Fifty years ago this past August I was born in the same hospital where decades later my children would be born and I would say good-bye to both of my parents. I remember when there was no Interstate highway, only six government high schools and the fire department was all volunteer. That was before my fellow Cobb County residents Ty Pennington, Travis Tritt or Julie (Julia) Roberts were born.
The seat of Cobb County is Marietta. I was, in fact born in Marietta and that is where I currently live. As a side note I live in the home my parents bought the year after I graduated high school. So let's just say I am a little familiar with the history of my town and I would love for you to know a little about it, too, but not the histroy so much as the today.
Earlier I mentioned this is the home of a few famous people and Travis still lives in the area but a bit to the west. My town, Marietta, and more specifically East Marietta (East Cobb) is quite afluent. Many of the local sports stars and other celebrities have made this area their home. With established neighborhoods and some of the highest performing high schools in the nation such as prestigious Walton High School right here in my neighborhood, East Cobb is a highly desirable location to live and raise a family.
Our culture is highly diverse with people from every thinkable background making their home here. We have a large Asian population, big middle eastern population and many other nationalilities in the area. This leads to, of course, a vast selection of restaurants with food and atmosphere from around the world.
Today the population of Marietta, Georgia is about 68,000 and with the exception of income our demographics are very similar to those of Beverly Hills, California. Housing prices and values, on the other hand, are lower mearning you can get much more for much less. The average home value has declined over the last five months from $288,320 to $269,915 but there is also good news for sellers as inventory has also decreased steadily from over 2,300 one year ago to less than 1,850 today. This is considered a nine month inventory even though one year ago the average number of days on market was 113 and today that number is 200.
Finding work, professional, career or other, is not difficult in Marietta. In fact our unemployment rate today is estimated at only 2.4% with a median household income of $112,572. Big employers include the government 
(31,000 jobs), Lockheed Martin, Bosch, IBM, GE, Coca-Cola, and others. There are 238,000 jobs in Marietta. Cobb County population is reported at an estimated 660,000.
Marietta and Cobb County are home to the F22 war plane, the Atlanta Country Club where the PGA Classic was held for many years, and Six Flags over Georgia (more recently called Six Flags Under Water!) Come on over and let me show you Lost Mountain, the Big Chicken and some really good food and fun!
If you are planning on moving to the Atlanta area and are looking for a somewhat conservative but youngish area call me. I can tell you things your agent can't and I can also welcome you here as a life long resident and even tell you enough local secrets to get you started! Anyone is welcome to Cobb County - after all we have Alton Brown (Iron Chef/Good Eats) and John Patrick (T2000 from Terminator/CSI New York). Oh, and I grew up with Randall Bently, Sr., father of Randall Bentley, Jr., who stars in Heroes.
My name is Ken Cook, Jr., and I am a well experienced small business man and mortgage lender. Call me at 678-439-8683 it's not an answering machine it's a ring everywhere. Don't leave a message, just say your name, nothing else, you only get 4 seconds :)
Some data may have come from:
http://zipskinny.com
http://city-data.com
http://altoresearch.com
http://wikipedia.org
http://jobs.aol.com
Ken Cook - Web coder (I write the programs that make the whole world zing!) (678) 439-8683 Anything your mind can conceive I can create - online that is!
Social Media Edge Radio - seriously true professionals who won't misguide you with some crap they made up to sell more books and seminars. Every Tuesday at Noon eastern.
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NOTICE: I have been writing in this blog since July 2006. Some of the older articles may contain information that has changed. Please check the date and phone me if you have any questions.
I've been there... actually, I used to live there... East Cobb (not far from the old office) and near Power's Ferry and Delk... but you knew that...
Unlike Lane....I've never been there, but it sure sounds cool!
Reading about a community written by someone who clearly loves it is refreshing.
That unemployment rate looks surprisingly low.
Ken - I didn't realize that you were born and raised here. Marietta is absolutely lovely. We moved here in 1993 and have loved it ever since.
This is a great blog on a great city! Congrats on the feature.
Kathy
Ken, Good post. It sounds like a wonderful place. But like anything, the details are important. Very close to the very good schools are very awful schools. East Cobb, West Cobb, South Cobb, City of Marietta are very different in both demographics, housing and schools. That's why it's important to have someone like you who can tell it like it is so people know exactly what to expect in each area.
Ken Good report - documentary = travelogue on "your town" Karen
Hi Ken,
Nice...my father lives in Marietta. He moved there a couple years ago, after living in the NorthEast for the last 10 years. His wife is originally from Atlanta, so they thought they'd move back and try it out...they love it. I am going out there in one week, perhaps we'll bump into each other! Either way, now I know a good person to refer to my father should they want to buy property in the future.
Matt
Yes I am very familiar. My parents actually still live in East Cobb.
Ken - Great memories and description of a once-quiet country town. I too was born in Marietta, and remember when the streets around the square were all paved with bricks; remember the old courthouse on the square; and movies at the Strand for fifty-cents. BTW, Joanne Woodward grew up in Marietta. Her parents shopped in my father's grocery store on Cherokee St.
My wife and I got engaged on the square in Marietta. We were going to Kennesaw Mountain but loved the charm of downtown Marietta. It reminded us both of her home town in Hudson, OH.
sounds like a nice place unemployment is literally nothing compared to where i am at I just learned that it is 13.5 .....:-(
Gosh Ken...I think you might have talked me into it.
The 2.4% unemployment is astonishing. Of course I like in Michigan where we are 15.7%.
I've been through there many times on my travels down south.
Alton Brown is a good enough reason for me! I lived in Georgia for a little while, but never made it to Marietta. Sounds lovely though.
Hey Ken... Enjoyed your post. My family lived in east Cobb for awhile too. We were in Chimney Springs, and my oldest daughter went to Walton until Lassiter was built, and finished there. She's now an attorney in Augusta. We built our home in Chimney Sorings in 1980 for $98,000. Sold it when we moved to S.C. in 1984 for $151,000. I noticed ti was on the market in 2006 for $408,000. So I know things have changed a bit in your neck of the woods. If you ever need anything in Covington, give me a shout.
Ken - My entire family love "Good Eats" with Alton Brown. Maybe we need to visit so that we can meet him someday. Oh....and you, too! :)
Or as some folks like to call it "May retta". My wife was just back there last weekend visiting old college roommates from her days at what was once the Woman's College of Georgia in Milledgeville.
Have to agree with Jason - we love Alton Brown too - especially his two road trip specials.
Michael
Cool! Surprise feature, thank you. I was really just shooting for some Google juice but friends are much MUCH better. If you're ever in Atlanta give me a call and come see my town. I'll be more than happy to show you around and I bet we can find something to eat :)
Lenn that's the unemployment rate for East Cobb. Atlanta is much higher and Georgia is either right at or just above 10%