Moving to East Cobb in May (Atlanta, Roswell: low income, apartments, crime)

[Olds350ho]

My wife and I will be moving to East Cobb from Naperville Illinois in may. We have been planning this move for a long time and finally have everything lined up.

We look forward to the weather (we both don't mind heat but hate cold). Here traffic is terrible as we hear it is down there. We have been researching this for a long time and most everything lines up with our preferences.

What are somethings often overlooked good/bad about moving to the east Cobb area? Our move is happening but we are curious if we are overlooking something. We just recently found out about the pollen that covers everything. Anything else would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Olds350ho

My wife and I will be moving to East Cobb from Naperville Illinois in may. We have been planning this move for a long time and finally have everything lined up.

We look forward to the weather (we both don't mind heat but hate cold). Here traffic is terrible as we hear it is down there. We have been researching this for a long time and most everything lines up with our preferences.

What are somethings often overlooked good/bad about moving to the east Cobb area? Our move is happening but we are curious if we are overlooking something. We just recently found out about the pollen that covers everything. Anything else would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Yes, the tree cover is much thicker, much more prevalent, much more prominent and much more widespread in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area and North Georgia region than in the Chicagoland region and northeastern Illinois.

Pollen counts can go as high as over 6,000 during the spring months, if conditions are relatively dryer than normal for a relatively extended period of time.

But the good news is that much (if not most) of the thick green layer of pollen that covers everything is pine tree pollen, which is generally much more of a nuisance for many than it is an actual health threat.

Though, other types of tree pollen (particularly from deciduous trees like oak, elm and alder trees) can also definitely can allergy sufferers the fits during relatively dryer parts of spring seasons.

One also has to keep in mind that the same pollenating trees that bring allergy troubles for many and are a pollenating nuisance for others are what make an area like East Cobb and other metro Atlanta and North Georgia neighborhoods so desirable and so scenic for so many with their abundance of trees of all types that blanket the rolling terrain of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge/Southern Appalachian foothills regions.

The only other remark that I will make is that you will be living in a climate that is significantly wetter and receives significantly more total precipitation in North Georgia than in northeastern Illinois.

Marietta (which is the mailing area that East Cobb is located in Atlanta's northern suburbs) receives about 55 inches of total precipitation on average each year, while an area like Naperville (in Chicago's western suburbs) appears to receive almost 38 inches of total precipitation each year, despite an average of about 37 inches of snow each year at nearby Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

Otherwise, as you are probably aware, the public schools in East Cobb are amongst some of the most highly-regarded and absolute best in quality in the entire Southeastern U.S. and beyond.

In large part because of the exceptionally high quality of the public schools, East Cobb is a very highly desirable suburban community that provides relatively very good geographical access to some major regional activity centers on metro Atlanta's spread-out but amenity-laden Northside (like Cumberland, Perimeter, Buckhead, Midtown Atlanta, Kennesaw/Town Center, Alpharetta).

[ecuresident]

I think the other people hit the nail on the head for the most part- pollen, which leads to some type of stuffinus for everyone at some point, even if you dont have allergies.

The only other 2 things I dont like about East Cobb, is there is a lack of things for smaller kids to do, we typically have to drive to either Kennesaw or Johns Creek- the parks are just better and nicer, they have other things like Catch Air and monkey joes, etc. And the number of Chain restaurants vs independent good restaurants (which I cant blame them as most families arent going out to eat during the week so they cant survive vs being in midtown).

Other than that everything is fantastic- all the same things you have in Naperville, good schools, International airport, safe, and lots of things to do (concerts, professional sports, easy access to the mountains and beach), but better weather (it was 80 degrees yesterday while 44 in Chicago)!

[aries4118]

East Cobb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Cobb,_Georgia
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[Go Blue 99]

Congrats on the move and welcome to the metro area! What school zone are you going to be in?

East Cobb definitely has that idyllic suburban feel to it. Our friends are in the Walton HS zone and love that area, especially since it’s not too far from ITP. I would be happy living there but it’s too far from our jobs.

For negatives? Depending on your house location, you may have to drive a little bit to get to shopping and dining. I’ve noticed East Cobb doesn’t have a huge selection of restaurants compared to other suburbs. Also, since it was built out many years ago, you won’t get the new-ish looking retail/dining developments that you would see in, say, Alpharetta. Downtown Marietta has cool stuff including a brand new Asian food hall, but that’s on the other side of 75.

East Cobb also has that upper middle class vibe to it and is nicknamed “East Snob”. That could be a positive or negative depending on what you’re looking for.

[Citykid3785]

We moved to East Cobb a year ago from the Twin Cities (and I've also lived in Barrington, IL). We are so glad we picked this area to move to. Below I will list pros and cons, but here are my thoughts in general. It's an affluent area, parts of East Cobb have zero apartment buildings. That's good and bad....good in that you don't have low income riff-raff, bad in that East Cobb lacks some economic diversity that can often give a place a little more character. East Cobb is an area of 200K people, so while I'm going to generalize, note that there are differences to the various corners of the city.

