Anyone here ever lived in Atlanta and Chicago? (rates, metropolitan, difference)

[bryan alan]

Originally Posted by atler8

The elephant-in-the-room flaw in your first sentence is the fact that Chicago sits directly on Lake Michigan & has a waterfront that is lined with huge parks & beaches. Seriously, it's like 30-some miles of almost solid parks! And this is all at the fingertips of Chicagoans.
As I pointed out here earlier, it's such a HUGE LAKE that for all practical purposes it's like living on an inland ocean!
If you've never been there to see &/or experience the size or pleasures of the lake, I suppose you can justifiably be excused for your first sentence that included "...Atlanta has two oceans, multiple large lakes..".
As I have written here, a major drawback of Atlanta is it's absolute lack of a water source or point of interest in the central city, the dozen miles distant beautiful shores of the Chattahoochee notwithstanding. At such a distance away they do nothing to enhance the cbd, intown living or beauty.

I couldn't agree more. People that have not lived in Chicago don't really understand how big Lake Michigan is and how it really is just like living on the coast.

I love Atlanta (been here for 5 years now), but I miss living near a major body of water. And good public transportation. Oh, and walking, I definitely miss all the walking I could do from place to place.

[Soccernerd]

The first thing I would always advise is to have a job line up.

Despite being from St. Louis, Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the world. Although suburbs tend to be the same and have the same amenities everywhere, I have found that even the suburbs of Chicago tend to have quite a bit of character due to their cute downtowns centered around Metra stops.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by atler8

The elephant-in-the-room flaw in your first sentence is the fact that Chicago sits directly on Lake Michigan & has a waterfront that is lined with huge parks & beaches. Seriously, it's like 30-some miles of almost solid parks! And this is all at the fingertips of Chicagoans.
As I pointed out here earlier, it's such a HUGE LAKE that for all practical purposes it's like living on an inland ocean!
If you've never been there to see &/or experience the size or pleasures of the lake, I suppose you can justifiably be excused for your first sentence that included "...Atlanta has two oceans, multiple large lakes..".
As I have written here, a major drawback of Atlanta is it's absolute lack of a water source or point of interest in the central city, the dozen miles distant beautiful shores of the Chattahoochee notwithstanding. At such a distance away they do nothing to enhance the cbd, intown living or beauty.

People not from Chicago don't understand how massive Lake Michigan is and how much like an ocean it looks.

[Memphis2Indy]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

I've noticed that there tends to be a high level of satisfaction with life in Chicago compared to other American cities. The only real complaint I've heard is about the weather (of course). Families that live there seem to rank it well above average in terms of schools and public services. The citizens are very forthright in their admiration for their city as well. Civic pride abounds.
So point being, that the transition from there to Atlanta for those I know that did it tended to be somewhat difficult. Some close friends relocated to Vinings from Lake Forest a few years ago; the disparity in public school quality was apparent to them from the get-go, and after a bit of a struggle finally relocated their son to my daughter's private school.
Over time, they came to appreciate Atlanta for what it was, but it was admittedly not love at first sight.

“High Level of Satisfaction compared to other American Cities”......Apparently a lot of people enjoy getting shot at! “Add some excitement to my Life!” 😂

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by Memphis2Indy

“High Level of Satisfaction compared to other American Cities”......Apparently a lot of people enjoy getting shot at! “Add some excitement to my Life!” 😂

Yeah, shot at if you are in a gang or live in gang territory/a poor area. If you are regular working folk living your life in a decent area, not so much.

[kgpremed13]

Wow, thanks for all the answers guys, I read all of them. I didn't mean for this to turn into an Atlanta vs Chicago thread, I just really like that both cities seem affordable and have a lot of character and oppurtunity. Let me ask this question, what city do you guys think has the brighter future? There was a comment about Chicago being a "rust belt "city but the economy seems decent. As the sunbelt becomes more populated and more expensive we may see a swing in the other direction back to the rustbeltish cities, but the jobs have to be there. I grew up in rural Mississippi, one thing I really resent is how I was born into an oppressive red state in a place with absolutely no economic opportunity. If I ever have kids, which at this point seems doubtful, I want them to have a strong home base, a place that has good schools and a strong economy that they can always come back to even if they have trouble finding a job after college. Ive been traumatized about being nearly homeless and poor all my life sorry.

