Thinking of moving to Augusta. (Atlanta, Columbus: sales, apartments, rentals)

[SlackerRudy]

Hey, I'm a Florida native and thinking about moving to Augusta in the fall. I had a few questions.

Is it cheaper taxes, fess, insurance overall to live in the GA or SC side of Augusta?

Does it snow in Augusta?

Which areas should I avoid? My kids are grown up so school districts don't matter. Me and my wife are early 50's and just want little drama when it comes to a neighborhood. We are looking to rent either a house or apartment until we figure out if we want to be there long term.

Which areas should I look at?

How is traffic? I know it won't be like Miami, Tampa or Orlando. But does it take 20 minutes to get across town, or an hour?

Appreciate any info.

[fengchen777]

Augusta is highly racially/politically segregated, as town is bisected by 2 counties: Richmond (60% AA) & Columbia county (70% white). Downtown has a few restaurants/shops but much of it is empty. Living there is ”easy” - little traffic, hot/humid summers, occasional ice/snow but rare, affordable but very little culture/arts. Periodic theatre offered on Ft Gordon & a few other small venues. For recreation there's walking along the canal, boating on canal/Savannah River (as far as the dam), & fishing in waterway - NO mountains. Whole Foods & EarthFare didn't survive. There is a thin veneer of prosperity/wealth, but much of the area is poor or lower middle class. The academic hospital is struggling. Airport is far SE side of town and service is not reliable - often flights cancelled then had to hustle & drive to ATL to get the onward/connecting flight. Athens GA might have more due to it's University & closer proximity to Atlanta for entertainment offerings. Or property taxes in SC are much lower for "full time" residents, so across river, Aiken might be an option.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by fengchen777

Augusta is highly racially/politically segregated, as town is bisected by 2 counties: Richmond (60% AA) & Columbia county (70% white). Downtown has a few restaurants/shops but much of it is empty. Living there is ”easy” - little traffic, hot/humid summers, occasional ice/snow but rare, affordable but very little culture/arts. Periodic theatre offered on Ft Gordon & a few other small venues. For recreation there's walking along the canal, boating on canal/Savannah River (as far as the dam), & fishing in waterway - NO mountains. Whole Foods & EarthFare didn't survive. There is a thin veneer of prosperity/wealth, but much of the area is poor or lower middle class. The academic hospital is struggling. Airport is far SE side of town and service is not reliable - often flights cancelled then had to hustle & drive to ATL to get the onward/connecting flight. Athens GA might have more due to it's University & closer proximity to Atlanta for entertainment offerings. Or property taxes in SC are much lower for "full time" residents, so across river, Aiken might be an option.

If you hate Augusta then fine, but the constant trolling under different names is ridiculous. Aiken County is the second largest county in metro Augusta.

Earthfare filed bankruptcy and decided to close all their stores. A few months later decided to open a few back. Whole Foods closed 13 stores and was later purchased by Amazon. Augusta still attracted the first Sprouts outside metro Atlanta. We have Fresh Market, and Publix.

The airport has direct flights to DC, Atlanta, Dallas, and Charlotte. Nobody is hustling to drive to Atlanta often cause their flight was cancelled.

At least stop bringing up Athens if you’re going to make people believe it’s a different person. Nobody is going to believe a college town has more to do than Augusta. There’s no Dave & Busters, Top Golf, Urban Air, etc in Athens.

[HotWill29]

Sound like a Columbus troll & I’m sick of them too

[fengchen777]

OK, I'll reply. I LIVED in Augusta for about TEN years, so I know of what speak. I DID miss many trans-Atlantic AND trans-continental flights due to Delta cancelling the Augusta-ATL flight just in time so one couldn't drive to ATL to make the onward connection - a few times I was able to make the 2 hour drive & did make the long haul flight. The segregation issues are FACTS - look it up.[BTW the amount of casual, hateful, racial vitriol I encountered when Obama was in office was shocking] I found Augusta to be parochial and treading water in the areas of economics, education ("public" school - though the OP said this is not relevant to them), and while MCG had a good reputation it suffered greatly due to its previous president. None of what I said is untrue and I actually experienced. I did state a few positives of Augusta: easy/cheap living (housing, insurance rates, taxes, minimal traffic), access to Augusta canal & trails, fishing, etc. If you make enough $, you can live very well there.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by fengchen777

OK, I'll reply. I LIVED in Augusta for about TEN years, so I know of what speak. I DID miss many trans-Atlantic AND trans-continental flights due to Delta cancelling the Augusta-ATL flight just in time so one couldn't drive to ATL to make the onward connection - a few times I was able to make the 2 hour drive & did make the long haul flight. The segregation issues are FACTS - look it up.[BTW the amount of casual, hateful, racial vitriol I encountered when Obama was in office was shocking] I found Augusta to be parochial and treading water in the areas of economics, education ("public" school - though the OP said this is not relevant to them), and while MCG had a good reputation it suffered greatly due to its previous president. None of what I said is untrue and I actually experienced. I did state a few positives of Augusta: easy/cheap living (housing, insurance rates, taxes, minimal traffic), access to Augusta canal & trails, fishing, etc. If you make enough $, you can live very well there.