The schools are good, and speaking of high school zones, here's the pecking order:
Walton (some don't like as it's almost too competitive) (great)
Lassiter & Pope (great)
Wheeler (really good)
Sprayberry & Kell (really good, but lesser so than above mentioned)

East Cobb is wedged between highways 75 and 400, I much prefer 75 as it moves quite well. Do note how far you are moving from the highway, as some areas of East Cobb could take 15+ minutes just to find the highway. There is a great retail node at Johnson Ferry & Roswell Rd, this is really the heart of East Cobb and has most suburban stores you could ever want. Johnson Ferry gets extremely backed up on the morning commute, as it leads directly into an area that has the most F500 companies per capita (perimeter area).

I'm 35 and my wife is 31, and we have a 5 year old and a 1 year old. We are amazed that the parents of my 5 year old's classmates are all ~42-45. Nothing wrong with that age group at all, just stating anecdotally that East Cobb has more 40+ year olds with young kids than 30 year olds with young kids. We love that it's equi-distant to: Downtown Woodstock, Marietta Square, and Canton Street in Roswell. In other words, 15 mins in each direction gets you to a cool, quaint DT area that's great for a date night. To some degree, because East Cobb is an area and not an official city, it can at times lack of bit of identity? It's the kind of place that is great to live in, but if you like adventure on the weekends you generally won't find it there (you've got to drive 15+ minutes for it).

Be wary when looking at houses online, it's tough to find one with a good, flat back yard for kids. That's more of Atlanta in general. But i say this because some houses are in great neighborhoods, not on busy roads, while other houses may be by a school on a one lane road that gets backed up with traffic at kid drop off time.........you would never know that just by looking online.



Pros
Close to everything (DT, marietta square, Kennesaw MTN, N. Georgia Mountains, lake allatoona, canton street, DT woodstock, the battery (braves stadium), F500 job centers at Cumberland, Alpharetta, & Perimeter)
Low Crime
Great Schools
Affluence (could be viewed as a con)
low taxes (vs. other neighboring counties)
Good grocery options (Sprouts, whole foods, fresh market, trader joes, target, walmart, kroger, publix, aldi)


Cons
Not enough parks (probably because taxes are lower!). Many use the local elementary school playgrounds here
Somewhat lack of identity, as East Cobb is an area, not a "city" in and of itself
Polished, to the point of lacking a little bit of healthy grit at times
Highway access is mediocre

In Summary, it's a great place to live and we are so glad we chose it. My neighbors, for both good and bad reasons, call it the "East Cobb bubble" in that it's nice, affluent, void of crime, etc. It's somewhat of a spoiled place for kids to grow up. It's close to all the cool areas, but is not the "cool" area in and of itself.

Hope that helps, welcome to the area, and PM me with specific questions!

PS, you mentioned you and your wife, so I'm not sure if you have kids? East Cobb is so kid/school focused that if you didn't have kids, you might feel mildly out of place?

[back2atl]

Mostly agree with the above. Been here 3 years

Hidden gems include hiking / walking: the Gold Branch unit of Chattahoochee National Forest. Sope Creek. And Roswell Riverwalk.

Also some great restaurants that don’t get a ton of metro notice - Drift (seafood) and Seed. And ones that do get noticed, in Roswell (less than 10 min from my neck of east Cobb) - Little Alley Steak, Amalfi.

Do wish there were more parks. We kind of lean on Roswell for parks in east east Cobb.

[back2atl]

One more hidden restaurant gem for y’all: Camps.

[ecuresident]

Agree with everyone else, parks are not quite as nice and there arent as many of them, but crowding has never been a concern and there are plenty that we dont have to go to any schools to use them. There are plenty of parks for older kids- aka baseball diamonds and soccer fields everywhere, just not a ton with larger playgrounds, splashpads, etc vs other cities. The other thing like a lot of people said is you have to drive 15 mins everywhere- for a kid heavy place there is not much for younger kids- need to drive to Kennesaw or Johns creek for Monkey Joes, catch air, etc....

Going to City kids response about adults being older- I think that simply has to do with the pricing here- it is higher, most new subdivisions in the Walton, Pope, or Lassiter district are starting in the 700's, with most of those houses ending up costing $800-1million+. Very few 30 year olds can afford that, so most of them move either to Smyrna, and then trade up as they kids get older and they are making more to East Cobb, or go straight to Alpharetta where you get more house for your money. We noticed similar houses in the Walton vs Pope or Lassiter district were priced anywhere from 150K+ different due to being closer to the city and Walton being ranked a little better. The same went for Pope/Lassiter vs Sprayberry and Wheeler- about 100K diff in the same homes. So my guess is you will find slightly younger demographics in the cheaper area.

Restaurants is definitely my gripe. But independent rest arent going to really survive in a family oriented place as I doubt too many families are eating out during the week- thats why you see them around the square- where a lot of retirees are moving, or places like Avalon in Alpharetta which is corporate heavy, and once again has a mix of older and younger folks in those apartments.