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Old 07-02-2012, 01:45 AM
 
5 posts, read 5,670 times
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Its about the same however, the places are usually bigger. Now if we are talking the Dunwoody area then yeah they run neck and neck. Im not under the assumption that the COL is cheaper there. It goes hand in hand...Lower wages equal Lower COL. Im hoping to buy a house in the next year or so, but for now I wanna get a general idea of the best places to start a family and settle down. Again, ATL is quaint and not as fast pace as Chicago so I'm seeing if Im making the right move
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Old 07-03-2012, 10:50 AM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,758,124 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FairytaleLyfe View Post
Its about the same however, the places are usually bigger. Now if we are talking the Dunwoody area then yeah they run neck and neck. Im not under the assumption that the COL is cheaper there. It goes hand in hand...Lower wages equal Lower COL. Im hoping to buy a house in the next year or so, but for now I wanna get a general idea of the best places to start a family and settle down. Again, ATL is quaint and not as fast pace as Chicago so I'm seeing if Im making the right move
Lower wages does not equate lower COL here. Also even though Chicago has horrible traffic, there is also a very good public transportation system there, which is not the case for Atlanta and if you live far from your job and have to drive during the rush hours (which IMO are 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening Mon-Fri) then you will be spending pretty much the same on gas, even though gas is considerably higher in Chicago.

My husbad is from Chicago and he has told me that utilities in Chicago are much less than they are here in Atlanta. Our water bill is usually around $60-$100 (or more) per month, whereas in Chicago, his was $10 a month or less it has even been $200-$400 before, once over $400 for one month with no explanation from the watershed. Electric and gas bills are usually higher as well. Rent here is about the same as Chicago but utilities are more. In some cases food is more (depending on what county you live in, groceries are taxed a lower rate in Chicago than in the city of Atlanta).

My aunt moved some years ago from my hometown (I am from OH) and she is an RN and said that she got paid more to live in our hometown, which cost WAY less than anywhere here in metro Atlanta to live, than she does here, nearly $15 an hour less even though she has a BSN and has over 15 years of work experience as a nurse. Benefits cost more as well for her.

So the COL here is basically the same as Chicago. I do think if you are going to buy a house, you would have less of a tax burden here than Chicago, as property tax rates are much lower. Atlanta also doesn't have a city income tax and neither do surrounding communities, so that is a plus here and something that a lot of people, even from OH where I'm from, see as a benefit as we are usually taxed by where we reside AND where we work if they are different counties/cities in OH. My aunt though said even with the difference in taxes (she always worked and lived in the same city) she makes less money than she did in OH because the rates are much much less. Even less than in Detroit when she was a nurse there for a few years.

So the COL thing may be something to think about and is just something I think everyone should be prepared for when moving here from places that aren't LA or expensive west coast cities or NYC as Atlanta is much much cheaper than those cities and people can adjust with the lower rates but from Chicago the difference is not much. My husband was a social worker in Chicago when he moved here, but this was back in the early 00s and he has a BS degree but couldn't find a job as a social worker here even with experience because he didn't have a MA. The social worker jobs also wanted to pay him nearly $15K less than what he made in Chicago, so when he first got here he worked in customer service since he could make more doing that than what he could in his field of study.
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Old 07-03-2012, 02:20 PM
 
369 posts, read 655,237 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cittic10 View Post
+++
There is no such thing as Southern Hospitality!!!!
Numerous posts on the forum about that... overwhelming consensus.
I beg to differ! You don't understand! People look at you and say "Hi" in Atlanta, they smile and start a conversation with strangers, they acknowledge your existence as a human being. Up north they look at you and stare like you're the one-eyed monster, or roll their eyes and stick their noses up with the "I'm better than you" attitude.
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Old 07-03-2012, 02:45 PM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,758,124 times
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Originally Posted by readyset View Post
I beg to differ! You don't understand! People look at you and say "Hi" in Atlanta, they smile and start a conversation with strangers, they acknowledge your existence as a human being. Up north they look at you and stare like you're the one-eyed monster, or roll their eyes and stick their noses up with the "I'm better than you" attitude.
Depends on where you are "up north." There are more places up north than New York, which has a bad reputation but really most of the people I meet from there are reserved, yet pretty helpful. Though some Atlantans will smile and start a conversation with strangers a lot of those conversations end up with "do you have some change." So to me that is not all that hospitable.
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Old 07-03-2012, 03:14 PM
 
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 25,998,406 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by readyset View Post
I beg to differ! You don't understand! People look at you and say "Hi" in Atlanta, they smile and start a conversation with strangers, they acknowledge your existence as a human being. Up north they look at you and stare like you're the one-eyed monster, or roll their eyes and stick their noses up with the "I'm better than you" attitude.
Wow. By "up north" you must mean "in some of the fast-paced urban areas of the northeast".

