Thinking of moving to GTO in December, expat family from Atlanta

[jesm]

Eight year full time residents here, but Atlanta was home for many years, so a double welcome.
The town is very safe. Murders are rare. Petty theft is on the rise. Overall much much safer than ATL.
Use all the recommended internet real estate venues. We found that best results come from focusing on a few favored areas or neighborhoods - then going on foot and asking. Ask store owners, ask folks working on their home or just standing around. With decent Spanish and some time you will see plenty. Most not suitable but then comes the right one.
Leon is a huge city 1.5+ million and comes with everything good and bad that you find in large cities everywhere. The southern part of Guanajuato state (Salamanca/Irapuato/Apaseo) is struggling with a wave of violent crime. Murders, kidnapping too frequent. Army has moved in recently. We shall see?
My experience says middle class life is tight with $1000, good with $1500 and near luxurious with $2000.
Things we miss? Sure some, but the supply has greatly improved in last few years. Plus in Leon is a huge US owned supermarket HEB that fills in most gaps. We visit every couple of months.
Subject to lively debate but I say we have 500 or so full time expats. There are social hookups and gathering spots when inclined. Cultural and university events daily, and nightly.
For a variety of reasons GTO has not gentrified like SMA. Not even close. If regulations, economics and demographics remain as they are now I don’t see that changing. SMA however is literally exploding with residential construction targeted to expats. Building codes make that difficult here. That keeps the ambiance but minimizes housing supply. So suitable places are hard to secure and more expensive than many places in Mexico.
Mexico grabbed our hearts on a long ago vacation. She refuses to let go. Our 13 years of full time life here succinctly answers that final question.
Bienvenidos.