There are a lot of safe and very clean suburbs in Atlanta, where mostly families reside. I believe the best schools are in Cobb County.

I’m not sure what the crime rate is, but I’ve never experienced anything personally. I feel pretty safe here, knowing which areas I am comfortable with. And yes, most of the people here in Atlanta are nice – and there is a huge population of transplants – people from other cities who have moved here.

Hi Kate,

first of all I think my ability to compare between major US cities is a bit limited and maybe a bit biased since European cities (I am from Germany) follow a slightly different pattern if you stress this as a general issue ;-)

Let me give you a brief “breakdown” of Altanta, GA (ATL):

There are three focal points in the city (going from South to North)
¹ Downtown (centered around Five Points / “Atlanta Underground” / Coca Cola Museum etc.)

² Midtown (proceeding northwards from Downtown around 14th Street)

³ Buckhead (where GA 400 highway begins)

Buckhead and the suburbs north/near of it a generally spoken really nice areas and rather “green”. Buckhead itseld is a rather busy business centre (lots of office space, hotels, business stuff). In fact this was where I did work for 6 months. I did live just north of Buckhead in Sandy Springs. Single family houses with lots of garden space and still affordable & inside the ATL (interstate) ‘perimeter’. Nice and clean is absolutely ‘true’ here.

There are numerous really nice places / suburbs north of ATL [outside the perimeter] like Roswell and further north.

Down-town (and especially the areas south of Five Points) are really No-Go-Areas (even at daylight sometimes)… so much to the crime rate topic… I would not consider downtown ATL as ‘safe’ if you stress it.

Midtown is fairly okay. If you are looking for some nice greens, Piedmont Park is definitely a place to go (with the family). Also rather business area. Virginia Highlands is also close-by which I would consider one of the nicer inner-city places.

I do think that ATL does have some serious crime issues (in fact I think on average it is really somewehre in the TOP10 in the statistics)… but it depends on where you decide to settle down,… (north of ATL is okay) and: of course, I as a European am used to a bit more a “middle-centered” society. If I was to make a neutral (!!!) comparison I would say that American cities / society shows much more social variation than a German/European one. …so much to my biased statement ;-)

Hope to help!

Michael

Yes, it is a very family friendly city. I live north of the city, in Sandy Springs, and it is fairly nice here. There is not much pollution or litter, the neighbors are awesome. There are some older couples in my neighborhood that are just flat out mean, but I dont really see my neighbors all that much,and when I do, we always wave at each other. There is not a high crime rate, but you wouldnt want to leave your purse in the car downtown or your car window wil be broken. We have a homeless population downtown, and the apartments are nice.

Hi there,

We’ve lived in a wide variety of places in and around Atlanta. We started in Marietta, just north of the city, which has a very good reputation, but is fairly expensive. Also, our little neighborhood turned really bad (gunshots, lots of theft, etc), so we moved to Midtown Atlanta to be safer. We really, really loved it as a young couple, but when our son was born, we didn’t feel that it was the best environment for him. There was constant noise where we were, we were approached quite a bit for money, we have found hypodermic needles on the sidewalk, we were often chasing away male prostitutes from our sidewalk, and most importantly, the air quality was pretty bad. So – for all of the great things (and there are TONS), we felt it best for our baby to move out of the city. We are now in west Cobb County and what a difference! It is SOOO family friendly here, and there is so much support for stay at home moms it’s amazing. You probably would want to stay north or east of the city. Gwinnett County is another growing area that is quite nice, as are Roswell, Alpharetta, and Dekalb County. I hope these are good starting points for you. If you have an average (not CEO) budget, check Dekalb, Gwinnett, and West Cobb. Hope this helps!

atlanta is the biggest “small town” you’ll ever find. it’s full of southern hospitality and southern charm. the people are extremely friendly and the suburbs are beautiful and clean. the best schools are in cobb county. it’s a perfect place to raise a family. there’s also great nightlife. there are bars and clubs in buckhead, midtown, the highlands and now at underground. we have the fox theater and the roxy, phillips arena and lakewood ampitheater. underground atlanta and centennial olympic park. the georgia aquarium and zoo atlanta. it’s easy to find a job and real estate is fabulous here. the crime rate is high, but you just need common sense and you’ll be fine. i’ve lived here for 23 years and have never had a problem with crime. good luck in your search and please don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions!

I would highly recommend the schools in Decatur. You want the City of Decatur school district, not DeKalb County (although there are some good schools there too). Decatur is a downright charming town, just a 10 minute easy drive from downtown Atlanta. Crime there is low, people are ultra friendly, it’s a definite quieter pace of life than the city. I’m not a suburb kind of person and can’t really recommend some of the other places mentioned in the posts. I’m just not big on chain restaurants and stores, but I realize everyone has their preferences. I’ve lived here for 7 months and am really glad I took the risk to move here.

Overall, Atlanta is a great city, but there are a lot of homeless people on the streets. Atlanta has a reputation for having lots of drug dealers, but I don’t know anyone who has had trouble with that. It has lots of great places to visit, namely the Fabulous Fox Theatre and the new Georgia Aquarium. Some places tend to have a higher-than-average crime rate, but again, I haven’t had problems with this. Some places can be expensive, but there are a variety of places that aren’t above the average person’s means. People are really nice too, or atleast that’s my experience.

I hope I’ve helped you some

~~Caitlin

Is it a family friendly city?

