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Grew up in Atlanta. College in Texas. Lived in Houston and Dallas for a bit. Then moved back to Atlanta.
I prefer metro Atlanta over DFW. But I don't think it'll be different enough for you.
Houston drivers were aggressive but predictable. DFW drivers are just brain dead. Atlanta drivers are more aggressive than DFW drivers I think but at least half of them have some resemblance of a brain and are a little more predictable. It's still a busy, traffic filled metro. I'm glad I'm not driving in DFW anymore, but it's not that much better here.
I do think Dallas is more pretentious/snobby. There's a lot of money there and they know it. Atlanta can be a mix. Some areas like N Fulton are going to be pretty similar to wealthier suburbs of DFW like W Plano. But I don't feel as much "pressure" socially when I am out and about.
Weather is "calmer" here. I got hail damage on my car just 2 months after moving to Dallas. For hail, it's really a matter of when you'll get hit, not if. It's not that bad here. We can get the occasional tornado or hail storm but it's mostly thunderstorms. We also aren't nearly as hot in the summer. But we are overall cooler than DFW, slightly. I think the big advantage of Atlanta is the scenery. Lots of tree cover and tons of parks. Mountains nearby. It definitely beats anything DFW has to offer from an outsdoor standpoint.
Grew up in Atlanta. College in Texas. Lived in Houston and Dallas for a bit. Then moved back to Atlanta.
I prefer metro Atlanta over DFW. But I don't think it'll be different enough for you.
Houston drivers were aggressive but predictable. DFW drivers are just brain dead. Atlanta drivers are more aggressive than DFW drivers I think but at least half of them have some resemblance of a brain and are a little more predictable. It's still a busy, traffic filled metro. I'm glad I'm not driving in DFW anymore, but it's not that much better here.
I do think Dallas is more pretentious/snobby. There's a lot of money there and they know it. Atlanta can be a mix. Some areas like N Fulton are going to be pretty similar to wealthier suburbs of DFW like W Plano. But I don't feel as much "pressure" socially when I am out and about.
Weather is "calmer" here. I got hail damage on my car just 2 months after moving to Dallas. For hail, it's really a matter of when you'll get hit, not if. It's not that bad here. We can get the occasional tornado or hail storm but it's mostly thunderstorms. We also aren't nearly as hot in the summer. But we are overall cooler than DFW, slightly. I think the big advantage of Atlanta is the scenery. Lots of tree cover and tons of parks. Mountains nearby. It definitely beats anything DFW has to offer from an outsdoor standpoint.
One other option is to maybe consider Fort Worth. I live in Frisco currently. Are the areas in Fort Worth less snobby and pretentious compared to the areas in Dallas? As far as driving, it only seems a little better in Atlanta from what I'm reading, but not a significant difference. What already is making me rethink this are the lack of highways in Atlanta and how you have to drive on surface streets. It almost sounds like driving in Tucson, but maybe better.
Another concern is the pollen. I'm not sure if I'll have allergies in Atlanta. Right now, I have some allergies, but they are very minor. I was in Houston recently and my allergies were much more severe. I would have to visit to see how I react to the pollen in Atlanta.
Last edited by Cupastrany; 03-27-2024 at 08:59 AM..
Grew up in Atlanta. College in Texas. Lived in Houston and Dallas for a bit. Then moved back to Atlanta.
I prefer metro Atlanta over DFW. But I don't think it'll be different enough for you.
Houston drivers were aggressive but predictable. DFW drivers are just brain dead. Atlanta drivers are more aggressive than DFW drivers I think but at least half of them have some resemblance of a brain and are a little more predictable. It's still a busy, traffic filled metro. I'm glad I'm not driving in DFW anymore, but it's not that much better here.
I do think Dallas is more pretentious/snobby. There's a lot of money there and they know it. Atlanta can be a mix. Some areas like N Fulton are going to be pretty similar to wealthier suburbs of DFW like W Plano. But I don't feel as much "pressure" socially when I am out and about.
Weather is "calmer" here. I got hail damage on my car just 2 months after moving to Dallas. For hail, it's really a matter of when you'll get hit, not if. It's not that bad here. We can get the occasional tornado or hail storm but it's mostly thunderstorms. We also aren't nearly as hot in the summer. But we are overall cooler than DFW, slightly. I think the big advantage of Atlanta is the scenery. Lots of tree cover and tons of parks. Mountains nearby. It definitely beats anything DFW has to offer from an outsdoor standpoint.
