Tampa vs Atlanta (Largo, Palmetto, Gibsonton: 2015, rent, tech job)

[071402]

Originally Posted by MAniacTHW

You are awesome! Thank you for that.

You're very welcome.

[sportsterjohn]

I spent 21yrs in Cobb county and 4yrs in St. Pete. Atlanta is a much bigger city than Tampa which leads to both pro's and cons. Atlanta is probably better for someone who is still trying to climb the ladder career wise as there will be more jobs and more large companies. Most of the corporate / tech jobs will be in the northern suburbs, which would be Cobb county, N. Fulton and Gwinnett. The traffic in the northern suburbs is a horror show. You do not want to be on 285, Ga. 400 or 75 or 85 anytime close to rush hour!! Someone mentioned public transportation and Marta. The suburbs are terrified of 'urban people' coming to the suburbs so the Atlanta transit system (Marta) does not expand into the suburbs. For getting from point A to point B within the city itself, Marta will work but if you live in the suburbs, there is no public transportation.
The people in Atlanta are kind of competitive and people are very status conscious there. St. Pete has a laid back, party and chill vibe, Atlanta is pretty much money focused. As far as weather, it does get hotter in Atlanta, it's not uncommon for the temps to be triple digits in the summer, however it does have 4 seasons. It can get pretty cold in the winter (although it is still the south so it's not as bad as the north east). Spring and fall have perfect weather. Although there won't be hurricanes in Atlanta there does seem to be a lot of tornadoes. If you are a beach person, it will be a 5hr drive to the nearest walt water. There are a few very large lakes in the area in the northern suburbs. If you like the mountains and nature though, you can be in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in less than an hour.
To me the biggest difference is lifestyle and attitude. If I were younger and looking to build a career I would do Atlanta before Tampa but if I were more middle aged or older and I was more worried about vibe and lifestyle, I would go for Tampa (St. Pete) in a heartbeat.

[disneygirl13]

I just moved to Tampa from Atlanta and I think it was a mistake. Tampa is so spread out and the traffic is almost as bad as Atlanta. The city of Tampa is also not very nice. The downtown area is somewhat new and renovated but it's so small that it doesn't make a dent in the ghetto hood that surrounds it.

The city is so rundown and you'll have a crack house next to a mansion. It's bizarre! There's not as much to do in Tampa. It's nice to be by the beach and I think the weathers better and there's no (or not as many) palmetto bugs but I miss atlanta!

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by disneygirl13

I miss atlanta!

move back there - no traffic, no bugs, no crime, no ghettos

[LKJ1988]

Always wrong on what he post.

[a person]

Originally Posted by disneygirl13

I just moved to Tampa from Atlanta and I think it was a mistake. Tampa is so spread out and the traffic is almost as bad as Atlanta. The city of Tampa is also not very nice. The downtown area is somewhat new and renovated but it's so small that it doesn't make a dent in the ghetto hood that surrounds it.

The city is so rundown and you'll have a crack house next to a mansion. It's bizarre! There's not as much to do in Tampa. It's nice to be by the beach and I think the weathers better and there's no (or not as many) palmetto bugs but I miss atlanta!

Good job doing all of that research before you uprooted and moved.

[jaybird45]

Having lived in both Atlanta and Tampa, there is no way you can compare Tampa traffic to Atlanta traffic. Atlanta traffic is much worse. Atlanta is ranked 8th in the world for congestion and Tampa is ranked 202nd in the world (2016 ranking) by Inrix.

Here are the top 10 most congested cities in the world and their average hours spent in congestion, according to INRIX’s 2016 list:

• Los Angeles, California (104.1)
• Moscow, Russia (91.4)
• New York, New York (89.4)
• San Francisco, California (82.6)
• Bogota, Colombia (79.8)
• Sao Paulo, Brazil (77.2)
• London, England (73.4)
• Atlanta, Georgia (70.8)
• Paris, France (65.3)
• Miami, Florida (64.8)

[BucFan]

Wonder how ATL stacks up in the crime department......compared to Tampa.

[a person]

Tampa has small pockets of traffic but isn't even in the same universe as ATL when it comes to mind-searing gridlock. Down here, rush hour is still an hour. And most of the time, the traffic is still moving.

[LKJ1988]

It was much hotter in Atlanta when i was there for 10 days doing a job bob in the summer of 1986. It was insane with highs around 100. And it was even much worse doing a job on the beach in NC that same summer in July with dewpoints and temps that would make our reverse west windflow blush. But that summer was a heatwave summer for them areas.