Hello. I am either going to move to San Diego or Atlanta. Which city
do you think is better to live in? Specifically which city has the
worst traffic. Thanks for your help.

Hello andyssi:

Thanks for the interesting question. 

I've done some research for you on ranking of these cities for
"livability" and for traffic conditions in particular. *My*
interpretation of the results places San Diego ahead of Atlanta - but
I think you need to review what I've found and determine what *you*
feel about it before making such an important decision.

Here's what I found:

General Livability
******************

Winner - San Diego

America's most livable cities
URL: http://www.mostlivable.org/index.html
Note: See in the lefthand column that San Diego is in the top-10 large
cities. Atlanta nowhere to be seen. Click on "Sand Diego" for more
information.

CNN - Calculators - Best Places to Live
URL: http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/bestplaces/bplive.jsp
Note: Choose 200 cities to be returned, All regions, and Population
from 100,000 to "no limit". Click "Get Results Now". You will see that
for "Basics", San Diego ranks 60th while Atlanta is in 102nd. If you
go back to the original search form, fill in the same values, and
click "Next" instead of "Get Results Now", you can choose specific
parameters that are more/less important to you for a personalized
ranking!

One thing in Atlanta's favor. The following site lists it in the
top-10 for places to live if you're under 40:

America?s Best Places to Live and Work For Those Under Forty
URL: http://www.monstermoving.monster.com/Find_A_Place/FAP_Article/Americas_Best/Live_Work.asp
Quote: "Atlanta, Georgia: Heated growth and a surging job market may
finally be cooling, but this ?capital of the new south? still boasts a
large, vibrant community with a well educated workforce and plenty of
activities to occupy one?s leisure time. One of Arthur
Anderson/Fortune Magazine?s ?Best Cities for Business?, a top fifteen
selection on Rebecca Ryan?s ?Hot Jobs-Cool Communities? list and one
of Sandra Gurvis? ?30 Great Cities to Start Out In?."


Traffic
*******

Winner - This one is a much closer call. You'll need to review the
following studies and decide for yourself which one would be
better/worse for you.

Traffic Congestion in U.S. Cities, 2002
URL: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855647.html
Note: This is the most *thorough* examination of traffic quality that
I could find. It lists annual delay per person in hours - with 70
hours for Atlanta (9th worst) and 51 hours for San Diego (21st worst).

Highway Choice Beats Congestion 
URL: http://www.ncpa.org/pd/state/slapr98d.html
Quote: "Cities with the worst traffic problems: Los Angeles,
Washington, D.C., San Francisco-Oakland, Miami, Chicago,
Seattle-Everett, Detroit, San Diego, San Bernardino-Riverside and
Atlanta."

Highway Advocacy Group Identifies Worst Traffic Snarls in Country
URL: http://biznettravel.blogs.com/travel_log/2004/02/highway_advocac.html
Quote: "The American Highway Users Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy
organization, unveiled its report on America's worst traffic choke
points in its 2004 Bottleneck Study, highlighting 233 bottlenecks in
33 states plus Washington DC. The 13 worst cities for traffic jams
were identified as Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas,
Los Angeles, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, Tampa
and Washington."

Search Strategy (on Google): 
* livability cities US  
* livability cities fortune
* "places to live" fortune
* "worst traffic" "san diego" atlanta
* "worst traffic" OR "worst traffic congestion" 2004 

I hope this helps!

websearcher

Thanks for your help. The information you gave is very helpful.