re: Atlanta, Charlotte or Nashville

Answers for Charlotte..

Okay let’s bring this back to point:
Let’s rank by the following:
Career advancement/opportunities - What’s your career?
Family life (mid 40s) - pretty good. Schools in the city are a crap shoot. private schools, $20k yr for most. Charlotte Schools (CMS) are a disaster most areas.
Amenities (restaurants, shows, parks, etc) - not bad, multiple music venues, get all the big acts, pro sports, ok restaurants, decent off broadway shows, large amusement park.
Housing costs ($800k-$1m) - You can get a decent house for that. Depending on your idea of decent. Just do a search on realtor for an idea.
Ease of access for travel (push between Charlotte and Atl.) - yeah
Long term viability - probably decent

Lived here 15 years. I like Charlotte, wife isn’t as fond. Lots of wealthy new money investment banker types. A pay grade I’ll never get to.
Can’t afford to live in a house that has all the things we’d like, in the areas we’d like. There’s a trade off.
Close to the mountains is big for me..
Close to the coast..not as big a + for me...Cant compare Carolinas Beaches to Gulf Beaches.
Good weekend getaways in Asheville and Charleston (if you can afford a hotel there).