best city to raise child/ affordable (Atlanta, Savannah: daycare, public schools, income)

[nnej86]

I'm looking to move from Miami, FL to Georgia and wanted to know the best area for me and my 2 year old son. I'm not looking for a fast paced type lifestyle, I currently have that in Miami and it's part of the reason I want to move away. (I also like the idea of having 4 seasons in Georgia versus the one season in Miami: SUMMER). I'm looking for somewhere that's affordable, local stores and malls, and hopefully good job availability (geez, I might be asking for a little too much, lol). And of course a good area to raise my son. Wherever I move to, I want that to be where I settle down for good (or at least for a long long time!). Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[ellie]

First: your job. What kind of work are you trained to do?

Second: Schools. Which town has the best public schools? Factor in affordable daycare, if you need to work.

Third: size. Malls are only in cities of a certain size.

Forth: why Georgia? Half the state only has two seasons, hot and cooler. North Florida or even Tallahassee might be a good option, because it looks a lot like places in our state and it's farther from Miami than Savannah is.

Since you need a largish city, why not read a few threads on each of the city sub forums here and see if you can make the leap from vague notion to well-informed plan?

[BullochResident]

Originally Posted by nnej86

I'm looking to move from Miami, FL to Georgia and wanted to know the best area for me and my 2 year old son. I'm not looking for a fast paced type lifestyle, I currently have that in Miami and it's part of the reason I want to move away. (I also like the idea of having 4 seasons in Georgia versus the one season in Miami: SUMMER). I'm looking for somewhere that's affordable, local stores and malls, and hopefully good job availability (geez, I might be asking for a little too much, lol). And of course a good area to raise my son. Wherever I move to, I want that to be where I settle down for good (or at least for a long long time!). Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Most of the areas in north GA are rather frantic, especially Atlanta. South GA provides a slower pace of life, but has some of the hottest weather in the south during the summer (especially inland locales). The area I live in has a very low cost of living. You can get by with only like $30K per year income here pretty easily. If you're looking for an area that has a real low COL, but don't mind the lack of amenities, you might want to try looking at some of the larger towns (15K-40K pop) in south GA.