Are you moving to Georgia?
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of living in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pro: Mild Weather
We do experience all four seasons right here in the Atlanta area. The further south in the state you go, it’s going to get a little hotter and a little more humid. But on the north side of the state of Georgia, Atlanta, you’re starting to get into some of the mountains, you’re going to get nice, mild weather. So people love, they come here because of the nice mild weather, specifically up in the northern part of the state, up in the Blue Ridge area. Once again, you’re at the foothills in the mountains up there, so nice, mild, crisp air that people really do enjoy.
Cons: Constant Humidity
Yes, we have a longer summer season than a lot of people experience, especially if you’re coming from the northeast or maybe some other areas of the country, and it does get a little humid here. The humidity has a tendency to be a little bit higher than our national average, so during those heavy summer months, man, is it ever nice to have a pool? So make sure that wherever you’re at during those summer months, you have access to a pool and you’ll have no issues. But plan out a little bit of humidity while you’re here in Atlanta.
Pro: Low Cost of Living
For a metropolitan area as large as Atlanta, in comparison to other similar-sized metropolitan areas across the country, we are very reasonably priced. The median sale price of a home here in the north part of the Atlanta area is about $425,000. You compare that to similar metropolitan areas, it’s actually very, very reasonable.
Con: Higher Tax Rate
State of Georgia, and compared to some other states, it’s got a little bit higher tax rate as it relates to the state taxes, so you’re going to pay a little bit more, however, you’re going to make that back up with one of our other pros with a very low property tax. Our average property tax is 0.87% of the overall value of your property, which is very reasonable compared to the rest of the nation. So many other counties will give you exemptions for certain qualifications that you may have. So one of them happens to be age. If you’re over a certain age, you get a discount on your property tax, so that’s pretty cool, a little plus, so that’s a big pro that we have here in the state of Georgia is our really low property tax.
Con: Our Pollen
During the spring specifically, man, our pollen count really gets high. So if you suffer from allergies or have issues with pollen, man, you’re going to want to make sure you’re on some meds or stay inside, or do whatever you have to do, because our pollen does get pretty thick down here. In fact, right around the April/May time period, you’ll start seeing this green layer of pollen on everything. You can look outside and actually see it flowing through the air, it is so thick. So that’s one of the cons that we have in our area is we have a lot of pollen, and our pollen count gets really, really high.
Pros: School Systems
We’ve got some phenomenal school systems. Some of the highest-rated schools in the nation are right here in the Atlanta area. So a lot of people that are moving to this area will seek those school systems out, and they just absolutely love it. So very, very high-rated schools nationally.
Con: Our Bugs
We’ve got a lot of bugs in the state of Georgia. Depending on where you’re at, you get south in the city, you’re going to get gnats. There’s actually a Gnat Line that actually flows through the middle of the state, we call it, “Do you live south of the Gnat Line or north of the Gnat Line?” And they will, there’s an actual barrier there that the gnats tend to be heavier in. So on the south side, you’re going to have a whole bunch of bugs, specifically gnats, and then on the north side, you’re going to have all the other typical bugs. But yeah, we’ve got bugs here. We’ve got termites, we’ve got roaches, we’ve got biting ants. That’s kind of a con in our area, we got a lot of bugs and you just got to get used to them.
Pro: Our Sports
We are sports fanatics. And it doesn’t matter what kind of sport you’re into, we just love all sports. We got great baseball teams, and phenomenal football teams, we love soccer and basketball, and all the other sports that come associated with just living here in Georgia. We’re just freaks about it. If you’re an SEC fan, you’re going to be in great company, we love our Dawgs. Woof, woof, woof, woof. So if you’re a sports fan, you’re going to love being down here. We’re super, super passionate sports folks down here in Georgia.
Con: Traffic
If you live in the Atlanta area, you can’t go a day without talking about the traffic. Yeah, we’ve got some gridlock here and we’ve got some issues with our infrastructure. You just have to plan for it. You will find that people actually plan their life and their schedule around traffic patterns. So it’s just something you have to deal with and something that’s pretty typical actually in a large growing metropolitan area. So yeah, you got to plan on some traffic. We kind of do things backward here. We bring in a nice little development, man, I don’t know, maybe 5,000 houses, all the commercial, and then we talk about, “I guess we better figure out road systems.” So it’s a little backward, it’s a little cumbersome, but that is something that I have recognized and I’ve had to deal with since moving down here 20 some-odd years ago.
So those are some of the pros and cons of moving to Georgia, specifically Atlanta, Georgia, and hopefully, this was helpful. Make sure you subscribe and hit the little bell. That will allow us to bring you this awesome content more often. Contact us if you have any questions about living in Atlanta.
