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When most people think of Atlanta they probably don’t think of the cost of living. More likely, people think of the ’96 Olympics, our airport, or a host of other attributes. Atlanta’s cost of living, especially housing costs, is a real advantage when compared to other major cities with a large technology community.

On the commercial real estate side, Atlanta is much more affordable than other population centers. In my class A building, we’re subleasing office space on the 34th floor for $14/ft while the direct rate on the space is $31/ft. Our office is one of the nicest in the city for a technology company. To get an idea of that cost, the same space would be twice as expensive in Boston and three times as expensive in New York.

On the residential real estate side, Atlanta has a glut of condos making it possible to get a new construction high rise one bedroom unit for $120k and a two bedroom unit for $200k. These are new condos in a brand new building. Single family homes can be purchased new in the suburbs for $200k while in-town homes can be purchased for $350k.

Apartments are also affordable in Atlanta. Two bedroom units are available for under $1,000/mo while renting condos or rooms from owners can easily be found for $500/mo. There’s a diverse range of housing options available, and many are available with flexible terms.

Cost of living is an advantage for startups in Atlanta.

As you might have heard, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is the busiest in the world, based on passenger traffic. While Delta is the largest carrier out of Atlanta, AirTran, based in Orlando, has Atlanta as their flight hub, and does a great of providing competition to keep flight costs in check. In addition, many of Delta’s flights, and all of AirTran’s flights, have WiFi on board for browsing the internet at 30,000 feet.

You might have also heard that you can’t go anywhere in the South without going through Hartsfield-Jackson. The benefit, for those living in Atlanta, is that you can go direct to most any place in the U.S., and many places around the world. Direct flights are a big benefit of living in Atlanta.

Another benefit of having such a major airport is the cost of flights. Due to the competition between Delta, AirTran, and others, many flights are affordable allowing startups to be more capital efficient. We routinely fly round trip to major cities for $200. It is hard to beat that.

The Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is an advantage for Atlanta startups.

Tip: Park in the North Terminal parking even if you’re flying Delta in the South Terminal, as it usually has more spots open that are closer to the terminal.

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) in Atlanta is one of the oldest publicly funded incubators in the country. From their website, here are some of the services and programs they offer:

• Brown Bag
• CapVenture
• Office Space
• Startup Showcase
• Startup Resources
• Much more…

Just within the past few months, the ATDC has revamped their model to make it inclusive of all startups, and not just startups that were based on protected IP. The new ATDC is also branching out and holding office hours in several different suburbs of Atlanta. If you haven’t had the chance to get involved with the ATDC, I would highly recommend it as all of their employees are first class.

The ATDC is an Atlanta advantage for all startups in the area.

Arguably the number one reason why Atlanta is great for startups is the Georgia Institute of Technology. If you didn’t already know, Georgia Tech is a force nationally as it is ranked in the top five of engineering schools. I’ve hired many software engineers from Georgia Tech over the years and almost all of them have been excellent in their programming abilities.

In addition to the technical talent from Georgia Tech, the school also has a business school that has risen significantly in the rankings, and is now ranked in the top 25 nationally. Now, of course, rankings aren’t everything, but the rankings do help with recruiting. Georgia Tech has a surprisingly high number of out of state students, and thus acts as draw to bring smart people from all over the country to Atlanta. I can think of three developers alone that work for me that moved to Atlanta to attend Georgia Tech from out of state, and naturally they stayed after graduation.

Georgia Tech is a major advantage for startups in Atlanta.

Atlanta added more people than any other metro region since 2000. Naturally, a large percentage of this population growth is from young professionals, age 25 – 34, informally known as the “young and restless.” These young professionals are looking to advance their careers and are the perfect people for startups.

TAG, the largest technology group in the state, recently added a Young Professionals society to promote networking and learning among this fast growing demographic. Forbes, in 2007, ranked Atlanta as #3 best city in the country for young professionals. An article just last month in the AJC revealed that Forsyth County is among the top 10 counties in the country for young professionals that make over $100k/year.

What does this mean for startups? This means that there’s a highly educated workforce here, that’s early in their career, and ready to make an impact on the world. Young professionals are an advantage for Atlanta startups.