What are your favorite things about living in ATL? I'm considering a move and would really like to hear!

Relatively low cost of living, generally friendly people, lots of parks and hiking in the area, decent weather ~10 months out of the year. I will say as a single 28M who moved to atlanta a few months ago, it’s been harder to meet people outside of work and make friends than I expected. Nothing to do with how friendly people are but I think more to do with the fact that people tend to settle down more quickly in the South (e.g., get married, have kids, etc.) But overall I’ve enjoyed it as a change of pace and more laid-back environment as someone who moved from the Northeast

Pros: Friendly people. Good food scene. I think night life, arts, culture is OK but not as good as other cities. Airport can get you anywhere in the world. Convenient city to live in if you don’t mind driving everywhere. Nice lakes and mountains about 2 hours north. LCOL. No snow. Cons: Nightlife/culture is limited. 4-5 hours away from a proper beach. Crime has been getting worse and worse. Harder to make connections as people here aren’t as plugged into the world of business/politics/intellectual pursuits as what you might find in a city like NYC, DC, Chicago, etc. Instead they seem to be more focused on just settling down in their own little niche. After 4 years in ATL I’m eyeing returning to the Northeast/Mid Atlantic where cities just seemed to have more to offer but not as convenient and higher cost.

PROs: Great restaurants, great breweries, lots of music venues and both big and small name musicians tour through here, large variety of music genre festivals, close to both State/National parks and the AT so there’s great hiking/camping nearby, overall good weather and actually has a change of seasons, close to mountain roads for sporty driving, people are mostly nice and friendly, good culture with a variety of museums and art galleries, Atlanta United soccer is tons of fun and a strong contender overall, easy to buy/own firearms, Marta is convenient depending on where you want to go CONs: politicians are generally corrupt but I hope this changes, infrastructure needs repair and upgrades, roads are terrible, some people in Buckhead are dumb and think it should be it’s own city, an increase in housing stock is sorely needed (build here and build now!) and is pricing many out of the city, crime is increasing (but every major metro is seeing this too), Marta needs to go to more places, far from the beach

Weather, great food, lots of nice parks/trails

Grew up here. Stayed. People settling early assessment is wrong unless you went to auburn. People already having friends from SEC college/ high school here or in other southern cities that moved here is correct but otherwise it remains a transplant city. People like me that grew up in the city limits are scarce. Plenty of social clubs/sports leagues (I.e. kickball) but for watching sports say from your hometown teams I’d say those types of bars are harder to find. This city took massive leaps between say 2009 and 2014 and has continued to grow since then. It’s a major sports market (with 2 recent championships), great food, and cool neighborhood pockets. The belt line has spurred massive development. Close enough to the lake and mountains or beach (both Atlantic and gulf) plus obviously the airport makes it easy to get anywhere around the country. The amount of Fortune 500 companies headquartered here or nearby and that have moved here would surprise you. Basically any concert you can think of comes through here at some point and there are alot of cool smaller venues if you know where to look. Also, I can basically play golf year round if that’s any indication of the weather. I’d say the biggest issues facing the city are crime, capacity, and the housing market. Apartments are going up everywhere but not a lot of houses. Crime has significantly increased in the last 2-3 years and traffic is only getting worse because the city is not infrastructurally built to hold the amount of people moving here and the city government is extremely inefficient and notoriously corrupt. You pretty much have to drive or Uber everywhere and fight traffic. But overall it’s been a great place to live.

The airport. You can fly basically anywhere in the world at any time direct on delta.

It blends the variety of the NE with the comforts of the south. Diverse in economy, people, and culture (not to mention hub of Hip Hop and Black mecca). Progressive politically. Many things to do in the city, lots of nature to explore, and affordable compared to large cities of other regions (though probably the most expensive southern city).

Everyone has said it but cost of living here. Northeast slums == atlanta king/queen in terms of bang for your buck

There’s never a shortage of things to do! What I love most about ATL is that it is made up of all sorts of cool little neighborhoods that have a different vibe. Also love the music scene, something for every genre, and the art. There’s always festivals all around town for just about anything, and that’s always fun. ATL is also a great home base for people who travel a lot b/c of the airport, location, highways, etc.

Pros - has a little bit of everything, great airport to fly out of. also has the southern hospitality. clairmont lounge Cons - crime has been on the rise. traffic gets worse each year since nothing is very walkable.

For all the people saying great restaurants can you drop some suggestions I moved here a few months ago and I’ve been underwhelmed by the food

Some of the best suburbs a major metro has to offer at all price points with excellent public schools. If you have a family, the lifestyle is just phenomenal and economic.l with access to parks, sports, hiking, restaurants, stores, outdoors/indoors entertainment and diverse neighborhoods with jobs spanning across the city and outside the city.