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Culturally, there are a lot of things we like about Atlanta, however after 9 months here I have to say there is still more to complain about than praise. Truthfully, I knew as soon as I settled here that it was not a city I wanted to remain long term. We have both agreed this is likely not the place where we want to raise a family. We also feel we have outgrown our hometown and recognize the consequences of COVID-19 are going to change the dynamics of the country, thus we have begun looking elsewhere to put down our roots. The ideal place we'd most desire being a growing metro between 2-4 million in population with a bright economic outlook.
As far as more detailed criteria, here is our wish list.
Location: Close to major city amenities, particularly a large international airport and/or well-connected rail access. Regular cultural festivities, concerts and so forth. Proximity to a major body of water would be a plus. Hiking too. We're open to all parts of the country, but prefer the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Upper South or Great Lakes region.
Weather: Four seasons would be ideal just as long as there are no unbearably hot Summers or frigid cold Winters.
Diversity: Naturally wherever we end up absolutely must be an inclusive community that is accepting of a biracial family. We are politically moderate, so anywhere extremely liberal or conservative would probably not be comfortable. Demographically, this area should be mixed and well integrated.
Neighborhood: I've always been a city person. She is more oriented towards the suburbs. This will be an area of compromise, which is fine since I'm warming up to the idea of having some land in a less dense area. I think the right inner ring suburb or walkable small town could make both of us happy.
Character: One thing I feel strongly about is living somewhere I can be proud of. The bland cookie cutter nature of many Sunbelt suburbs really turns me off. Gated communities are terrible.
Food scene: We are definitely what you'd call "foodies" and order take out from great restaurants more than we cook, therefore having access to a diverse array of top notch cuisine from all over the world is a must.
Affordability: We currently hold remote jobs and have a household income just above $100k. While we anticipate this increasing in the near future, living comfortably on our current budget would be wonderful.
Low crime rate: Having been the victim of armed robbery and other petty street crime, being victimized is not something I'm interested in dealing with again and unfortunately it seems many cities are now struggling with crime spikes.
Public schools: We do plan on having children, so although not an immediate concern, access to quality education will be important at some point.
I realize we'll probably have to bend on a few of these as nowhere is perfect. We are obviously in the very preliminary stages of our search, so feel free to throw out any other suggestions, relevant factors or criteria I may not have considered here.
Thank you all in advance!
Atlanta resident here. Genuinely no offense taken, but trying to understand what specifically about the city isn't working for you? As I read your wish list, I couldn't help but help but think of ATL metro for most of them (I know it's bigger than you'd prefer)
Atlanta resident here. Genuinely no offense taken, but trying to understand what specifically about the city isn't working for you? As I read your wish list, I couldn't help but help but think of ATL metro for most of them (I know it's bigger than you'd prefer)
Totally. It matches his/her criteria to a tee. But maybe they just want to escape the south?
Atlanta resident here. Genuinely no offense taken, but trying to understand what specifically about the city isn't working for you? As I read your wish list, I couldn't help but help but think of ATL metro for most of them (I know it's bigger than you'd prefer)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker
Totally. It matches his/her criteria to a tee. But maybe they just want to escape the south?
Don't get me wrong, Atlanta is a fine city. It actually does match most of what I'm looking for, which is why we initially settled on this area, yet I can't help but to feel left wishing for more. For starters, I'm underwhelmed with the urban offerings. Before moving here, I spent a week exploring Atlanta on foot, riding MARTA, getting to know the city. It passed the test. But this was before Covid-19 hit. There are some areas I really like such as Inman Park and Edgewood. Downtown Decatur is a gem. Now I drive through these same neighborhoods and they feel significantly more rundown. I guess that's everywhere nowadays, but why do so many of even the supposedly upscale neighborhoods feel gritty to borderline dilapidated? I've quickly found how disconnected everything is too. Parts of inner city Atlanta feel downright rural. It's a shame when Rochester has a way higher walk score than the 9th largest metro city in the nation.
The bigger issue is how agitating it is trying to navigate the jam-packed roads with terrible drivers. I sometimes wonder if it's illegal to use your turn signal here. Needing to factor in an extra 30-60 minutes in case of a traffic jam also takes away from the enjoyable aspects of living in Atlanta. The city's infrastructure clearly cannot keep up with the growing population and the only answer I've seen so far is more sprawl.
Safety is another concern. While I don't buy the national media narrative that Atlanta is this terrible crime ridden place, there is too much of it for comfort. When Buckhead (a neighborhood I'm actually not a fan of to be fair) threatens to secede, you know there are serious problems that indicate a shaky future. This suggests to me the prevailing mentality is to run away from the problems instead of work hard to fix them.
So ultimately we settled in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. Very livable by most metrics and I'm happy enough to stay here for a few years. It would just be nice to not have to live plaza to plaza, highway to highway, gated community to cul-de-sac everyday and what it probably boils down to is the Sunbelt just not being the right fit.
Sorry to get longwinded. Who knows, maybe in a year I'll be singing Atlanta's praises, but for the time being we'll be shopping around for other options.
I am of the opinion that there are a lot of things that are just mutually exclusive in most US cities.
I live outside of Burlington VT, and appreciate the safety, the lack of any traffic, the beautiful scenery all around, the moderate cost of living and strong (for its size) job market. There is, however, basically nothing going on here, and aside from a small immigrant population, no racial or ethnic diversity to speak of. Nothing at all going on suits me just fine, personally, and Montreal is only an hour and a half away, but I'm hard pressed to think of anywhere that has diversity, good quality of life factors (including COL/traffic/scenery/safety), and enough population to have lots of amenities.
