Atlanta is an island of civilization compared to most of the south (including decent sized cities like birmingham which are not). Don't excuse GA by citing Atlanta.
Exactly. Cities are always outliers. If you didn't tell someone they were in the south, they probably wouldn't know it if they stayed within downtown Atlanta. But my experiences between small towns in the south and Atlanta (I currently live in ATL and have lived in the south since 2001) are VASTLY different.