Living in Atlanta

What type of crowd are you looking for in Atlanta. There are great areas to live at but price range may vary.

Buckhead, Midtown, Old Fourth Ward, Little Five Points, Inman Park, Virginia Highlands, Brookhaven are best in my opinion.

Lived there for a bit. Great place to be in terms of cheap housing/luxury apartments, hot SEC girls, good jobs and overall high quality of life. Easy to travel anywhere else in the country and some nice weekend getaways a few hours away by car. If I were single I'd definitely have stayed there. I did find it a bit difficult to make friends there as I felt that most early 20s guys hung out with their college frat friends.

Pros of Atlanta

1. Low cost of living
2. Mild winters
3. Low state and local taxes
4. Hot SEC girls
5. Ease of traveling both domestically and internationally due to Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the world's busiest airport.

Cons of Atlanta

1. You have to drive everywhere, and rush hour traffic is horrendous.
2. Disgusting humid summers.
3. Food and nightlife are mediocre.
4. Super cliquey since most of the single professionals are SEC alums, so if you did not grow up in the South or attend one of those schools, your social life will be difficult.
5. People marry young, so once you're in your late 20's, slim pickings.
6. Not that many great jobs, especially in finance. If you're OK with a generic job at a F500, then it should be fine.

Unless you're under 22...

Speaking of Atlanta, I can't wait for season 2 of that show, premiering in March, it's gonna be flames. Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino has to be the most talented guy in Hollywood right now: creating, writing, directing, and producing an emmy award winning show (Atlanta), also wrote for 30 Rock and Community, which are all some of the best comedies out there. music producing, rapping, and singing on his albums, which his newest is nominated for a few grammies. The versatility is unreal. Strong EGOT contender.

lot of options here for a young person. Yeah it's a lot of SEC folks and can be cliquey at times but there are a ton of transplants in Atlanta. Really a good mix of people and a lot of culture. Sports are mighty depressing though.

Currently live in ATL - some of the places people are mentioning don't exit anymore, so I thought I'd comment on my experience plus update the list on places to go and the general vibe of the city since I've lived here since 2010.

I came here post undergrad to work in consulting, and found that it is REALLY REALLY hard to make friends. To give you a comparison over the 9 years I've lived here I've managed 3 real friends, one of which I worked with, and one who knew some friends I went to college with, and one who was a bartender I perpetually overtipped, even though I'm a super outgoing life of the party type of person. In fact, so much so that I've taken 4 trips to LA in the past year and made 4-6 real friends who are of a better caliber than anyone I've met in atlanta. In 2 trips to new york I made more friends than that as well. It honestly seems like unless you are a bartender and get into that awful scene or you went to an SEC school that you're doomed. VERY VERY cliquey. Even to this day everywhere I go everywhere knows who I am and we will have amazing 30 mins of convo or 4 hours of drinking, but if I wanted someone to go to brunch with or watch my dog or pick me up from the airport I honestly don't know who I'd call.

From a male perspective I met my husband at a bar the day he moved here, he was from ASU. He's super friendly and likeable and when we travel we make tons of friends who keep in touch and even visit us here, but in the 6 years he's been in atlanta ZERO real friends.

Honestly one of the hardest places ever to get people to let you in outside of getting drunk together, which I do enjoy, but real friends have their place too.

Another observation - it's still very conservative in some ways, if I go to a shitty restaurant like the cheesecake factory and take my 4 year old and it's after 8pm, I will literally get stared at like I'm crazy and abusing my child. Same goes biz wise, people expect you to show up at 8am even if you have no work to do and to never take a sick day. On top of that, I hate to play the gender card, but I've noticed professionally there's a tad more inequality/old fashioned view points here than other major cities. I once helped sell a company for exactly what they wanted, but heard them saying in the other room " are we really going to take a deal a girl negotiated for us like a bunch of pu$$ys".

On the plus side - houses are super cheap, that leaves more money for cars and travel and partying and investing, so it's a great city to take advantage of. Bars are open late and there are afterhours private bars you can get into until 6am if you like to party hard/late.

Outdoor things to do 1) the beltline (bikepath/walkpath) through the city (you can rent the bikes) along the beltline you'll find some cool bars/restaurants/etc. For dinner I suggest Two Urban Licks/Barcelona Wine Bar/Superica. For drinks along the beltline I suggest Ladybird/Tabla.

2) stone mountain - a good 1 hr hike overlooking the city

3) shoot the hooch - you rent a tub, tie yourself to a cooler and float down the chattahoochee river with a bunch of other poeple

4) piedmont park - central park of atlanta but not nearly as cool :) does have a tarvern at it called park tarvern, hosts festivals, has a pool, and great skyline views

If you like cars we have a Porsche Experience Center (race porsches on a track for fun) and porsche is headquartered here, so if you decide to buy one or know people you'll get to go to some pretty sweet porsche parties

Restaurants/Bars/Nightclubs To Attend Based On the Night

1) nightclubs, I recommend the following Monday - don't go to nightclubs (just trust me on this one) Tuesday - don't go Weds - there's a lounge called red martini, go but only after 11:30pm, there's also latin night at TNG (tongue n groove) Thursday - TNG is the best Friday - Havana/TNG/Opera something more chill . you can do Whiskey Blue/CosmoLava Saturday - Preferred GoldRoom/TnG/Ravine GoodOnes - Havana/Opera Sunday - none Afterhours I recommend: Babylon cafe upon until 6 am, only go to it post the club

Bars I recommend: Weekday happyhours: tavern at phipps, gypsy kitchen, southern gentleman, tin lizzys Saturday daydrinking I recommend: the ivy, park tavern, midway pub, ladybird, cyprss pint and plate, the optimist, big sky buckhead Sunday: the ivy buckhead, buckhead saloon

Weekday post happy hour and pre nightclub: supply & demand/red martini Weekend post day drinking/happyhour and pre nightclub friday/saturday: regent cocktail club, st. regis upstairs bar, red martini, whiskey blue, bucket shop

Restaurant bars: american cut, STK, tin lizzys, little alley buckhead, del friscos, fados

Restaurants: little alley, cape dutch, superica, american cut, buttermilk kitchen, canoe, umi sushi, bachanalia, cooks n soliders, bistro niko, empire state south, antica, la bibloquet, himitsu, hals, two urban licks, gypsy kitchen

Cocktails: the lawrence, blind pig parlour, himitsu, ticeronda club, regent cocktail club, bar margot

Where to live: buckhead/brookhaven- where most young single girls live, closer to nightlife and dining but nothing outdoorsy, great place to drink/get laid midtown/virginia highland - more laid back/day drinky than cluby, less young single chicks more working mid 30s, more outdoor things to do and more walkable

Hope this helps

Atlanta is prime for "a young guy in his early 20s."