I have no kids but there are tons of things for families to do here, its a major metropolitan city with a great arts community, major sporting franchises. We just opened the worlds largest aquarium which is just fantastic. We have great holiday events the Peachtree Marathon every spring is a huge race televised every year and draws world class competitors. We have auto racing. Theres something for every faily interest.

Are the suburbs nice and fairly clean?

There can be some road issues but the current mayor seems to be taking care of these, i have seen several roads i use often been repaved completely in Marietta where I live.

Leaf burning is a norm here so there can be some air quality issues in the spring and fall when people burn their leaves. Not sure why this is still allowed.

If you have allergies then you’ll really love the spring in atlanta. In other cities the index is measured in the teens in Atlanta the hundreds. You will see a nice sheen of pollen all over your the place for a couple of months. Public transport in the suburbs is relegated to buses. We do have a train line that generally criss crosses the city

Is there a high crime rate?

I’ve personally never had any issues.

Are the people generally nice?

It’s the south, we’re all nice. I have never had any complaints about people in general. All very friendly, helpful and nice. i cant imagine theres too much of a difference between Virginia and Georgia people wise. As has been mentioned before there are ALOT of transplants here from all over the country. We have a growing hispanic population and overall a very diverse community.

i’ve only been to atlanta a few times. my mom and sister live down there and seem to love it. i don’t know much about the crime rate. my mom lives in the suburb of jonesboro and it’s a really nince area. it is a family friendly area. great churches, fun activities, sporting events, festivals, malls, restaurants, and so on. it’s fairly clean, even the downtown area.

they seem to always be building new townhouses and great areas with affordable rent. i reall like the place.

I am the mother of a 6 year old son in first grade and I have lived in North Metro Atlanta for 17 years. As a child growing up and as a mother I can definitely say metro Atlanta is a great place to live. I’ve lived in Cobb County (Marietta and Kennesaw) and Gwinnett County and I far prefer Gwinnett, even though I have lived in Gwinnett for only 6 of the 17 years. North Gwinnett is very clean (so is North Cobb, if you will be in that area) and the schools are great. As far as the crime rate goes, you can get comparisions at http://www.city-data.com/

Atlanta is a wonderful place to live. Not only is there an abundance of family friendly activities in town and in the suburbs, but we are located in the central southeast which allows extremely convenient access to South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, among others. I hope this helps!! If you need more info, just ask!!

Atlanta definately is a family friendly city. The suburbs are very nice and clean, however I suggest you choose a place somewhere in midtown where you dont have to drive as much. Town Homes/ Condos/Apartments in Atlantic Station are really nice and in a good area. Other places to live in midtown include “Metropolis”, “Spire”, “Twelve Centennial Park” (coming soon), “The Plaza Midtown”, etc. The best schools are mainly in the North Fulton/East Cobb county area. Just email me if you need more info.

Atlanta is a great city for entertainment. There is always something going on. There only two types of people who actually lived in the city limits, though. The very rich and the very poor. The rest of us live in the surrounding counties and ‘burbs. The better quality of life is lived north of ATL, and you’ll pay for it. It more expensive to live on the north side. I live on the south side, where there are more minorities and working class folks. Crime in the ATL sees no class or color, so be aware no matter where you decide to live in this metro, there is no safe ’burb.

As a visitor, I’ve found Atlanta very welcoming. The Northeast (Gwinnett country) is very clean while still having easy access to the city itself. I don’t know how family friendly it is but if you just consider the attractions around here, you sure can have a great day out with kids: the Aquarium, Coca Cola museum, CNN studio tour, Callaway Gardens, etc.

As for the crime rate, there are some areas downtown that are quite dodgy but at the end of the day, it didn’t strike me as worse than any large city.

I would consider Atlanta family friendly, considering I don’t care to be around alot of kids since I am only 27 and singe, and kids are everywhere that I go. There are all types of suburbs here so I would definately get a real estate agent for looking at areas. I happend to have a family friend (who is much family friendlier than I am) I can refer you to if you need someone. In the same area you can see neighborhoods that look not so nice to country clubs with homes starting at $500,000. Obviously, crime rate is higher is the inner city of Atlanta but I don’t know what the crime rate is or how high it is. I live north of Atlanta, the farther north you go the more land you will get for your money. Also, less traffic, more peaceful atmosphere the further away you get from metro-Atlanta. If you have to work near downtown Atlanta then there is no way you will avoid traffic. Rush hour is horrible in and around the city and the metro area. Hope this was helpful.

~Crystal ~

Ok, so you are probably seeing there are two types of people in Atlanta: Those who live Inside the Perimeter (ITP) and those who live Outside the Perimter (OTP). It’s basically a trade off of sitting in your car 3 hours a day or not. I you want to sit in your car for 3 hours a day then you don’t have to put up with homeless people and gunshots. If you don’t want to sit in your car 3 hours a day then you have to live intown and put up with city life. Depends on how much you like your family. I think some people choose to live in the suburbs so that by the time they get home for work the kids are in bed. Seriously, I have two kids and we lived in Grant Park for 10 years. They go to a Charter School and I never sit in traffic. If all you ever dreamed of was white picket fences and neighborhoods that echo because there are no trees, then you should be in Cobb county. BTW, Atlanta has one of the worst crime rates in the US. I have never been a victim of crime though. Just don’t leave you Ipod on your dashboard. As for traffic. Live near your job. I live in midtown and work in midtown. Not sure why people complain about traffic. I never see any.