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Fair enough. I think it's a good counterbalance to the regular Portland/Seattle worship on this board though.
True. Not hatin on Seattle but there's an army of people on City Data, most of them not from Seattle and a lot of them never even been to Seattle, that will come out like pit bulls ripping at any city that dares compare itself to Seattle. LOL
Sounds like COL might be the deciding factor for you. Whatever your salary becomes, it will go much, much further in ATL than SEA.
At your age, I think you can find happiness in either place. Atlanta is an amazing city, especially if you open your mind and let yourself fall in love with it. Seattle, IMO, is so over-hyped at this point, anything less than OMG WOW BEST PLACE EVER! is a letdown. Every city on the face of the planet has it's down-side, but you never seem to hear about that from Seattle. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just approach each with a grounded attitude and see which fits you best.
I will say, from personal experience, that the climate in the SE suits me far more than the climate in the NW ... and that's not something to take lightly. However, coming from Phoenix, either place is going to be a big change from what you're used to, so it might not matter.
And yes, the couple of months of summer heat and humidity in Atlanta are just as over-rated and exaggerated as the so-called year-round drizzle and gray of Seattle.
Seattle seems only 2nd to Tampa Bay when it comes to marine life and water being a big part of the culture. Its huge in Seattle no question but I would take Atlanta at the end of the day for obvious reasons.
As I said on another thread, I don't get the point of living next to water that is too cold to enjoy. Yes, Seattle is beautiful but in almost every picture people are bundled up and in their boats. I guess that is the difference between the East and West.
I have lived in both cities. For what you're looking for, Seattle is a better fit. Seattle has a much more urban feel. It also has plenty of natural beauty .. even more so than Atlanta. You *can* live without a car in Atlanta, but it would be very difficult. It's quite doable in Seattle. In fact, I didn't own a car when I lived there in the 90s. I used their bus system and my bike. The public transportation has gotten much better over the past two decades, and it was good back then.
The only area that Atlanta far exceeds Seattle is COL. If you ever want to own a home, Atlanta might be the place for you. Atlanta is a well developed large city that is only getting bigger and better, but the housing costs are still very affordable -- not the case in Seattle. Unless you're quite wealthy, you'll probably end up in the far flung burbs of Seattle if you ever want to own property. In Atlanta, you can still find plenty of affordable places in the most desirable urban areas.
Agreed. I love Atlanta -- truly do, but as someone who has also lived in both places, Atlanta just can't compete with Seattle in pretty much any category except COL (and possibly weather... but the Atlanta summers aren't for the faint of heart and the Seattle winters are fairly mild, so that's a wash imo).
As I said on another thread, I don't get the point of living next to water that is too cold to enjoy. Yes, Seattle is beautiful but in almost every picture people are bundled up and in their boats. I guess that is the difference between the East and West.
This is silly. Whatever pictures you've seen, people in fact enjoy the water in Seattle. Swimming, boating, walking along the beach, whale watching, dining on the water, it's all done in Seattle. All this talk about people not enjoying the water is just ridiculous. The water is part of the enjoyment of living there.
One thing about those pictures though is they always show Seattle during sunny gorgeous weather. An average day in Seattle is not going to look like that. In fact, you're probably about 5 times as likely to see sunny weather like that in Atlanta. Even though Atlanta receives a lot of rain it falls in a totally different way. We've been getting a lot of rain lately but it doesn't even interfere with most of your day or night. The clouds and rains rain typically don't roll in until after 5:00pm dump water and is over with and gone before night fall.
Last edited by Galounger; 09-06-2014 at 05:15 PM..
Galounger:
The City of Seattle and the Seattle Media go out of their way to the most positive spin for outsiders. For example, check out this one of Pioneer Square:
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