Atlanta isn't just Delta Air Line's largest hub but also the air travel giant's hometown and the city's largest consumer employer with a workforce of more than 30,000 in Atlanta alone. In fact, Delta was the largest employer in Atlanta overall for nearly three decades (only recently eclipsed by Emory University by just a few hundred).
Delta Air Line's campus is located just north of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, across the street from the 8L/26R runway near the Renaissance Concourse Airport Hotel. Like the airport itself, Delta sits firmly in between Interstates 85 and 75, south of where the two join up to create the Downtown Connector. Every day, thousands of commuting workers converge on the site, many coming from apartments Downtown, Midtown, elsewhere in the city and throughout the suburbs.
So, if you factor in variables like distance from work, commute time to get there and back and value of living convenient to the campus, which are the best apartments in Atlanta for Delta Air Lines headquarters employees?
The Delta Air Lines campus north of the airport features 10 or so large buildings, including a training center, a customer operations center, a staffing center, the Delta Flight Museum and even a Walmart open to Delta employees only.
The Delta headquarters is next door to the world's busiest airport, making it a busy and frustrating commute for employees any time of day as they fight departure and arrival highway traffic while just trying to get to work. All of this is happening in a city where commuters citywide spend an average of nearly two hours on the road each day on their way to and from the office.
The nature of the airline industry is that workers come and go at all times during the day, so all travel times must be considered. At the most ideal time (an average over an entire day), the average fastest measured commute for workers heading to Delta headquarters runs about 20 minutes driving at the fastest average speed of 42.4 miles per hour.
If you're coming south from near Midtown or north from places like Union City, Riverdale or Forest Park, the ideal best case commute is about 15 minutes to Delta. For employees traveling from suburbs along the Perimeter like Decatur or Smyrna, the optimal commute time can be up to a half hour.
Unlike companies downtown like Coca-Cola, the commute to Delta varies greatly depending on where you're traveling and at what time of day. The area can be a relief from having to travel the Downtown Connector for some, making apartments south of the I-75/85 split attractive for Delta staff.
And of course, the busier the traffic heading to Hartsfield, the longer the commute. Delta employees can expect longer travel times around holidays and school breaks when more people are flying out of and into the airport.
Considering its relative isolation at Hartsfield, most Delta employees are looking at either a long commute by distance or by sitting in rush hour traffic for a good chunk of your drive. Luckily, there are a number of suitable apartments in puddle-jumping distance from the Delta complex workers who rent can consider.
There are 10 identified rental properties within about seven to 10 minutes from Delta headquarters. All of these convenient apartments save between seven and 11 minutes of time in the car than the average Delta employee, with much more commute-time savings during peak rush hour times.
The Embarcadero Club, just four miles to the southeast of Delta off the junction of where I-85 joins the I-285 Perimeter and the fancily-named Residences of Central Park (a/k/a Central Park Apartments), five miles due east off Camp Creek Parkway, are the only properties that save drivers more than 10 minutes of commute time.
| Rank | Name of Property | Commute Time Saved |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Embarcadero Club | 11.1 mins |
| 2 | The Residences of Central Park | 10.1 mins |
| 3 | Brookside Park | 9.2 mins |
| 4 | Village Highlands | 9.1 mins |
| 5 | Regency Park | 8.6 mins |
| 6 | Dodson Courtyard | 8.5 mins |
| 7 | Villages At Carver | 8.0 mins |
| 8 | Willow Way Apartments | 7.6 mins |
| 9 | Ashford at Stone Ridge | 7.3 mins |
| 10 | Meadow View | 7.1 mins |
The closer you can rent to Delta headquarters, the more you can cut your commute time. But the time you spend sitting in your car isn't the only result on which to base your apartment choice. A potential renter must consider not just proximity or commuting time but the value of the rent at each apartment property, as well.
After all, if you would be paying $700 a month for the closest apartment but you can get a comparable one for $100 less just a bit farther away, that's a better deal. These are apartments that balance travel time saved to the office with lease value.
So, of all the rental properties in Atlanta near Delta, which fare the best in that magical ratio of lease prices to commuting minutes saved? To gauge an answer, we calculated how much faster or slower the commute interval to Delta headquarters is for every property in Metro Atlanta relative to the overall average for all DAL employees, then divided that number by each of those property's average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment. That quotient determines the savings an employee would enjoy in comparison to the saved commuting time.
Among those properties deemed to be the best value for the distance, four of the top 10 did not appear on the earlier list of minutes of commute time saved, all of which only cut under seven minutes on average. Two of the best value properties even top seven to eight driving miles away, which highlight their monetary value.
| Rank | Name of Property | Avg 2-BR Rent | Rent per Commute Minute Saved | Commute Time Saved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Residences of Central Park | $737.00 | $72.72 | 10.1 mins |
| 2 | Dodson Courtyard | $654.00 | $77.15 | 8.5 mins |
| 3 | Embarcadero Club | $906.00 | $81.37 | 11.1 mins |
| 4 | Village Highlands | $825.00 | $90.32 | 9.1 mins |
| 5 | Regency Park | $789.00 | $91.53 | 8.6 mins |
| 6 | Willow Way Apartments | $695.00 | $91.63 | 7.6 mins |
| 7 | Lakeside Reserve | $742.00 | $105.98 | 7.0 mins |
| 8 | Highland Willows | $710.00 | $115.11 | 6.2 mins |
| 9 | Gardenwood | $738.00 | $124.36 | 5.9 mins |
| 10 | Highland Woods | $876.00 | $129.53 | 6.8 mins |
So, what's the top overall apartment in Atlanta for Delta Air Lines headquarters employees, based on commuting time and lease value?
The property at the closest travel distance to Delta HQ is Embarcadero Club, which is just eight minutes away by car based on an ideal commute time over the course of a day. That's a savings of 11 non-rush hour commuting minutes compared to the average-best daylong travel time for all DAL workers of 19 minutes at an average of 30 mph. Even during rush hour, the commute to the Embarcadero Club is just 9 minutes, 70 percent faster than the 31 minutes on average for all employees at a crawl of just 24 mph.
But when you factor in lease prices and determine the value of distance and rental prices combined, The Residences of Central Park (Central Park Apartments) is the clear winner. With a shade more than 10 minutes of saved commute time, the property is the second-most convenient to Delta, but its average lease price of $737 for a two-bedroom unit gives the wooded College Park complex a stellar rent-per-commute-time-saved value of $72.72.
As the top value for distance and price together, The Residences of Central Park (Central Park Apartments) is the Apartment Guide choice for best apartment in Atlanta for Delta Air Lines employees.
The rent information included in this article is based on March 2020 multifamily-rental property inventory on Apartment Guide and Rent.com and is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein do not constitute financial advice or a pricing guarantee for any apartment.
Michael is a Philadelphia-based writer with a variety of interests, including music, TV, politics, travel and sports (Fly Eagles Fly!). His background includes a decade as a programming executive in network television, six years as a marketing executive at a technology company and time at two magazines and two advertising agencies. He also sits on the board of a non-profit law firm that assists veterans with disabilities. His work has been featured in nexxt.com, Ale Street News and Radio TV Interview Report Magazine. Michael is a proud Syracuse grad (Newhouse) who has lived in Kansas, Chicago, Saratoga and beyond.