Is Atlanta worth it? (Columbus, Sandy Springs: best cities, apartment, rentals)

[Carolina_Belle92]

I have loved Atlanta for a long time. I have never lived there, but I've visited and enjoyed it immensely. It appeared clean, civil, and well-kept.

On the other hand, I've been hearing/reading some VERY interesting *cough* stuff about the city... a horrendous crime rate.

If I was to have a job there paying 75-80k yearly, would the city be worth it? Would I have to live in the burbs, or would Georgia not be a good bet at all? I am an orchestral violinist, so to make any money at all, I kind of have to be in a big city... urgh...

Thanks!

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Carolina_Belle92

I have loved Atlanta for a long time. I have never lived there, but I've visited and enjoyed it immensely. It appeared clean, civil, and well-kept.

On the other hand, I've been hearing/reading some VERY interesting *cough* stuff about the city... a horrendous crime rate.

If I was to have a job there paying 75-80k yearly, would the city be worth it? Would I have to live in the burbs, or would Georgia not be a good bet at all? I am an orchestral violinist, so to make any money at all, I kind of have to be in a big city... urgh...

Thanks!

Honestly, it depends on you. Atlanta is a great city if you don't mind spending most of your time in your car(and that is just going to and from work),because the transit system(MARTA) is a joke. You would have to live inside Atlanta to use it. Any big city is good for a musician. My advice to you is there probably is a good place for you as far as being a violinist, but if you do plan to live in Atlanta, be prepared. Crime is high here. You do have a symphony in Cobb County. I don't know where. 75-80k a year is good for the suburbs if you don't mind renting an apartment. Rent in Cobb County is generally cheaper than in Atlanta and Cobb County has less crime than Atlanta.

[JPD]

In addition to Symphony Hall, which is in Midtown, the Atlanta Symphony does a lot of performances at Chastain Park, backing up the acts that play there during their summer concert series. Chastain Park is (sort of) in Buckhead.

The ideal location would be somewhere that isn't too far from either of those places. Midtown and Buckhead are both pretty expensive, but $75k or $80k is a great salary, especially for a musician. I think you could easily afford a condo in Midtown. I'd consider Downtown Decatur, too. There is definitely a LOT of crime in Atlanta. Decatur, in comparison, is very safe and it is only about 5 miles from downtown/midtown.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

75-80k a year is good for the suburbs if you don't mind renting an apartment.

With that salary, you would NOT be limited to apartment rentals in the suburbs. That is easily enough money to buy a home in the suburbs.

There are a lot of "suburbs" that are pretty close to town. I live in Tucker, which is 12 miles from downtown on the NE side. I hear Vinings is close to town, on the west side. Dunwoody is pretty close on the north side.

[SEAandATL]

Atlanta is not bad at all considering the low cost of living (At least compared to cities like San Diego, S.F., NYC, etc.). Also, most of the crime in Atlanta happens in SW, and even if you're in that area as long as you don't get yourself into to trouble you should be ok (a lot of the crime involves drugs, arguments, domestic disputes, and other personal matter). The other reason why Atlanta proper is ranked to have a high crime rate is because only about a half-million people live within the city limits, which is small compared to New York or L.A. (L.A. proper has 10x the population, so Atlanta can only have 1/10 the number of crimes to match L.A.). On the other hand, the entire CSA of Atlanta of about 5 million people is actually safe compared to other metro areas.

Also, MARTA is not as bad as other posts make it out to be. Sure it's not NYC or D.C.'s transit system, but it can get you to many points of interest. If you live in the north side of Atlanta, you can drive to either the Perimeter Mall or Sandy Springs station and park and take the train from there. At least thats what I did to avoid the traffic on 75/85. They also have buses that run to most of the metro areas.

[sweettea1]

Carolina_Belle,
You haven't mentioned the types of recreational activities you seek. Are you a nature person? Hiking/Biking/etc? Shopping/Clubbing/etc?
Atlanta is a lot of fun but depending on what you're looking for, this may or may not be the right choice. Your salary will get you a great place...that's for sure...and lots of fun areas including Ptree Hills, Virginia Highland or Inman Park.
Can you tell us more about your life outside of work? But your work does sound oh so interesting!!

[fil]

Atlanta is still one of the best cities that I have lived in--NYC, Philly, Albany (NY), Blacksburg (VA), and Austin (TX).

