Atlanta Growth Est 4/02-4/03

[Guest donaltopablo]

Phoenix out of the ashes: City of Atlanta paces population gains for 10-county region

By JULIE HAIRSTON

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

County Estimated population

as of April '03 # added from

4/1/02-3/31/03

Cherokee 164,100 7,399

Clayton 253,500 5,661

Cobb 630,600 7,616

DeKalb 691,300 8,478

Douglas 101,900 3,242

Fayette 98,400 2,379

Fulton 850,200 11,398

Gwinnett 658,200 23,251

Henry 146,400 9,020

Rockdale 74,700 1,530

Figures include municipalities in each county

Atlanta 432,900 5,475

in Fulton 401,000 4,767

in DeKalb 31,900 708

Metro Atlanta's dramatic population growth has continued uninterrupted despite job losses and economic downturn.

Population estimates released today by the Atlanta Regional Commission show that the 10-county Atlanta region has added an average of almost 80,000 people a year since 2000. The region has almost 3.7 million residents, after having grown by 2.3 percent a year since the 2000 Census set metro Atlanta's population at 3.4 million.

The 10 counties, from April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003, added 79,974 residents.

Charles "Chick" Krautler, ARC director, said the region's climate and housing prices are very attractive to young people. And despite recent job losses, metro Atlanta continues to offer enough job opportunities to keep most of them working.

ARC Planning Director Tom Weyandt said the sluggish economy might deter growth a little in the next year or two, "but there's no reason to believe we won't continue to have pretty healthy population growth."

While the region's suburban population is rising briskly, the commission's estimates show that the city of Atlanta is not only continuing to add new residents, but that migration to the city may be picking up even more steam.

Behind Gwinnett, Fulton County, the region's largest county, acquired the second-largest number of new residents in the past year, the commission figures show. Almost a third of those new residents chose homes in the city.

The estimates also show a surge in new residents for the portion of Atlanta in DeKalb County. That sector of the city, which is far smaller than the Fulton part, grew by a larger proportion of new residents than the city as a whole.

Significant urban growth showed up for the first time in decades in the 2000 Census, when Atlanta's population finally reversed its 30-year downward trend. That year, the city logged 1,200 more residents than it had in the 1990 Census.

But in the last four years, Atlanta has added more than 16,000 new residents, according to ARC estimates, which are based on housing stock, vacancy rates and average household size as well as other factors.

[Buck]

This is fantastic news! As I said at another particular website , I am throwing a party when Atlanta passes 500,000.

[Guest donaltopablo]

I'm coming! Hell, if you don't throw it, I just might.

[urban designer]

Charlotte at 600,000

[Guest donaltopablo]

How does this do with Atlanta?

Good question, what does this have to do with Atlanta?

[GA native_CFT]

That guy is just trying to rattle us Atlantan's chains! Sure the population of Charlotte is bigger, but the metro area surpasses Charlotte's by leaps and bounds!

[cheeriokid61]

Seriously. Nashville's city populaiton, after all, is bigger than Atlanta's city population, but the city is no where near Atlanta in terms of Atlanta. We don't want to be.

Anyway, wow! That's a lot of growth. Keep chuggin along there, Atlanta. Give the Southeast one of the biggest powerhouses in the country.

[CtownMikey]

shouldnt this be in a georgia thread??? if not.. then i dont see why charlotte can't join in on this discussion

[ironchapman]

The reason this wasn't pu tinto the Georgia forum (or at least the way it seems to me) was because this thread is very old, dating back apparently to the very beginnings of UP. Until it resurfaced now, it hadn't been replied to since October of 2003. I guess it should be sent to the GA forum now, though.

[CtownMikey]

that's true.. i totally overlooked the date.

[teshadoh]

Since the last report - ARC's population estimate for Atlanta for 2004 shows an increase of 2000. Sure - not an incredible growth spurt but I think it's significant that it is increasing despite the city's loss of lower income residents moving out of the city & that smaller family sizes are replacing them. Typically the sign of gentrification in a neighborhood is often a population loss, as neighborhoods such as Virginia Highlands, despite it doing better now than ever before - has fewer residents than it did in the 1960's.

Otherwise it's interesting to see the popular forummers from other sites that no longer visit here, though there is one person that is still here...

[Spartan]

Indeed. The older threads can easily be overlooked

[Metroinspect.]

The 2004 Census estimate shows Atlanta Metro 4,708,297 people living in the 28-county area, moving it up two spots to the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States

Photo go to Atlanta Metro Photo

[Martinman]

The 2004 Census estimate shows Atlanta Metro 4,708,297 people living in the 28-county area, moving it up two spots to the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States

Photo go to Atlanta Metro Photo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that map.

One interesting thing that the map reveals is that 9 of the counties that were added to the metro since the last census have a population of 25000 or less (one with 25000 the rest have less than that). No wonder I never heard of most of them. With such small populations and apparently few local jobs, that makes it relatively easy for the commuting patterns to dictate inclusion into the metro.

[Lady Celeste]

ARC: Atlanta regional population at 3.8 million

New numbers are out for 4/04 -4/05.

Atlanta near metro is increasing in population at a faster rate now.

The ARC consist of the the 10 immediate counties.

They are: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale and the city of Atlanta.

Growth of 97,600 is not what it used to be in the late 90s early 00's but it's definitely nothing to sneeze at. Even the small city of Atlanta proper grew by 7,200 people. I guess this explains all the condos going up.

Read for yourself:

10 County Growth fro 4/04 -4/05

[Mr.Marc]

^I also read an article about this in AJC.