Atlanta's Jewish community

[Newnan]

Just wondering how many Jewish people live in Metro Atlanta and where most of them live. Atlanta has to have one of the largest Jewish population in the southeast US. Just looking for info

[Lady Celeste]

Metro Atlanta's Jewish population is estimated at about 90,000. (2005)

Where is most of the Jewish population concentrated? I would wager the northside has the highest number. North Fulton, North DeKalb, East Cobb, Southern Forsyth and Western Gwinnett probably with the highest precentages. I think however that Jewish people can be found all over metro Atlanta. Outside of South Florida and Washington, D.C., Atlanta does have the highest Jewish population in the south...of course this is from 2001.

If we had to rank the cities based on 2001 numbers they would look like this:

1. Miami - Ft. Lauderdale, FL 331,000

2. West Palm Beach - Boca Raton, FL 167,000

3. Washington, DC-MD- VA-WV 166,000

4. Atlanta, GA 86,000

5. Dallas - Ft. Worth, TX 50,000

6. Houston - Galveston - Brazoria, TX 45,500

7. Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater, FL 45,000

8. Orlando, FL 21,000

9. Sarasota - Brandenton, FL 15,500

10. Austin, TX 13,500

11. Norfolk - Virginia Beach - Newport News, VA - NC 13,500

12. New Orleans, LA 13,000

13. Richmond - Petersburg, VA 13,000

14. San Antonio, TX 11,000

15. Charlotte - Gastonia - Rock Hill, NC - SC 9,000

16. Louisville, KY - IN 8,500

17. Memphis, TN - AR - MS 8,500

18. Ft. Myers - Cape Coral, FL 8,000

I missed some southern cities because my source only listed the top 50 metros in the nation.

Source: American Jewish Year Book, 2002

[Newnan]

there's not many on the southside. Although Fayette county has a good sized Jewish population

[Newnan]

North Dekalb definitely has a large Jewish population. My cousins live in Dunwoody and half of the people in their neighborhood are Jewish

[teshadoh]

There is a large active Jewish community along Lavista Rd off of Briarcliff in Dekalb.

Historically Jews first settled on the north side of Summerhill, where I-20 is now. In the 1900's they settled in Old Fourth Ward & Auburn Ave, before Blacks claimed that commercial center as their home.

[catlike]

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2731

This is a resource regarding Atlanta's Jewish history that I came across while doing some research a few weeks ago.

[Lady Celeste]

Did you guys know that Mr A. L. Neiman and his brother-in-law, Mr Herbert Marcus, were both originally Atlantans before they moved to Dallas to form the now venerable retail establishment Neiman-Marcus?

Just a little retail history along with some Jewish Atlantan history.

[teshadoh]

So Atlanta could have started both Rich's (as it did) & Neiman Marcus, interesting...

[Jerseyman4]

15. Charlotte - Gastonia - Rock Hill, NC - SC 9,000

Im suprised with this number. Id expect more than this

[dixiecupdrinking]

My high school (Woodward) had a pretty big proportion of Jewish kids and nearly all of them lived in Sandy Springs or Dunwoody. Some even strayed as far as East Cobb or Buckhead!

[Andrea]

My high school (Woodward) had a pretty big proportion of Jewish kids and nearly all of them lived in Sandy Springs or Dunwoody. Some even strayed as far as East Cobb or Buckhead!

There used to be a signficant number of Jewish families in Morningside and Johnson Estates. Many also live in Buckhead, although like everyone else they're obviously scattered all over town.

[teshadoh]

Im suprised with this number. Id expect more than this

More from transplants? Being a small southern city - Charlotte didn't have a large Jewish community, nor any sizable ethnic community. It was more comparable with other Piedmont & foothill cities of the south, predominately White with an emphasis on British (English, Irish, Scottish).

Atlanta - & don't ask me why - did attract a Jewish community in the 1800's. One resource I read once, described a specific community from Spain (I believe it was) that settled in Atlanta & Montgomery at the same time. But a larger number of retail businesses (as was the practice at the time) were owned by Jews as well as manufacturing plants such as the nearby ex-mill in Cabbagetown - the Elsas family.

