta have already been mentioned: the summers are uncomfortably hot and humid, and tubing down the Chattahoochee is not the same as a beach house on the ocean or a cottage on a northern lake. The traffic is horrible, the restaurant scene really is mostly in parking lots between strip malls, and many of the big attractions are “meh” (like the High) to downright cringey (the Coca Cola Museum? And what’s the deal with Stone Mountain??)

Finally, I don’t enjoy the minimum-monthly payment $30,000 millionaire type and that type seems to have decided to make Atlanta their Mecca. And even putting them aside, I find that Southerners, no matter their color or politics, are reflexively nice-nasty. Every time we went out, it felt like all the people we were with wanted to do was shit talk whoever was out of earshot.

Atlanta is not New York, DC, Chicago San Francisco, n type of city r5. You are going to want a car to get around.

If like most people you are moving from whatever town you grew up in you will love Atlanta and what it offers.

If you are moving from a more urban major city you might find it a little lacking.

Are the Atlanta men better endowed than average?

Race relations remain poor, which is a turnoff for me.

I beg to differ. I live in Metro Atlanta, and have a very diverse set of friends. In fact the various races mix and there are also a lot of foreign types here. It's fine. Now rural Georgia and the far suburbs can be dicey, but In 6 yrs I haven't experienced any problems at all.

[quote] And even putting them aside, I find that Southerners, no matter their color or politics, are reflexively nice-nasty. Every time we went out, it felt like all the people we were with wanted to do was shit talk whoever was out of earshot

I call them "fake friendlies". 95% of the time, they are religious and racist.

Oh, please. I've had the same experience in Brooklyn, R20. R21, I agree.

[quote] I beg to differ. I live in Metro Atlanta, and have a very diverse set of friends. In fact the various races mix and there are also a lot of foreign types here.

ooh, foreign types

See what I mean?

Move to Atlanta and keep it Blue.