Is Decatur, GA - Zip Code 30034 a good area? (Marietta: house, neighborhoods)

[victorderose714]

My girlfriend and I have noticed very good home prices in the Decatur area. Are there any areas that are not safe in Decatur?
Zip Code 30034?

[tind]

Check http://www.city-data.com/ for a bunch of stats on just about any zip in the US. It should give you your own feel for the type of neighborhood it is since "good" can be interpreted in different ways.

Good luck!

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by victorderose714

My girlfriend and I have noticed very good home prices in the Decatur area. Are there any areas that are not safe in Decatur?
Zip Code 30034?

The better zip codes in Decatur are 30030 (city proper) and 30033. The other zips can frankly be a real crapshoot.
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

[Big L]

I lived in 30034 several years ago. It is hit-and-miss and it really depends on what part of the zip you are in. If you are off of River Road or Flat Shoals Parkway, it may not be that bad. However, the further north you go the more issues you may face.

The main drawback to 30034 as a whole are the schools. I am not too familiar with the elementary schools, but the high schools for that area are Cedar Grove and Southwest DeKalb. I personally wouldn't really want my children at either school. On the other hand, if you are childless you can use the home as a "starter home" and move elsewhere once you have school-aged children.

[goozer]

30030 is the zip code for the City of Decatur. There are other areas, in other zip codes, that call themselves Decatur, but they are really unincorporated Dekalb county. I suppose they are within 10 miles of the City of Decatur and thus consider themselves in the "metro area" but really they are not the same place as the neighborhoods surrounding the city itself.

[Big L]

Originally Posted by goozer

30030 is the zip code for the City of Decatur. There are other areas, in other zip codes, that call themselves Decatur, but they are really unincorporated Dekalb county. I suppose they are within 10 miles of the City of Decatur and thus consider themselves in the "metro area" but really they are not the same place as the neighborhoods surrounding the city itself.

They don't "call themselves Decatur", they have been assigned Decatur addresses by the United States Postal Service. If a person lives in 30033 or 30034 and has a Decatur mailing address, then naturally they will state that they live in Decatur. Hell, I am just outside of the Marietta city limits and I have Marietta address. However, I do not and will not go around explaining to people about how I actually live in unincorporated Cobb County. Likewise, I wouldn't expect someone in unincorporated DeKalb County to have to explain themselves just because some people do feel that they are worthy to state that they live in Decatur.

On another note, I don't get why there is so much unincorporated area in DeKalb and some other counties to begin with. There are about three or four times more people in unincorporated DeKalb with Decatur, Stone Mountain, or Lithonia addresses than there are within the actual city limits for those cities. It always seemed goofy to me that a house can be 10-15 miles away from Decatur proper and still have a Decatur address. Things like that only tend to happen in rural areas. Then again, I guess that years ago they didn't think that there would be subdivisions and shopping centers near River Road, Flat Shoals Parkway, Panthersville Road, and so on.