manic-miner

Can anyone provide any advice on what are recommended areas to live in or around Atlanta, GA.

meauxna

I think you need to provide waaaay more criteria for what qualifies as 'good'.

mellybrown

I live in Dunwoody - is nice, but then I dont know any other areas!! Its perfect for us, but depends what you are after??

Vimto

Atlanta is a rather large city, the population of the metropolitan area is over 5 million and 20 counties.
Advise on where to live will depend upon your employers location and your budget. Alternatively you could live in a really nice area and spend 2 hours commuting each way to the other side of town.
As has been said you need to be more specific.

ugacrew

Rockdale and Newton Counties are a great place. As is Gwinett County. These are on the eastern side of the Metro and are experiencing a huge growth, particulary Rockdale and Covington. Both are getting lots of new construction in the area and are close to nice shopping districts and the highway. Anything in the North Central area is going to be really congested an a bit pricey. There is a lot of suburban sprawl with Atlanta so be forewarned.

Octang Frye

I lived at Post Village in Smyrna, Marietta, next to the Galleria Mall.
Lovely if you're young and single or a couple without kids.

Then I moved into a big house in the suburbs with a nice bunch of recent grads from Ohio. That was in Sandy Springs. Nice area too.

Then I moved to Mid-town, just off Piedmont park. Nice houses. Gentrification going on all over. Lot of gays and bohemians. Nice being at the center of it all.

Don't know about Dunwoody or Decatur etc. Roswell was nice. Try and stay away from I-285 - it gives the M-25 a run for its money as the world's largest orbital car park.

Atlanta rocks the chock blocks (choca-bloke), and I heartily give it up two thumbs up. Except for the traffic.

zargof

For area in Atlanta I would say Decatur and Virginia Highlands are the nicest places to live. For outside the city itself I would go for Marietta.

dh010447

As close to where you work as you can and if you are going to commute, stay off the motorways, unless your traveling away from downtown in the AM and towards in PM.

MARTA - the local train and bus provider - is crap. It doesn't go anywhere you would want to go, doesn't run to a schedule and from what I have heard isn't too safe or pleasant, so don't pick an area just because its served by them.

There is also different levels of sales tax in the different counties (the ones served by MARTA pay an extra MARTA tax) so you might want to research into this too.

Some nice areas that I know of:

Norcross - historic area. I live in the 30093 zipcode area of Norcross - some people say that its not the best area, but I think its OK.

Alpharetta is supposed to be good as is Roswell.

Would be best to rent somewhere first until you figure the place out. rentlist.net is a good place for looking for rental accommodation.

manic-miner

My potential place of work is in the Kennesaw District, near Cobb Place Shopping Centre.

Rental accomodation would need to have a back yard &/ parkland for dogs

I would therefore like to minimise travel time if at all possible. but if there were an ideal district within say 1 hr travel I could consider this.

dh010447

I don't really know that area, but I believe that Kennesaw is pretty good.

Because of the huge traffic problem Atlanta Metro Area has, your 1 hour travel time each way may not cover as much distance as you would like it to.

Find out the zip code of where you will be working, and look for accommodation in the same zip code area.

zargof

My recommendation would be Marietta. It's only a few miles away on Cobb Pkwy and the traffic will probably be heavy, but it keeps moving, so it shouldn't take more than 25-30 mins to travel. Also, you would be able to find a nice place to live there with a yard. Downtown Marietta has a nice square with some cool shops and pubs and stuff.

Vimto

It would appear that you are going to be working near I75 and Ernest Barrett Parkway. That is north of Atlanta proper towards Chatanooga. I would suggest you look on craigslist.org and other for rent sites for housing in Kennesaw, Woodstock, Ackworth as well as Marrietta. I have friends who commute 40 miles thru that area and it takes them 40 mins to 90 mins some days. I75 in that particular area is having reconstructive surgery (down to 2 lanes only) for the next 2 years so should be avoided if possible. Its a very nice area with Lake Alatoona close by.