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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Possibly relocating-- good neighborhoods/suburbs?
Hi, we're in the very beginning stages of considering a relocation from the northeast to Atlanta. Can anyone recommend some good areas to live with a commute to downtown Atl that's not totally horrible? Our priorities are excellent schools and safe neighborhoods close to shopping, restaurants, etc. And if it helps, my husband has been to Alpharetta on business several times and he says that's too far of a commute.
Thanks for any help you can give!
Re: Possibly relocating-- good neighborhoods/suburbs?
Most commutes to downtown are totally horrible. I would recommend living within the perimeter (large highway that circles Atlanta) in order to get around that. We live in Midtown and LOVE it.
Other good in town neighborhoods on the northeast side are:
Virgina Highlands, Morningside, Lenox Park, Buckhead (expensive!), Brookhaven, Ansley Park, Inman Park, Candler Park, Peachtree Hills...there are many more.
I know there are people who live outside the perimeter and love it, but I would never live out there because it is such a pain to commute in and everything is here!
Northeast you could also consider Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Duluth, and Suwanee. Sandy Springs is the closest to downtown. The commute would be 20-40 minutes depending on where in Sandy Springs you live. Alpharetta and Suwanne are the furthest with the longest commutes. The best thing you can do is to live as close to work as possible for what type of house you can afford. Traffic can be really bad.
Shopping is great in most of Atlanta. Most northern suburbs are no more than 15-20 minutes from a mall and/or major shopping area.
Southeastern Cycling
My Nest Bio and Cycling Advice
see above. I totally agree.
I work downtown and most of my coworkers have learned the lesson of NOT living OTP (outside the perimeter). See this map. I-285 is the perimeter of the city. Even within the perimeter, your commute can suck. Go outside and your commute is a nightmare. I did it for 5 years before I convinced my DH that living inside 285 was going to make my life so much easier. And it has!
We now live in Vinings (to the NW). Many people I work with live on the North side (above I-20) and East (where it says North Atlanta on the map).
I'd ask the ATL Baby board for good school rec's.
Call me Kat =^..^=
Unfortunately wanting that combination is difficult( but not impossible) unless you are going to pay for a private school. The main issue is you wanting a not-so-bad commute along with excellent schools and a safe neighborhood.
The Atlanta Metropolitan area does not take public transit seriously therefore the traffic is a nightmare and not driving is an option only a few of us are afforded. I live in town and work in Alpharetta, and yes I am glad your H ruled that out because I look at the traffic going in town in the morning and I weep for those people. You may want to consider looking for a house near the North Springs Marta Station, This way your H can park at he station and take the train intown.
Regarding excellent schools, I believe the best schools are in East Cobb. Unfortunately, your husband will have the commuting issue unless he decides to take the bus. ReadytobeMrsB lives in a faboulous house in Cobb County, maybe she will chime in as to how people get to the city without pulling their hair out.
I live intown, notice I didn't suggest it because you said you wanted a safe neighborhood. As much as I love living here, we do have a bit of an issue with property crime.
Good luck to you!!
OK, yes, traffic sucks in ATL. But it's just one thing you have to deal with, anywhere you live is going to have its positives and negatives. Generally, as long as your commute is less than an hour (each way), it's considered a "reasonable" commute in ATL. At that length, you do have quite a large range to look in. It expands your area to Roswell, East Cobb (Cobb Co. between I75 and Fulton Co. line) (previously mentioned), West Cobb, and potentially even John's Creek and parts of Duluth, in addition to the neighborhoods previously mentioned. (Stay away Marietta City School District, but Cobb Co. Schools are generally great).
One thing you will hear over and over is the importance of a good school, because the state as a whole has a bad record in education. There are individual schools that excel though. You're just going to have to do your research.
Buckhead or Brookhaven would be a good fit, or Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. Buckhead and Brookhaven, if you can get in the Sarah Smith school district, it is close to shopping, restaurants, downtown, etc. We live in the Ashford Park district in Brookhaven, which is a good school, but we will still probably do private. You pay a premium for Sarah Smith. Jackson is also a good elementary school.
Sandy Springs and Dunwoody are a little further, but have some good schools - Vanderlyn in Dunwoody is good, as are some others.
East Cobb does have great schools (especially the Walton district) but it is further out. I grew up there and wouldn't move back there.
Thank you all so much for your responses. This has been incredibly helpful. We live in a NYC suburb and our entire county is known for excellent schools, so I'm not thrilled to think of relocating somewhere where schools are not as competitive (and I'd really like to avoid going the private school route, though it's not out of the question).
My husband currently has an hour + commute each way. It's a train commute though, so it's much less stressful than driving... and with the exception of an occasional delay, it's the same exact duration every day. With that said, a 30-40 minute driving commute is definitely doable.
He has mentioned Buckhead as an option, so I'll look more into that as well as Brookhaven. I also randomly came across Dunwoody recently and had a good feeling about it, so I'm happy to see it mentioned here and will do a little more research on it.
So, with the exception of Buckhead or Brookhaven, can I assume that the other ITP school districts are not great?
Thanks again for the input, and if anyone has anything else to add, please do!!
Buckhead is in Fulton County, and Sarah Smith is a City of Atlanta school. Other good city of Atlanta elementary schools are Jackson and Brandon. The middle school is Sutton and high school is N Atlanta, but they are going to build a Buckhead High school and make N Atlanta another middle.
Brookhaven is split between Sarah Smith in City of Atlanta for those houses in Fulton County and Ashford Park for those houses in Dekalb. In Dekalb the middle is Chamblee and high school is Chamblee. Both have a great magnet program.
City of Decatur schools are good too, which is also ITP.
I grew up in the Virginia Highland/Morningside area. Best place EVER to raise kids and live. Friendly people out and about, nice restaurants, and shops. This place definitely has character. It's changed slightly since I lived there, but it's definitely a sweet spot in Atlanta. I live in Cobb County (Kennesaw/Marietta) now. If you are looking to get further north from Atlanta without going too far, I'd recommend the area. It's a fast growing suburban area, and it takes about 35 minutes to commute (well, that's not including morning and evening traffic on 75). I take all back roads though. Or you could always check out Roswell--it's closer than Alpharetta, but still has similar charm.