Moving to Atlanta: The Complete Relocation Guide

Key Takeaways

• New Georgia residents pay a one-time title tax of 3% of a vehicle’s fair market value when they register it.
• Only 5.7 percent of City of Atlanta workers commute by transit, so going car-free depends on rail at both ends of the day.
• A Georgia homestead exemption needs ownership and residence on 1 January, so a home bought in February waits a year.
• LIOO Moving does not run the long leg into Georgia, but a labor-only crew can unload your rental truck or container.

The City of Atlanta is not the whole metro

The metro is a patchwork of separate cities, and many of them share ZIP codes with the City of Atlanta. Sandy Springs and Atlanta split ZIPs 30327 and 30342. Most of the estate neighborhood called Historic Brookhaven is in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, and part of it, along East Brookhaven Drive, is in the City of Brookhaven and DeKalb County, so check the parcel. Union City is almost surrounded by the much newer City of South Fulton. Before choosing a home, check which city the street is in, because property tax, schools and city services follow the line, not the ZIP.

The relocation guides for Sandy Springs and Brookhaven show how those lines run in practice.

Housing in the city: towers, apartments and fewer houses

Only about a third of the city’s 284,949 homes, 34.1 percent, are detached houses, and more than a third are in buildings of 50 units or more. A move into a tower usually needs a reserved elevator or loading-dock time and the mover’s certificate of insurance on file; LIOO issues that certificate the same day it receives the building’s requirements. The median home value in the 2024 survey is $462,200, and 21.5 percent of residents had moved within the past year.

Moving to Atlanta from another state

LIOO Moving’s moves into Atlanta are local moves across the metro and long-haul moves from other Georgia cities. Its out-of-state work runs the other way, on nine routes from Atlanta to Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, Washington, DC and Orlando, so for a move that starts in another state, the long leg needs a carrier that handles moves between states, a rental truck or a portable container.

1. If you drive a rental truck or ship a container to Atlanta, a LIOO labor-only crew can unload it at the new home.
2. If you store goods on arrival, LIOO can later move them from storage to the new address as a local move.
3. If you are already in Georgia, LIOO handles the whole move; a long-haul move inside the state is priced per shipment after a survey.

Getting around: MARTA and the highways

MARTA rail has 38 stations on four lines, Red, Gold, Blue and Green, which all meet at Five Points downtown; the Red and Gold lines run to the airport. Outside the rail corridors, most trips are by car. The Downtown Connector carries I-75 and I-85 together through the middle of the city, I-285 circles it, which is why listings say ITP and OTP for inside and outside the Perimeter, and GA-400 runs north to the northern suburbs. Choosing a home near the route to work matters more here than in most metros.

Can you live in Atlanta without a car?

You can live in Atlanta without a car if both home and work sit near rail, and few people commute that way. In the ACS 2024 1-year survey, 14.9 percent of City of Atlanta households had no vehicle, but only 5.7 percent of workers commuted by public transit; 56.1 percent drove alone and 25.6 percent worked from home. A MARTA fare is $2.50, good for three hours with up to four free transfers.

Minimums and distance from downtown

Local moves are billed by the hour, from $160/hr for two movers and the truck. There is a 2.5-hour minimum on weekday local moves. Weekends carry a 3-hour minimum, as do same-day bookings and moves of 25 miles or more from downtown. Every address in the City of Atlanta is well inside that 25-mile line; some outer suburbs, such as Cumming and parts of Woodstock, are beyond it.

The new-resident deadlines

Georgia gives new residents 30 days to get a Georgia driver’s license and 30 days to register and tag a vehicle. The Georgia driver’s license guide covers the documents, and the change-of-address checklist covers mail, voter registration, utilities and the car.

Registering the car has a cost that surprises new residents. Georgia charges a one-time title ad valorem tax of 3% of the vehicle’s fair market value, about $900 on a $30,000 car, plus an $18 title fee and a $20 annual registration fee. A home buyer should also file for the homestead exemption, which lowers property tax on a main home; it needs ownership and residence on 1 January, and applications are usually due by 1 April.

Planning the move

The Atlanta movers page covers moves inside the city, and building moves are covered on the apartment and high-rise moves page. Choosing an area first? The Atlanta neighborhoods guide compares them. For budgeting and timing, see what a move costs and the 8-week checklist.

Moving to Atlanta: questions

Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year, Atlanta (via Census Reporter)
• MARTA rail system
• Georgia Department of Driver Services, new Georgia residents
• Georgia Department of Revenue, motor vehicle registration
• Georgia DOR, New to Georgia
• Georgia DOR, Title Ad Valorem Tax
• Georgia DOR, Homestead Exemptions
• Georgia DOR, Property Tax Returns
• MARTA, New Rider Guide