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Considering all of your criteria, I recommend the following areas--
1. East Roswell: Look in the River Eves, Hillside, and Esther Jackson elementary school districts.
2. South-Central Roswell: Look in the Roswell North elementary school district (yes, Roswell North Elementary serves the South-Central Roswell and the Roswell Square areas!).
3. Dunwoody: Look in the Chestnut, Kingsley, Austin, and Vanderlyn elementary school districts. In Dunwoody, I'd focus your search in the Chestnut and Kingsley elementary school areas.
4. North Atlanta/Brookhaven/Chamblee/Ashford: Look in the Ashford Park, Huntley Hills, and Montgomery elementary school districts.
*all of the aformentioned elementary schools feed into excellent middle and high schools.
The poster "rackensack" will be a great resource for you--especially on East Roswell.
I hope this helps. Good Luck!
I forgot to mention...
Also look into the Northwood elementary school district in East Roswell.
Traffic shouldn't be bad for you. If you are working in the Glenridge connector and living in Dunwoody/Sandy Springs/Roswell, for the most part, your commute should be anywhere between 10-30 minutes, depending on the time of day, where in those cities you live, and your ability to figure out some of the "back roads." The previous post about school options in that area is VERY accurate.
As for getting a good community close by the office without that much traffic, working/living near the Glenridge Connector can also offer that. It's all a matter of choosing where to live. You can easily head over to the Perimeter Center of head in to midtown/Buckhead to find a plethora of chain restaurants AND some great local eateries and everything would be within a 10-20 minute drive from the Glenridge Connector. If you are in Duluth, Norcross, or Alpharetta, you will be a bit further out but if you have to choose one of the 3, I'd go with Alpharetta.
Property taxes are dependent on the county and whether you are within the incorporated parts of the city, etc.
If you are looking at airport and travel options, Atlanta wins hands down. It's got more direct flights to Europe, South America, and the whole U.S., plus they are beginning to get more direct flights to Asia. When we were making travel plans in the past, we have considered flying out of Dallas (i.e. we have family there so we'd just visit with them and also fly out of DFW) but when we were looking at stuff like that, Atlanta was better at offering better deals, more direct flights, more flight options, etc.
If you live near Perimeter Center, you can take MARTA to the airport when you are traveling alone (yes, it is COMPLETELY fine... I've used it plenty of times to get to the airport) and yet you have the convenience of being able to drive down to the airport within 30-45 minutes as long as you aren't driving through the Connector during rush hour. But at the same time, I wouldn't depend on MARTA to get from Point A to Point B unless you are strictly going downtown, to the Braves game, the airport, or downtown Decatur.
And yes, the beaches are 4-7 hours away (depending on which coast you choose), Disney World is 8-9 hours away, the Appalachian Trail starts less than 2 hours away, and you have various places to drive to for a weekend with your family (within a 4 hour drive: Asheville, Birmingham, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Nashville, Savannah).
"I'm not sure exactly what you refer to about newer establishment, more clean image overall, etc... " Cheaper is all dependent on comparing WHERE you want to live within both cities. With your salary and housing price preferences you should have no problems finding a house near the Glenridge Connector, as long as you aren't expecting a lake, an acre, etc
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Atlanta hands down because I think it has more options than Dallas (with proximity to other cities, flight options, etc). I would think Atlanta is more of an international city than Dallas so I think Atlanta has more transplants and diverse interests. Also, I think you'd find more liberal folks in Atlanta than Dallas (but of course, both cities will also have a lot of conservatives, too).
The previous post about school options in that area is VERY accurate.
And yes, the beaches are 4-7 hours away (depending on which coast you choose), Disney World is 8-9 hours away, the Appalachian Trail starts less than 2 hours away, and you have various places to drive to for a weekend with your family (within a 4 hour drive: Asheville, Birmingham, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Nashville, Savannah).
"I'm not sure exactly what you refer to about newer establishment, more clean image overall, etc... " Cheaper is all dependent on comparing WHERE you want to live within both cities. With your salary and housing price preferences you should have no problems finding a house near the Glenridge Connector, as long as you aren't expecting a lake, an acre, etc
Thank you for very informative answer. Couple of comments. I have actually visited many of the places you listed (Asheville, Savannah, Charleston, Orlando, Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Apphalachian Trail, Hilton Head Island, Both Florida coasts) and that is maybe the biggest reason why I find Atlanta to be so attractive. I just don't see same opportunities in Dallas for leisure time. But that's only part of the picture.
With cleanliness I mean overall surroundings. More lush environment will need more upkeep of course, but I still saw a lot of litter around and many places, where gardens and surroundings were not kept well, everything growing wild and so on. There are of course those clean communitites, but less than in North Dallas.
One question still about schools. How usual it is to find the public preschools/schools having parallel classes for children who's second language is english? I mean that those classes have teachers dedicaded for teaching first steps of english language among the other studies.
My wife has a lot of extended family in Dallas (Irving area) and we visit them often. I like the area. However, one big reason I wouldn't want to live there is lack of geographical diversity. The vast majority of people you meet there are born and raised in Texas. I guess that's why Texas pride is such a huge thing there. The great thing about Atlanta is you meet people that have moved here from every region in the US, and even the world. This makes life much more interesting.
