Is Atlanta a good place to live?
Is Atlanta a good place to live? I think so! I moved to Atlanta after college and have lived here ever since. I feel really lucky to live in Atlanta – It’s not the biggest city in America, but it’s big enough to have a lot of opportunities and things to do.
Atlanta is great if you love to travel. Most Atlantans probably take it for granted, but we are spoiled to have the busiest airport in the US in Atlanta. If you want to get out of town, you can get to pretty much anywhere non-stop. New York and Chicago are just a few hours away, you can get to Cancun and the Caribbean in a couple of hours, and you can get to London in 7 and Paris in 8!
Our great airport is part of what attracts companies to the Atlanta area. There are many Fortune 500 companies in Atlanta, such as Coca-Cola, UPS, Home Depot, Delta Airlines. Atlanta is also a growing tech hub.
Atlanta has become a technology hub as well, attracting established tech companies as well as start-ups to headquarter in Atlanta. Georgia Tech has a tech incubator program, which has been a big part of tech growth in Atlanta.
Atlanta also has a large film and tv industry. Several years ago, the state of Georgia put a bunch of incentives in place to attract the film industry to Georgia. There’s a good chance that a tv show or movie that you’ve watched recently was filmed in Georgia. Two of the most popular tv shows, The Walking Dead and Stranger Things are filmed just outside Atlanta. If you happen to be in area that was a filming location, you will probably see a fan taking a selfie there!
What I also love about Atlanta is that it is large enough to attract lots of cultural events.
We have first-run Broadway plays at the FOX Theater. We’ve had Hamilton, Wicked and The Lion King come to Atlanta, just to name a few of the great shows you can see.
Atlanta also has a fine Art museum, the High museum, which attracts major art exhibits.
We have one of the largest botanical gardens in the southeast, The Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The gardens have a glass conservatory with rainforest and desert gardens, a rose garden, a newly renovated children’s garden and a kitchen garden where chef’s give cooking demonstrations. It’s a really fun place to spend an afternoon.
Atlanta also has a great music scene, whether you like to see bands in small clubs, or large amphitheaters, Atlanta is usually on a bands tour list.
Also, Atlanta has major league teams for football, basketball, baseball and soccer. The Atlanta United is the most recent addition to Atlanta, but they have a rabid, enthusiastic fan base! During soccer season, you see Atlanta United banners hung all over the city! Also, college football is huge in Atlanta (and Georgia) We have 2 college football teams that have a big rivalry – University of Georgia and Georgia Tech – the UGA/Tech game is one of the biggest ones of the year!
One of the best things about Atlanta is that you can spend pretty much all year outdoors. Most years, you don’t even need to wear a heavy winter coat. You can usually get by with a light jacket or puffy vest. So that means, you can grill out all year, eat on restaurant patios all year, do things like bike and hike, and play tennis and golf all year. Seriously. You can play tennis all year. There is a USTA winter league and they play. It never gets too cold there than maybe once or twice a decade when we get an ice storm, but that’s about it for cold!
Another perk of Atlanta being a larger city is that we have great shopping! We have everything from high-end shopping such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Cartier to stores such as Zara, Top Shop and Ikea. Atlanta is a very food oriented city, and we have the grocery shopping to support it. If there is something exotic you want to buy you will find it in Atlanta! We have the big chains like Kroger and Publix, the smaller chains like TJs, Aldi and Lidl, as well as several large farmers markets where you can find things like dragon fruit, durian, cilantro and baby bok choi! If you love to cook or eat, Atlanta has the food for you!
Speaking about gourmet food, you may not know it, but Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A and Krispy Creme! That is a meal right there for you! For fun, you can take your family to the World of Coca-Cola museum, go to the Krispy Kreme on Piedmont Road and see the donuts being made, or you can eat at the original Chick-fil-A south of the city, near the airport.
In the end, I think the best thing about Atlanta is the people.
If you are looking for a safe, stable and affordable place to live, Atlanta has a lot to offer.