(Lower) West Cobb vs (Upper) East Cobb (Atlanta, Marietta: houses, school districts)

[ChiToAtlanta22]

Hi all,

My family (me, wife, baby son) is relocating to the Atlanta metro area from Chicago for my job in the Perimeter center area. Many of our friends are in Marietta, Smyrna and Mableton so that's generally where we have been looking. I'm only going to be in the office once a week so I don't mind a longer commute, and I'm used to commutes of 45+ minutes already anyhow.

Our budget is 400k and we are looking for a SFH with 2000+ square feet that we can live in for the next 10+ years. It seems like there are some really fantastic homes in the unincorporated parts of Marietta that are just west of Smyrna, but east of Barrett parkway and north of the East-West Connector. Is there some kind of "catch" in this area? Unfortunately the last time we visited I didn't get the opportunity to drive around there.

It is important for us to be no further than 20-30 minutes from Mableton since my wife has some really good friends who live there.

It also seems like the more northern parts of East Cobb have some great houses, but fewer than if you go west.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by ChiToAtlanta22

Hi all,

My family (me, wife, baby son) is relocating to the Atlanta metro area from Chicago for my job in the Perimeter center area. Many of our friends are in Marietta, Smyrna and Mableton so that's generally where we have been looking. I'm only going to be in the office once a week so I don't mind a longer commute, and I'm used to commutes of 45+ minutes already anyhow.

Our budget is 400k and we are looking for a SFH with 2000+ square feet that we can live in for the next 10+ years. It seems like there are some really fantastic homes in the unincorporated parts of Marietta that are just west of Smyrna, but east of Barrett parkway and north of the East-West Connector. Is there some kind of "catch" in this area? Unfortunately the last time we visited I didn't get the opportunity to drive around there.

It is important for us to be no further than 20-30 minutes from Mableton since my wife has some really good friends who live there.

It also seems like the more northern parts of East Cobb have some great houses, but fewer than if you go west.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much

“Lower” West Cobb would be the Hillgrove High Cluster of schools.

“Upper” East Cobb would be the Lassiter High Cluster of schools and the Kell High Cluster of schools.

[ecuresident]

Im not familar with the schools in the Smyrna area, but the ”upper part of East Cobb” is a fantastic area. The primary driver of prices are schools and proximity to the city. The top end of east Cobb is zoned for either pope(#20 GA/#639 National), Lassiter (#10/#336), and some of it also falls in Sprayberry (#89/#3692), and thus you will see homes in the Sprayberry district that cost $400k, that cost $550K in the Pope Cluster. That same home in lower East Cobb which has Walton high school (#4/#197), and is probably 20 mins closer to the city would cost $750K. Ofc ourse other things like age of the house, lot size, etc are also going to factor in.

[Atlanta-Native]

Originally Posted by ecuresident

Im not familar with the schools in the Smyrna area, but the ”upper part of East Cobb” is a fantastic area. The primary driver of prices are schools and proximity to the city. The top end of east Cobb is zoned for either pope(#20 GA/#639 National), Lassiter (#10/#336), and some of it also falls in Sprayberry (#89/#3692), and thus you will see homes in the Sprayberry district that cost $400k, that cost $550K in the Pope Cluster. That same home in lower East Cobb which has Walton high school (#4/#197), and is probably 20 mins closer to the city would cost $750K. Ofc ourse other things like age of the house, lot size, etc are also going to factor in.

I'd add that Lassiter, Pope and Walton are within 4 miles of one another.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ChiToAtlanta22

Hi all,

My family (me, wife, baby son) is relocating to the Atlanta metro area from Chicago for my job in the Perimeter center area. Many of our friends are in Marietta, Smyrna and Mableton so that's generally where we have been looking. I'm only going to be in the office once a week so I don't mind a longer commute, and I'm used to commutes of 45+ minutes already anyhow.

Our budget is 400k and we are looking for a SFH with 2000+ square feet that we can live in for the next 10+ years. It seems like there are some really fantastic homes in the unincorporated parts of Marietta that are just west of Smyrna, but east of Barrett parkway and north of the East-West Connector. Is there some kind of "catch" in this area? Unfortunately the last time we visited I didn't get the opportunity to drive around there.

It is important for us to be no further than 20-30 minutes from Mableton since my wife has some really good friends who live there.

It also seems like the more northern parts of East Cobb have some great houses, but fewer than if you go west.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much

There’s no real “catch” to the area in question (in the unincorporated parts of Marietta that are just west of Smyrna, but east of Barrett parkway and north of the East-West Connector).

It’s just a situation where the demand for housing from higher-income earners is less because of the schools, which are of good quality but experience lower academic ratings because of a demographic mix that includes some disadvantaged groups, including many ESL/English as a Second Language learners and families as well as many modest-income earning households.

But it’s not known to be a “bad” or crime-ridden area by any stretch and can be a really good area for families with modest incomes. I know because I have family that lives in the area off of Powder Springs Road near Smitha Middle School (which feeds into academic ratings-challenged Osborne High School, which some of my family members have graduated from over the years).

And there are numerous amenities located nearby, including a significant cluster of retail that includes TWO Walmart Supercenters along a 3.5-mile stretch of the East-West Connector, along with many affordable restaurants, shops and businesses along GA-5 Austell Road and the aforementioned stretch of the E-W Connector.

[ChiToAtlanta22]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

There’s no real “catch” to the area in question (in the unincorporated parts of Marietta that are just west of Smyrna, but east of Barrett parkway and north of the East-West Connector).

It’s just a situation where the demand for housing from higher-income earners is less because of the schools, which are of good quality but experience lower academic ratings because of a demographic mix that includes some disadvantaged groups, including many ESL/English as a Second Language learners and families as well as many modest-income earning households.

But it’s not known to be a “bad” or crime-ridden area by any stretch and can be a really good area for families with modest incomes. I know because I have family that lives in the area off of Powder Springs Road near Smitha Middle School (which feeds into academic ratings-challenged Osborne High School, which some of my family members have graduated from over the years).

And there are numerous amenities located nearby, including a significant cluster of retail that includes TWO Walmart Supercenters along a 3.5-mile stretch of the East-West Connector, along with many affordable restaurants, shops and businesses along GA-5 Austell Road and the aforementioned stretch of the E-W Connector.

This is awesome! Thanks so much! We are actually planning to homeschool at least through 5th grade so the schools are not too important for us.

[Citykid3785]

No catch, its mostly driven by school districts, and as a general rule of thumb, the closer to mableton/Smyrna, the worse the schools get.

The Sprayberry district of east cobb may be a great compromise for you. It's still in East Cobb, the a little less spendy than the premier East Cobb school districts.

[cranberrysaus]

I'm obviously biased, but after living here for about a year I think that West/South Cobb is a hidden gem that's slowly being discovered. Relatively close to the city compared to other pricier suburbs and still well pricing housing although that's going up same as everywhere.


It's the lower rated schools that are the "catch" although as others mentioned that can also be deceptively driven by demographics. I think as the area continues to grow and more and more middle and higher income households move here, the school ratings will rise with it.