I'll be honest, I didn't know of anyone Jewish until 12th grade (likely wasn't aware of their religion) in Rock Hill, SC. It was brought to my attention b/c our study hall teacher remarked "... all Jews are going to hell" in front of a Jewish student. Larger cities attracted Jewish populations, otherwise they were scarce in the south.

[Newnan]

Does anybody know how many Jewish people live in each Metro County. I'd like to know.

[Newnan]

The new updated Jewish population count according to the Atlanta Jewish Times is........120,000!

[Lady Celeste]

Newnan, this story mush have been written just for you.

Atlanta's Jewish Population Increases.

Atlanta now has the 11th-largest Jewish population in America, up from 17th place a decade ago.

A study commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta said 119,800 Atlantans identify themselves as Jewish, up 60 percent from the last study in 1995.

Read the story here:

Jewish numbers show big jump

LARGEST JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S.

1. New York 1,412,000

2. Los Angeles 519,200

3. Chicago 270,500

4. Broward County, Fla. 234,000

5. San Francisco Bay area 228,000

6. Boston 227,300

7. Washington, D.C. 215,600

8. Philadelphia 206,100

9. South Palm Beach County, Fla. 131,300

10. Greater Palm Beach County, Fla. 124,250

11. Atlanta 119,800

JEWISH POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN ATLANTA

[Newnan]

Wow, excellent news. I'm not Jewish myself, but I enjoy seeing religious diversity. (I'd also like to find out the number of Moslems in the metro as well) The Jewish presence in Alpharetta is pretty impressive. I was driving through there today and saw a number of Jewish Temples and Community centers. Celeste- any ideas about the next big Jewish community in the metro? Anywhere on the southside??

[Lady Celeste]

Right now I don't see a big push to the southside in the Jewish community. That could change but in most large metros around the area, the population tends to stay compact. In relative terms anyway. I think the V that is formed by I-85 over to I-75 well continually capture most of the Jewish community.

[ironchapman]

Newnan, this story mush have been written just for you.

Atlanta's Jewish Population Increases.

Read the story here:

Jewish numbers show big jump

You beat me to it, Celeste! (Probably because my Internet was down until just a few minutes ago)

The numbers didn't really surprise me, but the ranking sure did.

[Lady Celeste]

I am baffled as to why they broke Palm Beach County into two. Why not just add the two with Broward County? They are next to each other and are much smaller than metro Atlanta? Just call it Broward/Palm Beach for a total of 489,550. That would make it number 3 behind Noew York City and Los Angeles. That would only push Atlanta to 9th place.

[ironchapman]

Where'd the top part of your post come from?

As for the Palm Beach part, I'd be interested as well.

Maybe it's just a conspiracy by Florida to appear in more rankings. .........................

[tombarnes]

I'd have thought that Dade County would be on the list as well.

[kayman]

I am baffled as to why they broke Palm Beach County into two. Why not just add the two with Broward County? They are next to each other and are much smaller than metro Atlanta? Just call it Broward/Palm Beach for a total of 489,550. That would make it number 3 behind Noew York City and Los Angeles. That would only push Atlanta to 9th place.

I can answer that question for you Celeste. Palm Beach County is on the longest (north-to-south orientation wise) counties in Florida (its nearly 50 miles from North to South border to border. In reality if you stay in the region, you can tell that southern Palm Beach County (Boca Raton) is more in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale axis of influenced while northern Palm Beach is more in the West Palm Beach axis of influence. As strange as it may sound, the size of the area doesn't really matter rather the number of people and commuting/service area habits in the area itself. South Florida is 3 different submarkets (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach). However, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are grouped together most of the time and 9 out of 10 times West Palm is its own market. In other words, unless Miami-Dade is included in the mix, Broward and Palm Beach won't be grouped together.