I have lived in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and now Atlanta. And my favourite out of the three? Atlanta, hands down. Why are people moving here in droves, as the latest Census report has shown? Because we have almost everything needed, and if it's not here you can get it rather quickly. Let's look at it:
1) Cool winters, with a few days to make you feel sorry for our fellow Northern countrymen. I relish the idea that I can be in Fargo with a lovely high of -8 in late February and get to Atlanta with temps hovering in the upper 60s (or even 91 degrees about 3 weeks ago in ATL).
2) Long summers. I can go hang out with friends at the lakes around the State or enjoy nights out grilling from early March to early November. Awesome!
3) Beaches. I know most of you all are like, "WHAT?!?" But it's true. The closest beach would be Tybee Island outside Savannah, about a 4 hours drive. Pensacola is 4.5 to 5 hours away, Tampa is 6, Naples about 7 and change. Going to the beach for us in Atlanta is a nice little weekend getaway. If you can afford to fly there, then SAV becomes 40 mins, PNS becomes 55 mins, and Tampa just about one hour. Awesome!
4) Skiing. "WHAT?!?!" Believe it or not we do have skiing in the South. North GA mountains is about 1.5 hours way and N.C. is 2 to 2.5. Again, totally doable in a day, but great for a short weekend trip.
5) Jobs. You hardly ever hear anyone in Atlanta complaining of not being able to find a job. Jobs are easy to come by here. In any level. And with so many institutes of higher education in the Metro area? Gosh, it's so easy to earn an MBA or Master's Degree here on your own time.
6) Housing Costs. So what it's cheaper to live here? Is it somehow better to pay out the arse for housing? It is still so cool to know that one can get a condo at Twelve Centennial Park (Downtown Atlanta) starting at US$190K (those might have sold out already). People complain that we are materialistic here in Atlanta --- it may because we have more disposable money for luxury items and for fun!
7) Airport. I can fly to five out of the seven continents non-stop. And take the subway there. And only take 15 minutes from downtown with the train station RIGHT in the airport. Not too many other places can claim that (with the exception of O'Hare, but that is a 45 min trip from the Loop, and DCA is not International).
8) Cost of living. You folks up North seem to enjoy paying such high prices for gasoline. And groceries. And entertainment. I love that I can pay (as of today) 2.37 for petrol and enjoy a pitcher of margaritas on an outdoor patio in April for 5 bucks.
So you see there are many reasons why people move here. I wish folks would also differentiate between the Atlanta suburbs and the city itself. Living in the city I can get to anything I really want with our public trans. We have everything that is in the suburbs now. I can't tell you the last time that I really had to either drive or take the train outside of our Perimeter to buy anything. Yeah, if I wanted to go to buy guns for hunting then yes, but since I could not even tell you the start of any of the hunting seasons then I obviously have no need to go to any of these type of outdoor stores.
And driving in rain is WAY more preferable to driving in snow. Most folks may not be able to drive well in the snow down here, but we can sure drive the heck out of rain. Thunderstorms? Bring 'em on! We'll still be screaming down the freeways at 70mph (with a few folks messing it up for the rest of us).
Here is something for locals. Don't you also love how when someone let's you get in front of them in traffic or turn in front of them how we wave to acknowledge them? I sure as heck didn't learn to do that in driving school back in NYC.
Let the counterpoints begin!