Most of the places I've been in the northern part of the country are just as friendly as I've found the south to be, which is pretty friendly in general.
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Old 07-03-2012, 05:39 PM
 
Location: East Side of ATL
4,586 posts, read 7,676,370 times
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Quote:
Wow. By "up north" you must mean "in some of the fast-paced urban areas of the northeast".
Yep.

I hate when I visit Baltimore. Like Readyset says, if you say hello to someone, you don't know, they will look at you crazy etc. I hate it as well.
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Old 07-03-2012, 05:48 PM
 
369 posts, read 655,237 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by residinghere2007 View Post
Depends on where you are "up north." There are more places up north than New York, which has a bad reputation but really most of the people I meet from there are reserved, yet pretty helpful. Though some Atlantans will smile and start a conversation with strangers a lot of those conversations end up with "do you have some change." So to me that is not all that hospitable.
By up north I mean places north of Atlanta and deep south, kindness to strangers becomes less and less apparent the further north you go.
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Old 07-04-2012, 12:22 AM
 
5 posts, read 5,670 times
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Thank you for all this useful information. Had no idea about the utilities. I have visited there several times (at least 8 visits) , staying in hotels near Sandy Springs and I know the housing in that area can be pricey. So this is definitely something to research!!! I have drove in the traffic in ATL and Im not sure why ppl there complain. IMO ppl there just can't drive that well no offense...I usually dont mind a 30-40 minute commute, because I'm use to that here. Gospel gets me through it just fine. Also, taking into consideration this whole job thing. I refuse to come without a solid job offer making at least what I make now (which makes the move that much harder)...Customer Service is my forte, I can also waitress, or bartend for extra money. I intend to return to school so I will keep these important factors in mind. BTW I agree that the COL equals out, sorry if I gave the impression that I didnt. You get what you can afford anywhere you live.

Residinghere I agree with readyset...while Chicagoans rudeness cannot be compared to those of the New Yorkers or their neighboring states, most ppl here are not the friendliest. Just depends. All over the world you have ppl that act like it hurts to smile and speak, I pay'em to mind just kill'em with kindness

[quote=residinghere2007;25007550]Lower wages
does not equate lower COL here. Also even though Chicago has horrible traffic, there is also a very good public transportation system there, which is not the case for Atlanta and if you live far from your job and have to drive during the rush hours (which IMO are 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening Mon-Fri) then you will be spending pretty much the same on gas, even though gas is considerably higher in Chicago.

My husbad is from Chicago and he has told me that utilities in Chicago are much less than they are here in Atlanta. Our water bill is usually around $60-$100 (or more) per month, whereas in Chicago, his was $10 a month or less it has even been $200-$400 before, once over $400 for one month with no explanation from the watershed. Electric and gas bills are usually higher as well. Rent here is about the same as Chicago but utilities are more. In some cases food is more (depending on what county you live in, groceries are taxed a lower rate in Chicago than in the city of Atlanta).

My aunt moved some years ago from my hometown (I am from OH) and she is an RN and said that she got paid more to live in our hometown, which cost WAY less than anywhere here in metro Atlanta to live, than she does here, nearly $15 an hour less even though she has a BSN and has over 15 years of work experience as a nurse. Benefits cost more as well for her.

So the COL here is basically the same as Chicago. I do think if you are going to buy a house, you would have less of a tax burden here than Chicago, as property tax rates are much lower. Atlanta also doesn't have a city income tax and neither do surrounding communities, so that is a plus here and something that a lot of people, even from OH where I'm from, see as a benefit as we are usually taxed by where we reside AND where we work if they are different counties/cities in OH. My aunt though said even with the difference in taxes (she always worked and lived in the same city) she makes less money than she did in OH because the rates are much much less. Even less than in Detroit when she was a nurse there for a few years.

So the COL thing may be something to think about and is just something I think everyone should be prepared for when moving here from places that aren't LA or expensive west coast cities or NYC as Atlanta is much much cheaper than those cities and people can adjust with the lower rates but from Chicago the difference is not much. My husband was a social worker in Chicago when he moved here, but this was back in the early 00s and he has a BS degree but couldn't find a job as a social worker here even with experience because he didn't have a MA. The social worker jobs also wanted to pay him nearly $15K less than what he made in Chicago, so when he first got here he worked in customer service since he could make more doing that than what he could in his field of study.[/quote
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