Best Schools - Cobb County? (Atlanta, Marietta: neighborhood, living in, safe)

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by teasol

Is there any part of Cobb county that is better than the others. Which is closer to the city? Which is closer to Ft. McPherson? Also is marietta nice? Someone told me that there is only one major road to get out of Marietta and that traffic is crazy. Is this true?

"Better" is a relative term. Some may think an area with newer and bigger houses is "better" while others may like an area with larger lot sizes and more of a rural feel. Marietta (East Cobb) is an older and affluent area with great schools. Marietta (West Cobb) is a bit newer and slightly less affluent with good schools. The City of Marietta has some nice areas and some really bad areas, as well as their own school system that ranks below the county system.

South Cobb (Smyrna, Vinings, Austell, Mableton) is closer to Atlanta with some nice areas, but generally has more crime and the schools range from OK to terrible.

There are many roads "out of Marietta" which comprises a very large area of Cobb County. Johnson Ferry, Roswell Rd, and Sandy Plains Rd are the main roads out of East Cobb, from the City of Marietta you have I-75, Cobb Pkwy, South Cobb Dr, and other roads. West Cobb has routes west, south, north, and east into the city of Marietta.

[teasol]

Thanks Neil, that really helps.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by teasol

Is there any part of Cobb county that is better than the others. Which is closer to the city? Which is closer to Ft. McPherson? Also is marietta nice? Someone told me that there is only one major road to get out of Marietta and that traffic is crazy. Is this true?

Cobb County is miles from Fort MacPherson...and a nightmare of a commute in heavy traffic. I wouldn't with that on anyone.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Kind of close, but not exactly. What you have to understand is that most of suburban Atlanta is located in unincorporated territory--meaning they are not located within any city limits, but will have a city address (this is a holdover from the old rural/farmland way of doing addresses). So, to help, people in different parts of Cobb County may have one of the following city addresses (depending on the zip code in which they live):

East Cobb: Marietta, Roswell, Kennesaw, Atlanta
West Cobb: Kennesaw, Marietta, Acworth, Powder Springs
North Cobb: Kennesaw, Acworth
South Cobb: Powder Springs, Austell, Smyrna, Mableton, Atlanta, Marietta


*But remember, some locations are within city limits (incorporated)! Confusing, yes.

A good summation, IMO. I'll attempt to help a little by providing a visual.

Yellow areas are incorporated. White areas are not.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

A good summation, IMO. I'll attempt to help a little by providing a visual.

Yellow areas are incorporated. White areas are not.

Oh yes...I remember this great map.

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by neil0311

South Cobb (Smyrna, Vinings, Austell, Mableton) is closer to Atlanta with some nice areas, but generally has more crime and the schools range from OK to terrible.

Schools range from great (e.g. Teasley) to good (e.g. Kings Springs, Nickajack) to ok (Russel) to terrible (e.g. Belmont Hills). One thing to note is that the schools in East Cobb are getting worse, where many in the newly affluent parts of South Cobb (primarily East Mableton, Smyrna, and Vinings) are getting better.

[KevK]

Mine went to McEachern. I was very happy with the school.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by neil0311

"Better" is a relative term. Some may think an area with newer and bigger houses is "better" while others may like an area with larger lot sizes and more of a rural feel. Marietta (East Cobb) is an older and affluent area with great schools. Marietta (West Cobb) is a bit newer and slightly less affluent with good schools. The City of Marietta has some nice areas and some really bad areas, as well as their own school system that ranks below the county system.

South Cobb (Smyrna, Vinings, Austell, Mableton) is closer to Atlanta with some nice areas, but generally has more crime and the schools range from OK to terrible.

There are many roads "out of Marietta" which comprises a very large area of Cobb County. Johnson Ferry, Roswell Rd, and Sandy Plains Rd are the main roads out of East Cobb, from the City of Marietta you have I-75, Cobb Pkwy, South Cobb Dr, and other roads. West Cobb has routes west, south, north, and east into the city of Marietta.

There are no "terrible" schools in Cobb. Some are better than others but even the lower performing schools in Cobb such as Campbell, Pebblebrook and South Cobb are better than average for the state and nation.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Schools range from great (e.g. Teasley) to good (e.g. Kings Springs, Nickajack) to ok (Russel) to terrible (e.g. Belmont Hills). One thing to note is that the schools in East Cobb are getting worse, where many in the newly affluent parts of South Cobb (primarily East Mableton, Smyrna, and Vinings) are getting better.

South Cobb schools are getting better...!

But, East Cobb school aren't getting worse.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by KevK

There are no "terrible" schools in Cobb. Some are better than others but even the lower performing schools in Cobb such as Campbell, Pebblebrook and South Cobb are better than average for the state and nation.

Good point.