[ATLTJL]

Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Atlanta: 15

https://www.tripsavvy.com/fortune-50...nta-ga-4158630

Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Chicago: 34

2017 Fortune 500
(at least, I'm guessing...this is a list of Fortune 500 companies in Illinois, I assume all of these are towns in the Chicagoland area).

[chiatldal]

My family is from the Westside of Chicago, I was born there. My User name Chicago-Atlanta-Dallas.

There things I like about Chicago obliviously it's a bigger and more urban city, and Chicago is literally the best food city in the country imo, but there much more I prefer About Atlanta for personal preferences.

1. Environment Chicago is way too Cold, I remember visiting in the middle March one time and it was pretty much the most snow I ever seen in my life. So not only was it crazy levels of snow but it's was freakin March. A lot of yall mentioning the how huge the lake is... During the Summer it's great but man 80% of the year you don't want to go in that water.

And no.... Chicago is no where near as Green as Metro Atlanta, Chicagoland natural Environment is Prairie it's very similar to Dallas. Dallas Too has stuff like Trinity Forest. Trying to argue Chicago is as Greens as Atlanta is literally the same as trying argue Dallas is a green Atlanta. The Environment is naturally Grass land with pockets short Canopy forest areas, Atlanta being in the Piedmont The Canopy is taller and way Denser.

Also the topography and the Grid, The city is largely continuously flat and with the Grid. It just felts weird because there not many curve streets your either going straight or left/right. As Child in Atlanta one of the things I loved to do is ride by bike down the large hills you can't really do that in that in Chicago.


2. Local Cultural, This is more a personal bias to what I grew up with. Older School Chicago music is House music, House music started in Chicago, Where's old school Atlanta is bass music The Southeast ATL, Miami and New Orleans have cultural ties in the 80s/90s music which is very different from what was happening in the Midwest. The accents, slang and etc are also very different.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

People not from Chicago don't understand how massive Lake Michigan is and how much like an ocean it looks.

That's absolutely correct, Atlanta_BD. People can have a tendency to discuss or describe various things often without the broader perspectives that come with experiencing something from outside of their own local area or zone of geographical preference or comfort.

As an example, a few years ago I was on a thread that was Carolina-centric & largely dealt with Charlottoteans claiming that they had a "beach" nearby that was the Atlantic Ocean. **

In the thread, there was a back and forth that developed in which the Great Lakes, and their beaches by extension, were a part of the give & take. Those five lakes & their beaches were almost universally pooh-pooed as not being real beaches. What constituted "real" was a point of mystery to me!?!

I pointed out that Lake Superior, being the largest of the five Great Lakes was large enough in area that lacking only 300 or so square miles, the entire state of South Carolina could fit within it's confines.
Didn't make a bit of difference. Lake Superior's beaches & those of it's other 4 companions, did not rate as "real" beaches.


** Used only as an example of a similar comparative thought process, my Great Lakes/Carolinas example should not be taken as a means or reason to swerve off into a full-throated discussion of the Carolinas.


https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/...d-by-size.html

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by kgpremed13

Wow, thanks for all the answers guys, I read all of them. I didn't mean for this to turn into an Atlanta vs Chicago thread, I just really like that both cities seem affordable and have a lot of character and oppurtunity. Let me ask this question, what city do you guys think has the brighter future? There was a comment about Chicago being a "rust belt "city but the economy seems decent. As the sunbelt becomes more populated and more expensive we may see a swing in the other direction back to the rustbeltish cities, but the jobs have to be there. I grew up in rural Mississippi, one thing I really resent is how I was born into an oppressive red state in a place with absolutely no economic opportunity. If I ever have kids, which at this point seems doubtful, I want them to have a strong home base, a place that has good schools and a strong economy that they can always come back to even if they have trouble finding a job after college. Ive been traumatized about being nearly homeless and poor all my life sorry.

I think both cities are large enough that you wouldn't have a problem in either, assuming you work in a good industry. For instance, if you are in finance or IT, it doesn't matter if you live in NYC or Detroit, you should be able to find a job. I think generally speaking, once you get past about 3,000,000 people, it's more about the industry than the city trend.

Not that Chicago couldn't rebound, but no doubt when you consider population growth/property values, Atlanta is trending better than Chicago. But once again, both cities are so large that you almost can't talk about the cities as a whole anymore. It's more about which part of the cities you can afford to live in, then make the comparison. When I lived in the Chicago metro, you would've been foolish to assume I had to dodge crime and worry about property values, we lived in an upperclass suburb (Barrington) and I had Walter Peyton and Mike Singletary's children in my middle school.