Friendliness in Atlanta, GA vs. Columbia, SC (best, compare, people)

[NC2ATL60]

Originally Posted by demonta4

I’ve heard opinions like this before as a native Atlantan. Usually people from the urban north will say we’re friendlier but people from the small town south will say we’re pretentious and stuck up. Atlanta’s pretty big and diverse so I could imagine seeing both but I’m sure where you’re from matters most in your perceptions of Atlanta.

I definitely agree with this. I moved to Atlanta from the Raleigh/Durham area, and noticed people here did not seem to be as friendly as what I grew up experiencing in the Carolinas. It could just be because Raleigh is a smaller metro area, but it is also still very transplant-heavy area.

But I do think overall metro Atlanta is a very friendly area, especially to be a top 10 populated area.

[Bert_from_back_East]

This might be an unpopular opinion. Oh, well!

Personally, I do not find people in Georgia or South Carolina to be nearly as friendly or polite as they are purported to be on City-Data and in real life. This applies to people in both Atlanta and Columbia.

Of course, people in Georgia and South Carolina are friendlier and politer than people in Florida and New York. But then again, who isn't?

In my experience, people who live in the states located on the periphery of the U.S. South are the friendliest and politest. This includes Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia as well as western Texas.

Even people in Maryland, at least those who live outside of the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. spheres of influence, seem to be chattier and easier-going than people in the Georgia and South Carolina.

Relative to the Upper South, the Lower South, which includes cities such as Atlanta and Columbia, for example, experiences more racial strife than the Lower South. I presume this is the result of the Lower South's much greater black population and a longer, more storied history of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

Also, the Lower South has been experiencing some growing pains due to massive population growth over the past few decades, especially in the large cities and coastal communities. Growing pains make people cranky, and Florida is a great example of this phenomenon.

If the OP is an Arizona native who is accustomed to people from, say, Kansas, Nebraska or Oklahoma -- or even Southern California, for that matter -- than he or she will probably find people in Georgia or South Carolina to be less friendly and outgoing.

[Marie Joseph]

Originally Posted by sonorandesert92

I feel Phoenix, AZ is also friendlier than Atlanta, GA in a landslide. I love Phoenix, as it's my favorite city in the world.

I lived in Columbia for a couple of years when I was younger and had a job some years ago in the company's Detroit location where I traveled frequently to both Atlanta and Phoenix.

The majority of people anywhere I have been in the country are friendly.

I also found Phoenix to be very friendly when I was there. It was funny because before I went down there everyone at my company was warning me about how they had heard people in Phoenix were very rude, lol. I didn't run into that at all when I was there. The other place I found particularly full of nice people was the Midwest.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

This might be an unpopular opinion. Oh, well!

Personally, I do not find people in Georgia or South Carolina to be nearly as friendly or polite as they are purported to be on City-Data and in real life. This applies to people in both Atlanta and Columbia.

Of course, people in Georgia and South Carolina are friendlier and politer than people in Florida and New York. But then again, who isn't?

In my experience, people who live in the states located on the periphery of the U.S. South are the friendliest and politest. This includes Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia as well as western Texas.

Even people in Maryland, at least those who live outside of the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. spheres of influence, seem to be chattier and easier-going than people in the Georgia and South Carolina.

Relative to the Upper South, the Lower South, which includes cities such as Atlanta and Columbia, for example, experiences more racial strife than the Lower South. I presume this is the result of the Lower South's much greater black population and a longer, more storied history of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

Also, the Lower South has been experiencing some growing pains due to massive population growth over the past few decades, especially in the large cities and coastal communities. Growing pains make people cranky, and Florida is a great example of this phenomenon.

If the OP is an Arizona native who is accustomed to people from, say, Kansas, Nebraska or Oklahoma -- or even Southern California, for that matter -- than he or she will probably find people in Georgia or South Carolina to be less friendly and outgoing.

Just so you know, Atlanta isn't the lower South - it is firmly in the Piedmont, above the Fall Line. This place was about industry and commerce, not plantations.

In a nutshell, this is one of the friendliest and most welcoming Major Metro's in the Country. You will be treated with kindness if you are nice by the large majority of the population. If you're an @ss however, you will be treated as one in return or completely ignored.

[ShenardL]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

I never get that in Atlanta.

I get all the time (I live here). I never get it in northeast cities (NYC, Philly, Boston), they'll shove you and say get out the way. The friendliest cities in the world that I've been to are in East Asia (Seoul, Tokyo).

[Shakeesha]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

I get all the time (I live here). I never get it in northeast cities (NYC, Philly, Boston), they'll shove you and say get out the way. The friendliest cities in the world that I've been to are in East Asia (Seoul, Tokyo).

Seems like I am missing out. In Atlanta I get attitude, self-righteousness, and vagrants begging for change (my hometown also has homeless issues). I don't wear weave, clown makeup, or wait on men to take me out.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

Seems like I am missing out. In Atlanta I get attitude, self-righteousness, and vagrants begging for change (my hometown also has homeless issues). I don't wear weave, clown makeup, or wait on men to take me out.

What the hell, Shakeesha? What kind of places are you going to down here, I thought you knew Atlanta pretty well?

[meep]

Come on now.

If you are comparing well-adjusted community in both cities, then maybe. But no.

Atlanta is not really “southern” or “country” like Columbia. Too many transplants, this impacts how people interact. If you are including “south of downtown” Atlanta that most of the posters seem unaware of, it’s definitely nowhere near as friendly as Columbia lol.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by meep

If you are including “south of downtown” Atlanta that most of the posters seem unaware of, it’s definitely nowhere near as friendly as Columbia lol.

It's definitely as southern though.

[meep]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

It's definitely as southern though.

It depends. When I’m in the south suburbs and the south/west in the city proper. Very southern. But that’s because black ppl in these neighborhoods are generational southerners, and just now rally assimilating into what is now “mainstream” Atlanta. I don’t know where the white equivalent for this is ... maybe peachtree city and social circle?

But no way can you call Chamblee, North Decatur area, Brookhaven, even part of lower Alpharetta, and so on.... southern. Maybe in certain aspects, but the people are worldly and indifferent to tribalism prevelant in small towns like Columbia.

Unlesss southern is to mean something completely different than it did a decade ago. Atlanta is losing that outside of the southside, places like convington on the East, etc.

And this is not a diss to Columbia, but the meanness of a place is almost always correlated to the amount of ppl there. Even with crime, there is a “mind your business” type of attitude towards crime here like other big cities. Traffic will wear down your patience. These things impact the psychology of a person.

If someone moves from Columbia to Atlanta at age 50, in a exurb, then they might not notice a difference. But to move here in your high school and 20s, you’ll def notice a difference.