Personally, I think it’s best to not live directly in Atlanta. However, this link has a nice selection. You can get a nice place for under 800$ a month though it will likely be only a one-bedroom. You could look into Woodstock, GA, which is just outside of Atlanta but you’re looking at an hour drive, at least, depending on the time of day. If you chose Woodstock, you could easily find even a nice house for rent that would be within your means. Plus Woodstock is a rather big place full of really terrific local restaurants.

Where are you living currently? How familiar with Atlanta are you?

I thought Peachtree was quaint.

What are your interests and hobbies? Where will you be working? What kind of person are you and what kind of lifestyle do you like? Is it more important to live in a nice area or in a nice apartment, or both?

@eadinad my girlfriend and I (whom I would be living with) are artsy types. I’m a DJ/producer, she’s a painter. I’m sure that we will likely be working within Atlanta proper, but I’m not opposed to a 30–40 minute commute. We’re just looking for an area that is primarily safe to live, and secondly has access to some kind of entertaining atmosphere. We only need a one-bedroom situation even if it’s “cozy” as long as it’s… well… nice. So I suppose both nice area and decent apartment are both important.

PS: i hear 5-points is cool. I know nothing about it.

If safety is your primary goal, followed by access to an artsy environment, you want to stay in the north/northeast sections of Atlanta.

Look into Buckhead, Midtown, Virginia Highlands, Decatur, North Decatur, and Druid Hills. All of those will be near trendy shopping, bars, restaurants, etc. You can also look into Doraville and Chamblee – I don’t know much about them, but I hear them recommended a lot. (They are farther out, more suburb-y, but also probably safer. They do have access to MARTA.)

You should be able to get a small one bedroom for under $800 in any of those areas.

Being from Georgia (Macon), I’ve visited Atlanta dozens of times. There’s good and bad like everywhere, but once I moved in with my sister who lived there. It was a nice little place called Doraville, just a hair away from Atlanta. Really it was Atlanta. It was pretty nice there.