Thank you for very informative answer. Couple of comments. I have actually visited many of the places you listed (Asheville, Savannah, Charleston, Orlando, Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Apphalachian Trail, Hilton Head Island, Both Florida coasts) and that is maybe the biggest reason why I find Atlanta to be so attractive. I just don't see same opportunities in Dallas for leisure time. But that's only part of the picture.
With cleanliness I mean overall surroundings. More lush environment will need more upkeep of course, but I still saw a lot of litter around and many places, where gardens and surroundings were not kept well, everything growing wild and so on. There are of course those clean communitites, but less than in North Dallas.
One question still about schools. How usual it is to find the public preschools/schools having parallel classes for children who's second language is english? I mean that those classes have teachers dedicaded for teaching first steps of english language among the other studies.
That's cool you've had a chance to visit some of those places. Yes, I think Atlanta has the advantage over Dallas on those weekend trips (due to the vast size of Texas, etc).
Cleanliness: Ah, that totally makes sense. Yes, Atlanta isn't the cleanest city, compared to our western cities... but compared to many other U.S. cities and especially for the south, it's not too bad (I don't want to list the cities I am talking about since I don't want to offend anyone... feel free to PM if you want those details).. BUT having been to most of the Texan cities, I understand what you are talking about
Schools: ESOL is actually a huge thing in North Metro-Atlanta, due to the influx of immigrants that have come in to the city. We're not just talking about Spanish speakers but Asians, Middle easterners, etc. My suggestion would be to contact the DeKalb County and Fulton County and see what each school system's situation is. When I was growing up, I remember kids at my school attending an "ESOL school" for part of the day. Kids would have to go to for the first month or two to get used to the language, etc. Then, when they were ready to attend their "home school" full time, there was an ESOL teacher at the school. I don't know how the situation is right now but needless to say, it's worth checking out. I would suggest Gwinnett county but that would make your commute a LOT longer.
Could someone post a shot summary about different taxes what you have to pay in Northern suburbs? How much property tax I should expect? What kind of deducts available for this kind of family? How's energy price (gas, electricity) compared to Texas?
You will get a litany of replies here but, the last time I checked the millage rate for North Fulton, aruably the highest tax rates is/was $0.046/47. If you live in a city limit of Alpharetta, add another 15-18% of the county and you will come up about right.
That all said, a 400K red brick in a box will cost you about $4,500 give or take $300 with homestead, in the city limits of say, Alpharetta. Roswell taxes are similar. Live in unincorporated Alpharetta or Roswell and it will go down.
Texas has very large property taxes but, that is more than offset by the fact there is no State Income Tax. Assuming you make 100K/year in Georgia, that's about another $6K in income tax, plus ad valorems for cars.....
Bottom line? Texas probably gets the slight edge overall when it comes to a cost of living. They are so close though that it is really negligible. If you have a cash business here, all bets off as I have yet to meet a cash rich business owner who is tax poor ; ) At least not if he's a good business owner.....
The Dallas highway system is far superior in the off hours. Rush hour is painful for both but, we probably get the nod here as being worse. Rightfully so. When the city was being developed, less attention was paid to the growth and more was paid to the developers. They figured the residents could figure it out later.
Roswell and parts of Dunwoody would work for you. Much further South than that and you will start to deal with more crime, higher taxes, and perhaps spotty neighborhoods.
And for those that would sway you to Gwinnett or Cobb, their millage rate is about 0.042/43....not as much as they would have you believe. The only county that really has a tax break is Forsyth. It used to be $0.022. About half of Fulton.
HOWEVER, if one goes that far, any "savings" in taxes are given away at the pump (more gas for commutes) and time wasted behind windshields. I hardly think it's worth it. It's my favorite argument. That $200/month savings melts down to $10/day and most of that is given to gas....not to mention the rest of what it takes to run a car.....you aren't going to save a dime.
It's similar to the Simpson's episode with the big box store called "Try and Save"....LOL!!!
Regardless of your choice, Dallas and Atlanta have plenty of homes in short sales and foreclosures. If you can't find a deal, you aren't looking. Great deals on cars too. Plenty of over extended folks looking to run away from those tariffs.
Entertainment? Dallas hands down. They actually have a downtown that is vibrant.
Roswell and parts of Dunwoody would work for you. Much further South than that and you will start to deal with more crime, higher taxes, and perhaps spotty neighborhoods.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet
And for those that would sway you to Gwinnett or Cobb, their millage rate is about 0.042/43....not as much as they would have you believe. The only county that really has a tax break is Forsyth. It used to be $0.022. About half of Fulton.
FWIW, there was a fairly large difference between Fulton and Cobb even in 2008:
If you have a cash business here, all bets off as I have yet to meet a cash rich business owner who is tax poor ; ) At least not if he's a good business owner.....
So "good" = tax cheat? I'm really having trouble getting my head around this aspect of American culture. It seems y'all think it's righteous to break the law in this area.
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Taxes in Northern Suburbs Atlanta
......there, that's better 
