Leaving Charlotte, NC for Atlanta? (Decatur: apartment, to rent, house)

[NY2NC07]

I moved to Charlotte 3 years ago from NY (if u couldn't figure that out from my un lol) and recently got engaged to a charlotte area native. We are now looking to relocate and start a life together in a fresh city. neither of us are very familiar with the Atlanta area but are wondering how it would compare to charlotte. Any insight is appreciated.

-Jobs are not a concern for us as both of our companies are willing to transfer us. they have various locations throughout the Atlanta metro so not sure what the location would be (we may just have to suck up an hour or so commute and that's fine).
-We both have vehicles but would like to be able to take mass transit at least 2-3 days out of the week.
- We are looking to rent an apartment or house at around $900/mo.
- We do have a dog that is a pit bull mix and know that she will complicate our housing search but we are NOT willing to give her up so a house with a yard in a pet friendly neighborhood is preferable.
- We love to go out on the weekends to eat, movies, lounges, jazz clubs bars, sporting events and parks.
- We do not have any children so not so much concerned about school systems
- Don't need to be near airport.

I know that this is very general but again looking for the comparison to Charlotte as we are pretty happy here but I'm looking for a little pick up in the pace and more variety in activities and amenities.

[DeaconJ]

You hit the nail on the head...Atlanta is larger than Charlotte (about 4 times larger) therefore offers a wider variety and larger quanitity of amenities. Both are nice cities and it's not a knock on Charlotte at all, but Atlanta would have a clear advantage over Charlotte just because of it's size - if amenities are what you're looking for.

Professional sports, for example:

Atlanta: NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, WNBA, ECHL Hockey, AAA Baseball, USL-1, WUSA
Charlotte: NBA, NFL, ECHL Hockey, AAA Baseball, USL-2

[rackensack]

Decatur area would probably be optimal given your criteria and the indication that you would want to use public transportation at least part of the time. $900/month is going to be tight for a place with a fenced yard close enough in for MARTA to be workable. If you find something that cheap, there are almost certainly going to be some issues with it that you'll have to consider. To get newer/nicer/cleaner places at that price, you're probably going to have to look well outside the Perimeter, away from MARTA and farther from the cultural and sporting venues.