Go south, young lady, and grow up with the city.
In Atlanta, "drive till you qualify" is silly: to find a real deal, you need to get closer to downtown. Buckhead may be expensive, but some of the neighborhoods farther south, especially the ones between downtown and Decatur, are not. Examples include Old Fourth Ward, Reynoldstown, Kirkwood, East Atlanta, Grant Park, Ormewood Park, etc. Depending on your price range, even some neighborhoods closer to Buckhead, such as Loring Hights, Berkeley Park or Underwood Hills might be viable. And if you're okay with your current square footage and don't care about a yard, even condos in Midtown or Atlantic Station should be reasonable.
(Pro tip: Other than on the downtown connector, traffic in the suburbs is actually much worse than it is in Atlanta proper.)