Pros and Cons of Living in Alpharetta, Georgia
Alpharetta is without a doubt one of the most popular North Metro Atlanta suburbs, and for good reason. It has great shopping, great schools, great parks, and more! It also has its downsides, and high home prices are one of those.
Hi, I’m Tim Trevathan of Tim Trevathan Homes and Keller Williams Realty. If you are thinking about moving to the North Metro Atlanta area, chances are Alpharetta is on your list of suburbs you are considering calling home. Over the years, I’ve worked with numerous clients interested in Alpharetta and am very familiar with the area. My contact information is on the screen and I would love to hear from you and help you find a great home for your family.
People who live in Alpharetta love it and have for a long time. It has often been awarded various “best places to call home” awards and if you look on the city’s website, they list 41 such awards within the past 7 years alone. That is incredible!
Here’s some that stand out: In 2022, the lifestyle website niche.com name Alpharetta The #1 Best Suburb to Live in in Georgia, also in 2022, Southern Living Magazine named it One of the South’s Best Cities on the Rise. In 2021, Newsweek ranked Alpharetta the 20th Best Place to Live on the East Coast, and it beat out neighboring Suwanee, Roswell, Johns Creek, and Milton who were ranked lower on the list. In 2019, Verizon did a study and came up with a list of the 50 best cities to start a small business in and Alpharetta snagged a spot as the 15th best city, and was the only city in Georgia to make the list!
So, why is Alpharetta so popular? What are the potential cons you should be aware of? Let’s take a look.
Con 1: Home Prices. I hate to talk about a con first, but I want to be honest with you. Homes in Alpharetta can be expensive. Its never fun to hear how great an area is only to at the very end realize it is out of your price range. So, I want to talk home prices first.
In October 2022, the median sold price in Alpharetta was $555,000. But, numbers can be deceiving.
I pulled up all of Alpharetta to research for this video and there were 111 active listings at that time. Only 11 of those were listed for under $500,000. If your budget is under $500,000 and you have your heart set on Alpharetta, you’ll need to pack your patience and be willing to consider purchasing a home that needs some work. It is certainly doable but requires patience and perseverance.
Of those 111 active listings, over half of them were listed at over 1 million dollars. For better or worse, Alpharetta is an expensive place to buy a home.
Some nearby suburbs to consider that are a little more affordable are Roswell, Woodstock, Cumming, and Duluth. I have done videos on both Duluth and Cumming, so if you are interested in learning more about those areas be sure to check those out when this is over.
Pro 1: Wonderful neighborhoods. There are many wonderful neighborhoods in Alpharetta; too many to even begin to list all of the great ones in this short video. Windward is one of the most popular and certainly one of the largest. It is actually 44 smaller neighborhoods that make up 3,000 acre community between Alpharetta and Johns Creek. It has a 200-acre lake for community residents and there is also the optional Golf Club of Georgia and the Windward Lake Club with wonderful tennis and swim facilities. The swim amenities include a 50 ft water slide, spray park, lap pool, and a diving well and the tennis facilities include 18 lighted courts, clay courts, and more. If you have a boat, you’re in luck as there is also a marina for club members to use.
But, Windward is not the only great Alpharetta community. There are plenty of other neighborhoods to choose from; single-family neighborhoods with swim and tennis options, luxury townhome communities, and some older neighborhoods with a lots that are a big larger than the standards ¼ – ½ acre lot found in most of the area.
Con 2: Traffic. Like most metropolitan suburbs, Alpharetta has its share of traffic. It just the reality of life in a metro and can be annoying, but for most people the tradeoff is worth it. Especially around the Avalon and on Georgia 400 traffic can be intense during rush hour. You just learn to plan for it an allow yourself ample time to get where you need to be.
If you are commuting to downtown Atlanta or elsewhere inside the perimeter it won’t be a short commute, but you won’t be alone. Plenty of Alpharetta residents make the daily trek into the city and back.
Pro 2: Shopping and dining. If you like shopping and dining, especially high-end shopping and dining at delicious, chef-led restaurants, you won’t be disappointed in Alpharetta. If that describes you, you’ll want to check out the Avalon and all of its shopping and dining options. There are so many great ones!
With over 60 retail options at the Avalon, I can’t come close to listing them all, but here are a few highlights: Apple, Crate & Barrel, High Country Outfitters, Lululemon, Tesla, and Vineyard Vines, plus many more. There’s also a Whole Foods Market just across the street.
As far as dining, once again the Avalon has too many options for me to list. They are all worth a visit, but two that particularly stand out are Antico Pizza and South City Kitchen. It’s not exactly upscale dining, but there’s also a Starbucks for your morning coffee or a warm drink on a cold day!
If you don’t find what you need at Avalon, chances are it is somewhere else in Alpharetta. There’s a Costco plus the usual assortment of grocery stores like Publix and Kroger, and there’s a Super Target, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes. The one thing Alpharetta doesn’t have is an Aldi or a Lidl. But, both are just down the road in Roswell and there’s another Aldi location just up the road in Milton, so its not a far drive to either.
In addition to Avalon, downtown Alpharetta has its own share of great restaurants and shops!
Con 3. Density. Alpharetta has a lot of development and not a lot of undeveloped land left. For some people, that’s not a negative. For other people, that can feel a bit crowded and claustrophobic. It is such a popular area, that development has been ongoing for years and as the remaining tracts of land go for sale, they are quickly being turned into residential or retail areas.
Most of the neighborhoods in Alpharetta have fairly small lots, which again is ideal for many people, but not ideal if you want to have some distance between yourself and your neighbors. Remember how I said earlier that there were 111 single family homes on the market? Only 32 of them have lots ½ acre or larger and only 17 were on lots 1 acre or larger. If you want 2 acres or more, there were only 7 options and only 1 was under a million dollars. If you want a large lot, they are out there, but it may take some time and persistence while you wait for just the right home to hit the market.
Pro 3: Schools. Another reason families love Alpharetta is the great public schools. What do I mean by great? There are about 24,000 public high schools in the United States and this year, US News & World Report ranks Alpharetta High School the 399th best high school in the entire country! That’s impressive. Its also ranked the 12th best high school in Georgia, the 9th best in the entire Metro Atlanta area, and the 3rd best in Fulton County.
Parts of Alpharetta are also served by Centennial High School, Milton High School, Chattahoochee High School, Northview High School, and Cambridge High School, all of which are within the Top 10 high schools out of 19 in the county. Northview and Centennial are the 1st and 2nd top ranked schools in the county, ranking just ahead of Alpharetta.
No matter where in the Alpharetta area you live, you’ll be zoned for a high performing high school. As always, check out your potential new schools for yourself to make sure it is a great fit for your family, but Alpharetta has a reputation for having wonderful schools.
I could go on and on with more pros for living in Alpharetta, like the Big Creek Greenway, Wills Park, and a full calendar of city-sponsored social events, but I’ll stop here for today.
Alpharetta is one of the most popular suburbs in the North Metro area and for good reason.
If you are interested in checking it out and seeing if it feels like the place you want to call home, please reach out! My info is below and it would be an honor to hear from you and help you find the next house you want to call home.