I would say Atlanta drivers are an odd mix. And it varies a lot by where you are driving. Buckhead is different than Henry County. Some Atlanta drivers are so nice they are dangerous. They will stop at a green light to let someone in. But there are some really, really dangerous drivers that I see regularly that I never encountered in years in Houston or Dallas. You have people driving 110 at the tail end of rush hour. And I had a woman in an SUV try to run me off the road and another guy break check me several times (driving a new Audi when my older SUV would have crushed him) at 75 mph after I gave him a tap on the horn for pulling in front of me with an inch to spare. There are people here who are just absolute nuts.
Perhaps OP should consider some smaller metros such as Waco, Lubbock, etc in Texas, and some larger/medium sized metros such as Oklahoma City/Tulsa/Wichita. If you need a bit more to do, Kansas City is a great option but a tad bigger, while not being "too big" such as Big D.
The metroplex is a vast, sprawling area with many areas that can widely provide different experiences. I think Plano/Frisco/McKinney is what most people think of when they think of the Metroplex, but as others have shared Ft. Worth and other areas are a lot different.
ATL traffic is not bad per se, but there are just no other alternative roads. There's no grid system and that really causes problems for impatient people. ATL has horrible drivers like everywhere else.
If you're worried about classism, finding good jobs and having a simpler lifestyle, I'm not sure ATL or Big D is the clear cut choice. You may like more true "great plains" cities that I mentioned above. Lots of great genuine people who truly care for neighbors etc. I've lived in ATL, LA and KC and I'll tell you right now that the nicest people I've ever encountered are in the great plains. Iowans, Nebraskans, Kansans, Oklahomans, etc.
One other option is to maybe consider Fort Worth. I live in Frisco currently. Are the areas in Fort Worth less snobby and pretentious compared to the areas in Dallas?
Overall, Atlanta does not seem to have the issues with snobbery and pretentiousness that you’re describing.
Like any other large major metropolitan area, Atlanta has some issues with snobbery, but the issues with snobbery in metro Atlanta seem to be most notable and most noticeable in a mostly residential suburban community like East Cobb (the “East Cobb Snob” characterization that some more established East Cobb County residents might be known for) and is not necessarily a widespread thing that metro Atlantans are known for.
Affluent North Fulton County areas like Johns Creek and Milton may have issues with social competitiveness. And any issues with snobbery in an area like Buckhead (which is one of the most affluent urban communities in the Southeast) seem to be overshadowed by concerns about crime and safety in the affluent community’s high-profile large commercial district which seems to have at least some minor similarities to Houston’s Uptown commercial district.
And the issues with pretentiousness in Atlanta seem to be the worst within the social circles of people who are trying to be close to or advance within what has been an extremely robust television/film production industry scene in Atlanta over the last decade or so. But otherwise, Atlanta does not seem to have the issues with snobbery and pretentiousness that you describe experiencing in DFW.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cupastrany
As far as driving, it only seems a little better in Atlanta from what I'm reading, but not a significant difference. What already is making me rethink this are the lack of highways in Atlanta and how you have to drive on surface streets. It almost sounds like driving in Tucson, but maybe better.
Tucson appears to have a fairly extensive grid network of 4-6 lane surface arterial roads for a smaller/mid-sized metro of its size. So driving on surface roads in metro Atlanta (which has a noticeably fairly limited network of 4-6 lane surface arterial roads and no semblance of a grid in most areas) most assuredly will not be better than driving on surface roads in a smaller/mid-size Southwestern metro like Tucson.
And one can’t even say that driving in metro Atlanta will be “a little better” than driving in DFW.
Driving in Atlanta will not necessarily be “a little better,” but will be different from driving in DFW, with Atlanta’s comparatively significantly less extensive metropolitan freeway system and with Atlanta’s comparatively significantly less extensive multi-lane surface arterial road network.
Atlanta is heavily dependent upon comparatively significantly fewer freeway routes and comparatively significantly fewer surface arterial routes than DFW.
And another thing that will be different in Atlanta from DFW is that Atlanta appears to have to deal with much more tourist traffic around holiday and vacation periods than DFW does because Atlanta lies along an Interstate superhighway (I-75) that is used as a major transcontinental travel route to and from the popular tourist, vacation, getaway and seasonal residency spots of the Florida Peninsula.
Add in the heavy truck traffic and local rush hour commuter traffic to the constant heavy Florida-inbound and Florida-outbound traffic and I-75 (particularly south of Atlanta, but also through Atlanta) can be a mess at times (particularly around holiday, vacation and weekend periods).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cupastrany
Another concern is the pollen. I'm not sure if I'll have allergies in Atlanta. Right now, I have some allergies, but they are very minor. I was in Houston recently and my allergies were much more severe. I would have to visit to see how I react to the pollen in Atlanta.
Unfortunately, if you have issues with pollen in Houston then you may also be vulnerable to experiencing issues with pollen in Atlanta which averages about the same exact amount of annual precipitation as Houston (about 50 inches) and seems to have even more trees, lush greenery and heavy vegetation than Houston.