It's totally worth it.
- Cost of living is low--cheap homes, insurance, utilities, property taxes, gas prices
- High tech jobs are plentiful (not sure about this for an orchestral violinist)
- Crime is bad, but it depends on where you live in/around the city
- Tons of things to do and places to go (it's almost too big and offers too much)

Also, for an orchestral violinist you may want to research the following:
About the Atlanta Federation of Musicians (http://www.atlantamusicians.com/pages/about.html - broken link)

The music industry is big here for Hip Hop, country, and American Idol.

Besides the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra and Columbus Symphony Orchestra are pretty good.

[cajunfosho]

I moved here a little over 6 years ago. The way I measure a city is how it has changed since residing in the area. I reside in Midtown Atlanta and spend plenty of time in Alpharetta (a northern suburb) because my parents live up there. This is my take:

Atlanta was great when I moved here, but the city has begun to go downhill in my book. It is not bad right now, but it is becoming worse, not better. I will give you a perfect example: Atlantic Station. Atlantic Station is a development that was made for "Live, Work, and Play" in Midtown Atlanta. In other words, you can live there, work at one of the businesses in the development, or shop around/go to a movie/go out for something to eat/etc. My friends and I spent plent of time in Atlantic station, which was developed a little over a year ago. It was clean, chic, fresh, fun, and all out wonderful. Well all of a sudden, something changed. One weekend I went there and the place was PACKED with trash. Trash referring to the type of people who were there. There were people on the street corners shouting out cat calls. Guy walking around with their pants falling off as if they owned the place, throwing trash on the ground, being loud and rowdy. We decided to see a movie that day, so we walked into the theatre and people were yelling and laying all over the seats. I swear I felt like I was in a third world country. So we decided to get a discount and will never go back to that place again. Oh yeah, and not to mention, they have already had a killing at Atlantic Station within the year it is has been open. And that is with securit guards walking the streets. Just think if they decide to not have security over there.

This city used to be taken care of and used to have more culture, but now it is slowly becoming trashy. I am from New Orleans and decided to move up here for work 6 years ago. It was great, all the trash that I had left in New Orleans was behind me, but then after Katrina, all the trash came into Atlanta and the crim rates have gone up. The taxes will go up too, because all of those residents were on public housing, so Atlant will have to develop more public housing.

So this is my advice to you: If you decide to move to Atlanta, live in a suburb in the north such as Alpharetta. People still respect their neighbors and themselves enough to make life grand up in those parts. That is where I will be moving to shortly as soon as I can seel my place in Midtown, which is seeming impossible.

To give you an idea of what Alpharetta is like .. it is a developing suburb that has plenty of shopping, movie theatres, clean air, close to nature, and going in the right direction. But that won't be for long. In a little over 5 years, the trash will slowly migrate up north as has been happening since I moved here. For instance, Roswell was all nice like Alpharetta, but now the trash is starting to eat up that area. I think they think they are missing out on something. OK that's the end of my rant. Hope it helps with your decision.... oh yeah and you can definitely afford to live in Alpharetta with the salary you stated.

[atlantamoi]

Yeah, but Alpharetta is going to be a killer commute during rush hour.

For the kind of salary the OP mentioned, you might also want to consider the Smyrna area around 285/75 (condo/townhouse). It's an easy drive down to midtown if you don't want to live in the city proper. You've also got the jogging trails by the river over there which is one of my favorite spots in Atlanta.

[south-to-west]

cajunfosho,

Are you really kidding me? Yes, there are some annoying people that hang out at Atlantic Station, but that can be said for most areas of any city in this country. Surely you can't indict a whole area for the actions of a few.

Atlantic Station is still neat, new, and pristine. In fact, it looks rather plastic and kind of fake in my opinion; but it's great infill development nonetheless.

The problem with us Americans is that some of us prefer plastic, homogeneous environments with little or not character. The charming thing about cities, especially those in Europe, is the coexistence of great architectual works with imperfections.

If you like communities where every building looks the same and every store and business establishment is the same that you would find in any other community in the US, then Alpharetta is the place to be. Also, let's not forget about the horrendous traffic problems that North Fulton faces.

I'm a proud resident of Intown Atlanta and the people that I encounter on a day-to-day basis here are far from the perjorative description of "trash".