Comment by throwaway_atl | Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwaway_atl | Hacker News Reader

I interviewed a few years ago at a Start up in San Francisco; I live and work in Atlanta. One of the things that worried my girlfriend to death was how we would afford to live there.

One of the guys I interviewed with said he spent $1,800 a month to rent a single room in a house with a few other people. He didn't even have his own bathroom. My friend that tried to get me the job out there was paying over $3,000 a month for a small 1 bed room apartment across the street from Twitter.

In Atlanta I was renting a 2,600 sq ft warehouse loft for $1425 a month.

The weirdest part was they offered me the job of a Lead Android Developer for $135k. I make almost $160k here in Atlanta as an Application Architect, and it costs way less to live here. Glad I turned that down.

I remember seeing a headline a while back about apartment square footage (I think it was this: https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/us-average-apart...), and Atlanta was at the top of the heap for size.

I used to live right next to the Beltine near PCM in a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 900 sqft, all upgraded unit for less than $1200 a month. Now the prices are ridiculous (for ATL) - $1800+ for a one bedroom.

But it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than our most expensive cities. You would think the salaries would be adjusted accordingly, but from my experience job hunting, they aren't to any appreciable degree.

What is the ATL market like for entry-level developers? Is it that salary isn't adjusting accordingly or that rent costs are catching up to the increased wealth?

For people curious about maybe checking out Atlanta - what are the good parts to live for 30 something's who like to walk to groceries, cafes, parks, etc?

The places that match your criteria would be Decatur, Oakhurst, Kirkwood, Candler Park, East Atlanta, Inman Park, Virginia Highlands and Midtown. All of these are pretty walk-able areas and most are within walking distance of MARTA, our public transportation.

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