ATL vs. Chicago & Dallas (Atlanta: safe area, good schools, tornadoes)

[jxn3000]

have the opportunity to make a major career move at the beginning of '08. opportunities are available in chicago, atl and dallas. anyone have thoughts on how the three stack up against one another?

[Georgia]

I have lived in Chicago and currently live in Atlanta.
My preference is Chicago in regard to the following:

Quality of the City
Quality of transit (safety)
Nightlife - Shows
Restaurants
Overall city culture
Safety
Friendly folks

My preference is Atlanta in regard to the following:

Taxes
Overall cost of living, due to taxes

I have equal preference in regard to:

Weather. Atlanta is hot as hell in the summer, Chicago is cold as ice in the winter

Traffic. Both stink, but Atlanta traffic is more dangerous.


It is all a matter of opinion. For example, I would go back to Chicago in a hearbeat, my wife would not since she loves it here.
To each is own.

[Georgia]

Forgot, I refuse to live in Dallas. Not because it is a bad area, but I just can't stand the Dallas Cowboys nor as a veteran, do I root for Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks.

[Grammy Linna]

Forgot, I refuse to live in Dallas. Not because it is a bad area, but I just can't stand the Dallas Cowboys nor as a veteran, do I root for Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks

This just cracked me up. As a non sports person, I don't have a problem with Dallas. We just live in the burbs and very seldom go in. No income tax is good, property tax where we live is a little high, safe area, good schools. Lake Grapevine is wonderful for water activities and we can ride our motorcycle just about year round. Shopping can't be beat, short drive to the airport.

Best of luck in your decision.

[atlantagreg30127]

Been to Chicago. Loved it. I'd live there myself if I had the chance and could easly manage to do it. It used to be called America's "second city" as it was the 2nd largest city, and was always regarded as an alternate to NYC when NY was considered slummy and much worse than it is now. Then as L.A. gained ranks and population, they took over the 2nd-city spot and Chicago seems to fly relatively under the radar these days.

I liked the atmosphere there. Seems MUCH more like a cultural "big city" than Atlanta does. You can actually walk around downtown there and DO THING besides see an aquarium - you can eat out (without having a bum ask you for money while doing so), shop in any number of stores, people watch folks from all over the world mingling about, etc. We just don't really have that on any kind of a large scale here except for small pockets in certain neighborhoods here and there. I didn't drive around much so can't compare the traffic compared to here, but we were recently ranked 2nd below L.A. in terms of congestion, so I think at least in numbers that answers it. The one advantage Atlanta has are relatively mild winters which would benefit someone with health problems or people who just hate snow.

Dallas doesn't do it for me. More like a sprawled Atlanta-style city, though at least the areas I've seen of it make it look a bit cleaner, especially downtown. There's far fewer trees there than here, though - Atlanta's a very green city compared to Dallas. It gets HOT over there, too. Moreso than here. And they get those big-ass tornadoes, too. We can get them here as well, but 95% of the time anything we get are in the f0 to f2 category - not those monster "neighborhood eating" f5 jobs.

So if it were ME, I'd pick Chicago. Just my opinion.

[dejamiller]

Can you handle Chicago winters? It would boil down to that major question for me. I couldn't do it, so nothing above the Mason-Dixon line.

[sweettea1]

Yep, same goes for me. Would move to Chicago in a heartbeat if it weren't so flippin' cold. I'm not talking 'brr' cold, I'm talking 'wear those robbery mask hats with the eye slits but your eyes are still freezing so you just keep yelling Holy S&#*' kind of cold. Try that for 5 months and see how fun it is strolling Michigan Avenue!

[Noc]

Originally Posted by Georgia

Forgot, I refuse to live in Dallas. Not because it is a bad area, but I just can't stand the Dallas Cowboys nor as a veteran, do I root for Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks.

I happen to like this guy. He is a very smart and lucky business man. Broadcast.com did wonders for him.

[meadgrad]

Chicago all the way...but I prefer to be cold than hot any day!

[greg_atlanta]

I've heard Dallas described as "Atlanta without trees".

Atlanta or Dallas will provide a higher standard of living for the money if you have a moderate income ($50-100K/yr).