After reading all of these posts, I'm not so sure if I'm going to consider Atlanta now. I don't think I'll like really tall trees and almost 5 feet (50 inches of pollen) each year. I feel like I'll be taking allergy medication on a daily basis. The first reason I thought about Atlanta was because I have a friend that lives 4 hours east of Atlanta in Columbia, SC, and he was born and raised in Columbia and has frequented Atlanta 8-10 times a year since he was a kid. He praises Atlanta and says how amazing and wonderful it is there. Although he was almost mugged at 2 AM in downtown Atlanta once, he still loves it. That's why I thought about it. The second reason was that I made an assumption that it would be like Shreveport where people are overly friendly and hospitable. I assumed that Atlanta still had that Southern small town charm, even though it's a huge metro area. But it sounds like any other large metro area in the US.
Yes, I actually do love the Great Plains. I was really naive when I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. I thought DFW would be like Lubbock, TX and have people like in Lubbock who too are also overly friendly. I was wrong on that too. I think I'll still visit Atlanta, but I may decide not to move there based on what I'm reading.
Speaking of Oklahoma, I'm planning to take a day trip to Oklahoma City too. I've only ever connected at the airport once there, but it looked really nice from the view of the plane. I've seen pictures and it actually looks like a decent medium sized city.
After reading all of these posts, I'm not so sure if I'm going to consider Atlanta now. I don't think I'll like really tall trees and almost 5 feet (50 inches of pollen) each year. I feel like I'll be taking allergy medication on a daily basis. The first reason I thought about Atlanta was because I have a friend that lives 4 hours east of Atlanta in Columbia, SC, and he was born and raised in Columbia and has frequented Atlanta 8-10 times a year since he was a kid. He praises Atlanta and says how amazing and wonderful it is there. Although he was almost mugged at 2 AM in downtown Atlanta once, he still loves it. That's why I thought about it. The second reason was that I made an assumption that it would be like Shreveport where people are overly friendly and hospitable. I assumed that Atlanta still had that Southern small town charm, even though it's a huge metro area. But it sounds like any other large metro area in the US.
Yes, I actually do love the Great Plains. I was really naive when I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. I thought DFW would be like Lubbock, TX and have people like in Lubbock who too are also overly friendly. I was wrong on that too. I think I'll still visit Atlanta, but I may decide not to move there based on what I'm reading.
Speaking of Oklahoma, I'm planning to take a day trip to Oklahoma City too. I've only ever connected at the airport once there, but it looked really nice from the view of the plane. I've seen pictures and it actually looks like a decent medium sized city.
Atlanta is a lot more friendly than other huge metro areas. People hold the door for you, which I never experienced in NYC or Chicago. Visiting and forming your own opinion is the best option.
After reading all of these posts, I'm not so sure if I'm going to consider Atlanta now. I don't think I'll like really tall trees and almost 5 feet (50 inches of pollen) each year. I feel like I'll be taking allergy medication on a daily basis.
Like others have mentioned, pollen reactions can vary in different people, but pollen allergies generally are not as much of a problem during periods of wetter spring and fall seasons because the rain washes the pollen out of the air.
Also, just to be clear, the Atlanta area averages about 50 inches of rainfall per year, not 50 inches of pollen each year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cupastrany
The first reason I thought about Atlanta was because I have a friend that lives 4 hours east of Atlanta in Columbia, SC, and he was born and raised in Columbia and has frequented Atlanta 8-10 times a year since he was a kid. He praises Atlanta and says how amazing and wonderful it is there. Although he was almost mugged at 2 AM in downtown Atlanta once, he still loves it. That's why I thought about it. The second reason was that I made an assumption that it would be like Shreveport where people are overly friendly and hospitable. I assumed that Atlanta still had that Southern small town charm, even though it's a huge metro area. But it sounds like any other large metro area in the US.
Yes, I actually do love the Great Plains. I was really naive when I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. I thought DFW would be like Lubbock, TX and have people like in Lubbock who too are also overly friendly. I was wrong on that too. I think I'll still visit Atlanta, but I may decide not to move there based on what I'm reading.
Speaking of Oklahoma, I'm planning to take a day trip to Oklahoma City too. I've only ever connected at the airport once there, but it looked really nice from the view of the plane. I've seen pictures and it actually looks like a decent medium sized city.
Atlanta definitely is not like Shreveport, Louisiana. But Atlanta (while obviously being a large major metropolitan area with its fair share of jerks and snobs) is not known to be an unfriendly city/metro and actually has a reputation for being a city/metro where many, if not most of the people are sociable and/or friendly.
And Atlanta has many smaller cities and towns in its expansive outer suburbs and exurbs that very likely may provide the type of Southern small-town charm that you have expressed a desire for.
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