What are the Living Expenses and quality of Live in ATL (Atlanta: hotels, houses)

[ezzy]

Hi,
Myself and my wife, both originally from the east coast are considering moving back to our roots to raise a family. We are currently in California, and we know that the living expenses and tax rate will be significantly better. What can you advise in terms of cost of living, quality of life, tax rates, traffic etc.

Also what middleclass - upperclass neighborhoods are there with good schools? we are an interracial couple so would love to be in an open and diverse community.
Thank you!

[lorilove]

This is a city of almost 6 million so there are too many middle and upperclass neighborhoods to mention. Quality of life in Atlanta is very much impacted by your commute.

The general recommendation is to determine where you will be working first. Then tell us your budget and housing/neighborhood wants. From there we can give more specific recommendation as to what areas to look in that will be a reasonable commute to your job,

[brown_dog_us]

I'll add that taxes aren't as big of a drop as you would expect. I almost moved from Atlanta to California and was shocked that it was just a few thousand a year more in taxes. The pay was about 40% more, so that was a big part of the tax increase. There are websites that you can type your tax info into and they will give you the difference.

[fieldm]

Grocery bags are free here

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Gets dark at 6pm

[ezzy]

Originally Posted by lorilove

This is a city of almost 6 million so there are too many middle and upperclass neighborhoods to mention. Quality of life in Atlanta is very much impacted by your commute.

The general recommendation is to determine where you will be working first. Then tell us your budget and housing/neighborhood wants. From there we can give more specific recommendation as to what areas to look in that will be a reasonable commute to your job,

Housing budget = 300k - 500k
Neighborhood = Safe, family oriented with great schools.
Commute should be closer to the arts and film studios
Also will like to be in close proximity to an airfield/airport for pilot training

[ezzy]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

I'll add that taxes aren't as big of a drop as you would expect. I almost moved from Atlanta to California and was shocked that it was just a few thousand a year more in taxes. The pay was about 40% more, so that was a big part of the tax increase. There are websites that you can type your tax info into and they will give you the difference.

Did you mean California Taxes are 40% more than Atlanta or the other way around?

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by ezzy

Housing budget = 300k - 500k
Neighborhood = Safe, family oriented with great schools.
Commute should be closer to the arts and film studios
Also will like to be in close proximity to an airfield/airport for pilot training

Start with Peachtree City - best access to airport, lots of Delta and airport employees live there. Good schools.

Very close to Pinewood Studios

Pinewood Atlanta Studios

Not a terrible drive to Tyler Perry Studios

Here is other studios in near the airport:

404 Studio Partners
Atlanta Studio Complex | Close to Airport & Downtown Hotels - Film & TV Production Studios | EUE/Screen Gems | Wilmington NC | Atlanta | NY

Note that studios are opening all over Atlanta, some on the north side so there is no one perfect central location.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by ezzy

Housing budget = 300k - 500k
Neighborhood = Safe, family oriented with great schools.
Commute should be closer to the arts and film studios
Also will like to be in close proximity to an airfield/airport for pilot training

Speaking as someone who works in film and TV, there is no place that is "closer to the film studios". There are major studios in almost every corner of the city. Pinewood is down south in Fayetteville. Atlanta Metro is a little less further down south in Union City. Tyler Perry is southwest of downtown. Screen Gems is southeast of downtown along with Mailing Avenue Studios. Eagle Rock is northeast of town in Norcross, along with the future Third Rail Studios, Atlanta Filmworks, and factory-turned-black lung studio OFS. Atlanta Film Studios is far out west. Lots of TV shows have studios in warehouses out east. About the only place with no studio presence is the northwest corner and north.

If you are going to be working around the studio circuit, I highly suggest somewhere more in-town so that you will have equal distances to most of the studios. We live in "Upper Westside" and it's pretty easy to get to all of these studios. A lot of film/TV people live on the east side of Midtown, Little Five, Inman Park, and over towards East Lake.

[ezzy]

Are there any towns or city with nice Mediterranean or Spanish style homes in Atlanta?

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by ezzy

Did you mean California Taxes are 40% more than Atlanta or the other way around?

State taxes we would pay in CA vs GA were a few thousand a year more in CA. I don't remember the exact number.

Pay was 40% more in CA (Bay Area) compared to GA salary. The higher pay was the main reason for the increase in taxes. IIRC, the tax rate in CA skyrockets when income passes $500k. Below that it's manageable.

Housing cost was were the COL increase was, and that 40% pay increase wasn't enough to mitigate that.