For Many New Yorkers, Georgia Rules

Here we go again: New Yorkers are leaving the city for Georgia. Or rather, Atlanta. The NY Post has the latest on the exodus, zeroing in on a family who live on an "above average" income but were still only able to live on Long Island while here...with one of their parents. "But when the family moved to Atlanta, Merritt and his wife found they were living far better on about the same income," saying "We went from struggling to having a great quality of life in just a few weeks." Real estate is, of course, a main factor here, with a 4-bedroom home going for around $275K in an Atlanta suburb, and property taxes about a 1/4 of what they would be in New York. So maybe the Real Housewives of Atlanta aren't really that rich after all? The paper also reminds that "between 2000 and 2005, 40,000 New Yorkers moved to Atlanta, according to the city's Regional Commission."

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By Jen Carlson in News on December 23, 2008 12:00 PM

Comments [rss]

whitecastlerock

My quality of life improves when these dumbasses leave New York

Wza

I have plenty of friends who have moved down south, even to Iowa, and they're loving it.

kcin122

I left north carolina for brooklyn a few years ago.

sure rent is cheaper in the south but I dont have kids and would rather not pay 400 dollars a month to have a car.

TKaisen

Rampant socialist thought poisons the grounds where its own proponents live. Few realize same.

Yep, it's basically like the film festival episode of South Park.

NYRefugee

The reason I relocated to Arizona is the same as stated in the above article. I was only able to basically survive back home, whereas before the economic downturn my standard of living increased exponentially!!

Gothamist_Cynic

who in their right mind would move to Georgia?

tigger2970

@JMH, you are correct.

I left Atlanta for NYC several years ago and I would never go back.

JMH

Please feel free to go. That city is a shithole.

fugothamist

yes it was in yesterdays post, but gothamist interns probably found out about it by reading brownstoner, so had the brilliant idea of posting it here today.

Spirit of 76

Isn't this essentially the same story Gothamist posted five months ago? These ex-New Yorkers will regret it when Atlanta declares a water emergency just about every summer from now on, as they did last summer.

JenChungsBaby

Wasn't this a story in yesterday's Post? What's with the delay?

fugothamist

brooklyn, & nyc at large, is quite overrated

plenty of life out there in "other" cities

El Bolson

Same with Charlotte, North Carolina as well. Tons of Brooklynites make the transition between the two annually.

ides_of_march

I'm sure they're about as welcome in Georgia as General Sherman.

Papercutninja

These people don't realize that this means THEY HAVE TO LIVE IN ATLANTA.

yetanotherdamneduselessaccount

My thoughts exactly.

Rampant socialist thought poisons the grounds where its own proponents live. Few realize same.

ides_of_march

The problem is that when NYers flee to other parts of the country, they tend to vote for politicians who enact the same policies that caused them to leave NY in the first place.