Small Town Georgia - Cheap cost of living (Atlanta, Savannah: cul-de-sac, section 8)

[HappyNSHIPPO]

Hello, my family and I would like to move to Georgia. We don't know WHERE in Georgia though!

We work remotely so employment opportunities don't matter.

What DOES matter - safety, cheap housing (we will rent, not buy), cheap cost of living, good schools, 'everybody knows everybody' type of small community - really friendly welcoming people.

Any suggestions and opinions you have would be greatly appreciated!

[AnsleyPark]

Check out Greensboro. It is very near Lake Oconee (which is beautiful) and close enough to Atlanta (about 1 hour or so) if you need big city shopping, healthcare and airport. Greensboro is quite charming and small - so I think you'd like it.

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[Newsboy]

There are tons of Georgia towns that fit your criteria. My first question would be, how good of an internet connection do you need? Some rural areas are still lacking. After that I would consider how close you need to be to a larger city (like Metro Atlanta or Savannah) for work, health care, airport connections etc.

[Brian_M]

I don't know that I'd agree with "tons of towns that fit".... small/rural towns tend to have cheap houses to Buy, but rent is set by Section 8 pricing (which is more than I pay for my mortgage, taxes, and insurance with enough left over for pizza and peer), and there are not many Nice rentals either because the income simply doesn't exist to support nice rentals. The few that do exist tend to stay occupied for long stretches.... one Could get lucky and happen on one of those rentals, but I wouldn't count on it. Now, if the OP is just looking for a "community" within one of the urban environments (say, a cul-de-sac in some 'burb) instead of a small town, options open up a lot more.

That, of course, depends 100% on the definition of "cheap housing". To someone coming to Georgia from California, it all might be cheap. I came from Denver, CO (and Wyoming before that) ~ housing can be cheaper but taxes, utilities (and oddly, food) are all enough higher that it's about the same cost of living.

I think the big deal breaker is that the schools in Georgia are well known for being bottom of the barrel. This is evident in Many news pieces over the years, and more-so when you talk with the teachers (I have 4 in my family, with 2 more that used to be but couldn't deal with it in Georgia any longer). Given the option to move Anywhere, Georgia wouldn't even register as a blip for me... other than my wife wants to be near her folks as they approach the end of their life.

Last item, but I've found the term "Southern Hospitality" to be tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. Even with family that has roots within a 50 mile radius to before the civil war, people are "fake friendly" and not Actually friendly. If they want something from you, they pour on the sucrose, otherwise I've had warmer welcome from strangers on the street in NYC and DC. This extended to business interactions too, walk into a shop to buy something and you get to wait while they chat up their friends who aren't buying anything. I've walked out of 2 businesses in my small town due to this. Call up a contractor and they similarly act nice on the phone but 9 out of 10 can't be bothered to show up, and those that do show aren't usually offering the best quality.

Be warned now, when you hear someone referred to as a "Good Christian", that's code for "we tolerate this person because they go to church". It's along the veins of "Bless their heart" being code for calling someone ignorant, stupid, less than human, etc...