Ten years when? Because while some of what you said may have held true then, there's about that much that is pretty inaccurate about your statements currently.

• Downtown is thriving with new businesses and restaurants.
• Between the Miller Theater, Imperial Theatre, improvements at the Bell, the forthcoming new arena, brand new Columbia County Performing Arts Center and smaller venues like Le Chat Noir and the aforementioned Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre.
• AUMC and MCG are thriving. You said they were "struggling"...then later said it was their reputation. They were never struggling in operations or reputation, spoken as former employee with first hand experience during both its previous and current presidents.
• The most recent stats for the Augusta airport from February show a 97.5% on time rate for Delta and 100% for American. It's important to note that unless it's a major international airport, the vast majority of flight delays have nothing to do with the airport and everything to do with the carrier or larger airport that the flight came from. If you're doing that much transcontinental traveling, you should also know not to book your connecting flights within a few hours of each other.
• There is much more to do in the area than just walking or boating the canal or river...and there was whenever you were here, too. Just because you didn't seek it out doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
• I'm sure folks will be shocked to find there are no mountains in Augusta, GA...
• Yes, Augusta is fairly racially/politically segregated, as are most cities in the south. This should be of no surprise to anyone...especially if moving from Florida.

While you may have experienced the things you said while you were here, they are anecdotal, and seemingly dated, at that. I'm no cheerleader like some folks in these forums, but I'm also not going to let folks spout off things that are just plain not true. The CSRA is a great place to live with plenty of activities to do for folks who are the OP's age.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by SlackerRudy

Hey, I'm a Florida native and thinking about moving to Augusta in the fall. I had a few questions.

Is it cheaper taxes, fess, insurance overall to live in the GA or SC side of Augusta?

GENERALLY, the SC side of the river will be cheaper when it comes to taxes and fees, particularly living outside the city limits of North Augusta or Aiken since you will only pay county taxes that way. There is income tax in both GA and SC, unlike Florida. Both FL and SC have a state income tax rate of 6%, while GA is 4%. However, the local taxes bring the sales tax in the municipalities in the CSRA to 8% total in GA and SC. Gas prices tend to go back and forth as to which side is cheaper than the other. GA waived their state gas tax for much of Covid, which made them a good bit cheaper for a long time, but that ended on January 11th and we are back and forth on who is cheapest again. Costco, Sam's Club and Murphy are generally the cheapest for gas.

Originally Posted by SlackerRudy

Does it snow in Augusta?

Rarely. As in maybe every few years and no more than an inch. If it's more, or if ice is also falling, then be prepared for pandemonium and power outages for a few days. 97% of the time you won't have an issue with snow here, though.

Originally Posted by SlackerRudy

Which areas should I avoid? My kids are grown up so school districts don't matter. Me and my wife are early 50's and just want little drama when it comes to a neighborhood. We are looking to rent either a house or apartment until we figure out if we want to be there long term.

For what areas to avoid, I would be painting broad generalizations about areas without knowing you. If you go visit apartments or other rentals, you can pretty much tell from the surrounding area if it's a place you want to live or not. I find that in this area, those assumptions are generally accurate when it comes to areas to avoid.

Originally Posted by SlackerRudy

Which areas should I look at?

Honestly it depends on what you're accustomed to and what you are looking for here. If you are looking for urban living in apartments or lofts, then there are many choices for that near the downtown Augusta area. Downtown Aiken has much less in that regard, but there are some gems there if you can find any availability. You can also find plenty of apartments in the suburban areas around here in both GA and SC, though there are many more apartments on the GA side. If looking for a house and neighborhood living, anything in GA or SC in a neighborhood that was started after 2005 or so is going to have an HOA. If HOA's aren't your thing, there are plenty of older homes scattered throughout the area in suburban or semi-rural areas. For any significant space/acreage you'll want to look further out from the core. Places like the Hephzibah area in Augusta, Appling or Harlem in Columbia County, or on the SC side in Edgefield county or rural Aiken county. Lexington county is not considered part of the CSRA, but if you get out that far your property taxes will exponentially increase. Buying and renting have both gone up around here just like everywhere else. Renting doesn't seem to have gone up quite as drastically as buying has, but I feel like rental rates around here had already gone up before the housing market skyrocketed.

Originally Posted by SlackerRudy

How is traffic? I know it won't be like Miami, Tampa or Orlando. But does it take 20 minutes to get across town, or an hour?

You can easily get from Evans on the far West/Northwest edge of the suburban CSRA to the far outskirts of North Augusta or even Aiken within 40 minutes or so. But just Evans to downtown can be done in 15 minutes or so. Just like many places, traffic gets worse around rush hour, but it's usually still pretty manageable with the worst spots being Riverwatch Parkway and in the vicinity of its interchange with I-20. The medical district near downtown can get a little sticky in the morning rush due to train traffic as well. You will hear people talk badly about Masters traffic during the Masters golf tournament (which is actually this week), but while it may be bad traffic for around here, anyone used to any amount of traffic woes won't find it much of an issue. The patterns for the tournament are the same morning and afternoon rush as the work rushes. Night life during Masters week can bring about much longer wait times for restaurants, too.