Culturally, there are a lot of things we like about Atlanta, however after 9 months here I have to say there is still more to complain about than praise. Truthfully, I knew as soon as I settled here that it was not a city I wanted to remain long term. We have both agreed this is likely not the place where we want to raise a family. We also feel we have outgrown our hometown and recognize the consequences of COVID-19 are going to change the dynamics of the country, thus we have begun looking elsewhere to put down our roots. The ideal place we'd most desire being a growing metro between 2-4 million in population with a bright economic outlook.
As far as more detailed criteria, here is our wish list.
Location: Close to major city amenities, particularly a large international airport and/or well-connected rail access. Regular cultural festivities, concerts and so forth. Proximity to a major body of water would be a plus. Hiking too. We're open to all parts of the country, but prefer the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Upper South or Great Lakes region.
Weather: Four seasons would be ideal just as long as there are no unbearably hot Summers or frigid cold Winters.
Diversity: Naturally wherever we end up absolutely must be an inclusive community that is accepting of a biracial family. We are politically moderate, so anywhere extremely liberal or conservative would probably not be comfortable. Demographically, this area should be mixed and well integrated.
Neighborhood: I've always been a city person. She is more oriented towards the suburbs. This will be an area of compromise, which is fine since I'm warming up to the idea of having some land in a less dense area. I think the right inner ring suburb or walkable small town could make both of us happy.
Character: One thing I feel strongly about is living somewhere I can be proud of. The bland cookie cutter nature of many Sunbelt suburbs really turns me off. Gated communities are terrible.
Food scene: We are definitely what you'd call "foodies" and order take out from great restaurants more than we cook, therefore having access to a diverse array of top notch cuisine from all over the world is a must.
Affordability: We currently hold remote jobs and have a household income just above $100k. While we anticipate this increasing in the near future, living comfortably on our current budget would be wonderful.
Low crime rate: Having been the victim of armed robbery and other petty street crime, being victimized is not something I'm interested in dealing with again and unfortunately it seems many cities are now struggling with crime spikes.
Public schools: We do plan on having children, so although not an immediate concern, access to quality education will be important at some point.
I realize we'll probably have to bend on a few of these as nowhere is perfect. We are obviously in the very preliminary stages of our search, so feel free to throw out any other suggestions, relevant factors or criteria I may not have considered here.
Thank you all in advance!
After reading this again, I'm thinking that a place in the Hudson Valley like Beacon might be a good fit. A very diverse, walkable small city that has solid public schools and you have access to NYC via the Metro-North. It is a city with a blue collar past in regards to the brickyards, but is now more artsy and has been kind of popular with some from NYC. Crime is at worst average, but is generally low.
It is in the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metro, which is right next to the NYC metro and is one of the more integrated top 100 metros in population.
It also isn't on an "island" in the sense of being the only small community with diversity around, as places such as Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Peekskill, etc. are also minutes away.
Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton to Williamsburg, Virginia. You have the airport in Norfolk, access to water everywhere, plenty of foodie options, plenty of entertainment (concerts/culture/history, etc.), good schools in spots. Richmond and D.C. close enough for weekend trips and events. Not much of a winter season, but it does snow once or twice most years.
Boston area or city of Worcester MA would be good if you could afford it and the weather. I’d look south of the city in the cheaper burbs (I spent some time there this weekend), or try to find a a few workforce condos in the city to apply too via lottery . Connecticut would be better due to affordability. No reason to worry about the racial reputation that’s far overblown-plenty of people move there form all over the US and world and love it. Avoid Northern New England-no diversity.
Basically check out urban/suburban Connecticut. The city of Worcester and the Boston MSA. I was in Worcester and found that while a good chunk of inner city wore water is rundown and blighted the downtown is much better and has a pretty integrated scene (more so than Boston) and it’s like half the price of Boston-if that. With the majority of the land area being suburban. At 185k people it sound like the right mix for you two. Today it’s something like 25-30% Latino 15% black 50% white 5% Asian. The suburbs of Worcester are not diverse but people don’t flow in from the suburbs like they do in Boston. You’re about 45 minutes from Hartford Boston and Providence. All larger more diverse metros.
Suburban New Haven (Hamden Meriden Ansonia Derby West Haven) or even New Haven (not that safe) are good choices. More diverse than Worcester, warmer. Higher crime, schools slightly weaker, further from major cities than Worcester, slightly better food scene. Not sure how good access to the water in New Haven really is even though its on the Long Island sound. Worcester is close to many large lakes/ponds
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 08-05-2021 at 06:22 AM..
I'm thinking Montclair NJ where you can rent an apartment. It has diversity and is suburban like you're wife prefers but not the cookie cutter type you hate. It's a 5ish hour drive back to Rochester means you don't always have to fly but you are near EWR for those times when you don't feel like making the drive. And you'd have NYC and its job market at your fingertips should you want to look for new opportunities.
Last edited by MyCityIsBetterThanYours; 08-06-2021 at 07:10 AM..
It would just be nice to not have to live plaza to plaza, highway to highway, gated community to cul-de-sac everyday and what it probably boils down to is the Sunbelt just not being the right fit.
Agreed, and yeah, that means most of the Sunbelt is probably not going to be much better -- particularly Texas and large swaths of northern Virginia. Most other Piedmont cities would feel pretty similar, though some (e.g., Richmond or Winston-Salem) have a bit more of a historic core.
There have been some pretty good suggestions so far, to which I'd add ​College Park, MD, or generally the suburbs northeast of DC (including Silver Spring, mentioned above). First-ring suburbs with older towns interspersed; better housing values than elsewhere in the region. Schools aren't as competitive as those in pricier suburbs, but test scores would make them among the best in other metros.
A question for the OP: In what way have you found that inter-racial couples have different "needs" than the general population, in choice of where to settle??
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