These Are The 10 Most Exciting Places In Georgia

Georgia: the largest state east of the MIssissippi. It’s the place where Coca Cola was invented; where greats like Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and yes, Hulk Hogan were born. It’s the state where every peach tastes like a little piece of Heaven and where sweet tea flows like water. In short, this place is awesome. And according to our latest findings at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, it’s also more exciting than a you might be able to handle, especially in our winning city, Brookhaven. Of course, it wasn’t the only place to give us the vapors with so much to do. Here are the 10 most exciting places in Georgia: 1. City of Brookhaven
2. City of Atlanta
3. City of Marietta
4. City of Duluth
5. City of Kennesaw
6. City of Savannah
7. City of Decatur
8. City of Statesboro
9. City–County of Athens
10. City of Roswell If you’re wondering just how in the heck Brookhaven ended up on top over Hotlanta, well, just hold your horses. In the ensuing paragraphs, we’ll go over the method here, and then take a closer look at each of our top 10.

How We Created This Ranking

Just like any of our other Big Deal Lists, we started our research on Georgia by paying a visit to the U.S. Census. There, we gathered the 50 largest places in the state, and then used both the 2010 Census and business listings to research each according to the following criteria:

• Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
• Live music venues per capita
• Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
• Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
• Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
• Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
• Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
• Population density (the higher the better)

Next, we ranked each of our places with a score from one to 50, in each of the above criteria; the lower the number, the better the score. We averaged these rankings into an overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score was our most exciting place, which in this case, was Brookhaven. If you’re itchin’ to see more than just these top 10, feel free to hop down to the bottom of the post for a look at each of the 50 places. Otherwise, we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10, starting with Brookhaven.

1. Brookhaven

Brookhaven may be a suburb of Atlanta, but clearly, this place is doing just fine on its own. Not only did it have a higher percentage of young people than Atlanta (39.26 versus 34.13), it also had more nightlife, music venues, and arts per capita than the capital city. Whether you’re walking from Slice of Brookhaven or The One Sushi + to Yebo or Houston’s (or to any number of the other restaurants, after all, as Brookhaven ranked second for its restaurants per capita), as the second most densely populated place in our analysis, you’re bound to run into somebody. Hopefully somebody exciting.

2. Atlanta

Atlanta—Hotlanta, the ATL, A Town. With as many nicknames as this place, why not just call it what it is: Awesome. Especially for young people. That’s because Atlanta, home to over 30 colleges and universities, had a high percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 34 (though, as we saw above, not quite as high as Brookhaven), and of course, along with that came plenty of nightlife and music venues. For example, if you’re feeling dancey, head to Halo or Havan Club; feeling a little divey, there’s the Earl; and if you just want to hear some good music, you must, must, must go to the Tabernacle. But those are just a few nightlife and music venues. Let’s not forget that Atlanta also ranked among the best for its arts (second place here), and restaurants (11th). And if you give Two Urban Licks about good food, you know that Atlanta is the place to be.

3. Marietta

One week in this fine city and she’ll steal your heart and make you want to move there. Actually, that would probably happen after just one meal at Seed Kitchen & Bar. Delicious white corn grit fritters aside (ermahgerd!), Marietta has plenty of other ways to win you over. For example, this city ranked fourth in three different categories: music venues, active life, and arts listings per capita. It also had a pretty high number of nightlife options per capita, ranking fifth in this category, which might just have a little something to do with the 30.46 percent of its population between 18 and 34.

4. Duluth

Another suburb of the ATL, Duluth is home to the Gwinnett Place Mall, the Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center, Hudgens Center for the Arts, and Red Clay Theater. Also, it’s home to this kid, so you know it’s awesome. Young musical prodigies aside, Duluth ranked well in our analysis for its number of music venues per capita (good news for MattyB), its nightlife venues, and the sixth most arts and non-fast food restaurants per capita.

5. Kennesaw

This city may may be family friendly, but it’s also a good place for those who are more interested in going to bars than playdates, as Kennesaw ranked the sixth best in terms of nightlife listings per capita. If places like Electric Cowboy, Wise Owl Growlers, or Mazzy’s Sports Bar & Grill aren’t really your thing, Kennesaw still has plenty to offer. It ranked sixth for its number of active life options per capita, and if you’d rather walk than hit the gym, it seems a good place to do it, as it ranked eighth for its dense population.

6. Savannah

Okay, we can all probably agree that Savannah is easily the most beautiful city in Georgia, and probably one of most beautiful in the country. It has charm, rich, historic architecture, parks, culture…but excitement? You bet your butt it does. Home to several universities and colleges, Savannah has a high percentage of young people—32.38 percent. Since one of those colleges happens to be the amazing Savannah College of Art and Design, it may come as no surprise that this city ranked high for its arts per capita (eighth), but it also earned points for its nightlife and music venues—seventh in each category.

7. Decatur

Decatur may not exactly be the youngest place on our list (it ranked 41st out of 50 here), and sure its motto is “A city of homes, schools, and churches,” but as our analysis shows, it’s still plenty exciting. In fact, Decatur ranked third in the categories of both nightlife and arts, second for its dense population (a whopping 4,527 people per square mile, where cities like Athens only had 992), and most impressive of all, first for its number of active life options per capita. Really, who needs young people anyway?

8. Statesboro

To answer the question posed in the paragraph above, “who needs young people?” well, that would be Statesboro. After all, 62.45 percent of this city’s population was between 18 and 34 so they pretty much rule the place. As such a college town, though, it may come as something of a surprise that it only ranked 16th for its number of nightlife listings, but it seems to have made up for this minor lack with places like Eddie’s Attic, earning it ninth place for its music venues per capita. Party on, Eagles!

9. Athens

Another of Georgia’s youngest cities, nearly half of Athens residents were between 18 and 34 (47.43 percent). That’s because in addition to being home to tons of nightlife and music venues per capita, it’s also the location of the University of Georgia. Of course, if you happen to be a Dog who’d rather eat than party, Athens might still be the place for you (it certainly is for Uga). From the unique tastes at the National, brunch at The Grit,or the down home cooking at the Last Resort Grill (which certainly won’t be your last resort), it’s no wonder this city ranked ninth in the category of restaurants per capita.

10. Roswell

Roswell may not have wooed us with its young population (only 20.45 percent of residents are between the ages of 18 and 34) or a ton of bars per capita, but as most southerners know, there is a much more direct way to cause excitement: food. Simply put, this is the place to be for foodies. Not only did Roswell rank well for a lack of boring food (i.e., fast food), it also ranked eighth in the category of non-fast food restaurants per capita. There’s Table & Main, Brookwood Grill, Little Alley Steak, and OHMYGOSH, the Salt Factory. And those are just the places serving American cuisine.

What A Peach

What can we say about Georgia? It;s as sweet as a peach freshly picked; it’s just about as charming and Southern as you can get; but more than anything else, this place has more excitement than you can shake a stick at—especially in our 10 winning cities. If you didn’t see your hometown in our top 10, just take a look at the table below. If it’s not there either, it’s probably not one of the 50 largest in the state. Y’all take care now!