What is the best part of Georgia to raise a family in? (Atlanta: sales)

[pcsn0122]

Hi. I currently live in Buffalo, NY with my husband and three young girls. We'd like to move some place safe within a suburb with lots of outdoor activities to do, kinda in between city and country feel. My husband is an over the road truck driver so finding a job is not an issue. Our budget for a house is around $100k preferrably for 3-4 bedrooms. What is the cost of living like in GA? Are there any major natural disasters that we need to worry about? Thanks.

[mrdorito42]

The suburbs of Metro Atlanta are a great place to raise a family. In that price range you're best bets are either in Cobb, Gwinnett, Coweta, or Fayette counties. The cost of living isn't THAT low here so for a 3 bedroom place you're looking at 130-150K or 150-190K for a 4 bedroom home in most suburbs. Oddly enough, the cost of living is actually lower in Metro Atlanta than in small-town Georgia because we overbuilt so much during the housing boom. Major natural disasters are pretty rare because most severe storms fizzle out over Alabama and we're too far inland to be affected badly by hurricanes.

[Born 2 Roll]

If you are looking for a slower pace of life, you could also consider other cities in Georgia outside of the Atlanta metro area like Savannah, Columbus, Augusta and Warner Robins, as well as in Athens and Gainesville (both of which are located on the far-exurban outskirts of the greater Atlanta region)

Otherwise, as mrdorito42 alluded to, Metro Atlanta is the absolute best possible option for raising a family in Georgia because of the high-quality of the schools throughout many of Atlanta's outer suburbs and exurbs, and because of the overwhelming prevalence and presence of the trucking industry in Metro Atlanta.

In addition to Cobb, Gwinnett, Coweta and Fayette counties as mrdorito42 recommended, some other places where you could look for homes in your price range in areas of good schools are in:

> Henry County in the I-75 South corridor

> Hall County in the I-985 North corridor

> the Loganville and Walnut Grove high school clusters of Walton County in the US 78/GA 10 East corridor

> Paulding County in the US 278/GA 6 West corridor

> the Apalachee High School cluster of Barrow County in the GA 316 East corridor.

[Brian_M]

First, the best place to raise a family is in a home where the Parents will actually be Parents, not 'Adults with Children' as is the standard these days. City, State, Country... doesn't matter so long as the parents are being parents.

So, with that out of the way try to focus on the more important stuff. Things like "safe, suburb, outdoors" can go together, but don't always. Personally, I'd scrub the suburb part and stick with a smaller town that's it's own entity and doesn't tie into a larger metro area, but that's a personal preference. Actually, given the choice and having the freedom to live anywhere, I've got to ask... Why Georgia? What's here that you've eliminated the other 46 contiguous states? It'd help to know if there's something Specific you're after, rather than very general stuff that can be found in 99% of the US.

More criteria = better suggestions. When you leave it wide open all you'll receive are suggestions on where the poster would most like to live with Their requirements.

[SoCalbound12]

I will be leaving the state of Georgia in a few weeks but I do have a family and for a while we were planning on staying in Georgia. I currently reside in Flowery Branch which is in Hall County. I would absolutely recommend Hall County as a good place to raise a family. It has a slower pace of life but it has easy access to anything you could want just about. You're >30 minutes from the Mall of Georgia, the Premium Outlets in Dawsonville aren't far, and you sit on I-985 so Atlanta isn't out of reach. Additionally if you enjoy outdoors activities like hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc. the mountains aren't far. I love hiking so living close to the start of the Appalachian Trail was cool.

If you want a bit more urban feel but also don't want to move all the way to Atlanta or the metro suburbs Gwinnett County is a good place to live and we considered buying a house there for a time.

[snowbean00]

How funny we lived in John's Creek GA for 6 years and now we are in Clarence NY . We miss the year round outdoor life , the subdivision pools, tennis activities, neighborhood parties, safe open neighborhood of john's Creek, pretty landscaping ever where you go all over john's Creek picture perfect. Skies always blue and if not it will rain but still nothing like the dreary WNY area. We are back north due to a job but we likely will head south again. Politics isn't a big deal in john's Creek if you are wondering. John's Creek has a nice mix of races religion and the people there are educated as you can see on city data site. So many local restaurants grocery ,Trader Joes, kidsports leagues, grill & pubs , football, hockey, downtown aquarium is great . we didn't need to go to Atlanta except for airport. Atlanta airport is a hub so direct flights are aplenty unlike buffalo airport. Shopping is better than the selection here in wny . GA has safer bigger stores and outlets too. Very safe in John's Creek compared to wny. My car was broken into here in Amherst which never would happen in john's Creek.

[pcsn0122]

Originally Posted by snowbean00

How funny we lived in John's Creek GA for 6 years and now we are in Clarence NY . We miss the year round outdoor life , the subdivision pools, tennis activities, neighborhood parties, safe open neighborhood of john's Creek, pretty landscaping ever where you go all over john's Creek picture perfect. Skies always blue and if not it will rain but still nothing like the dreary WNY area. We are back north due to a job but we likely will head south again. Politics isn't a big deal in john's Creek if you are wondering. John's Creek has a nice mix of races religion and the people there are educated as you can see on city data site. So many local restaurants grocery ,Trader Joes, kidsports leagues, grill & pubs , football, hockey, downtown aquarium is great . we didn't need to go to Atlanta except for airport. Atlanta airport is a hub so direct flights are aplenty unlike buffalo airport. Shopping is better than the selection here in wny . GA has safer bigger stores and outlets too. Very safe in John's Creek compared to wny. My car was broken into here in Amherst which never would happen in john's Creek.

Yeah my husband and I want to move somewhere south with our 3 young girls. Ive never had any issues here as far as safety, but cime is definately high here (even a few miles from me is bad). We were considering Tennessee, but I'm looking into Georgia as well because I heard the cost of living is lower. I just feel cooped up all the time here in Buffalo. We'd love the year round outdoor stuff. We lived in AZ for a few months when we were 19 and enjoyed the weather. We are both about 30 now. How are property taxes and sales tax? Also, I'd like a home more updated (not "too country") but still with a big yard. Any other areas with possible a 3-4 bed/2 bath house at least 1500 sq ft under $150k?