It’s that time of year again! Today ARC releases its 2017 Population Estimates.  How has the region changed over the last year?  How does our recent growth compare with years (and decades) past?  Where are we experiencing the greatest growth in the region?  Read on for the answers to these questions, and more…

Highlights from this snapshot:

  • The 10-county Atlanta region is now home to 4,480,100 in 2017, up from 4,401,800 in 2016. From April 1, 2016 to April 1, 2017 the region added 78,300 new residents. This represents the largest single-year increase since 2007-2008. The Atlanta region’s 2017 population is larger than that of 24 states.
  • From 2016 to 2017, Fulton added 17,100 new residents, the largest single-year growth in the region. Next were Gwinnett with 16,900 new residents, Cobb with 12,800 new residents, and Cherokee with 7,300 new residents.
  • The City of Atlanta, too, is experiencing continued impressive growth. Again fueled by a boom in multi-family development, the city added 9,900 new residents between 2016 and 2017, the largest single-year estimated population increase since the Great Recession.
  • In 2016, there were over 27,100 new residential units permitted in the 10-county region, which was almost 5,000 more than the number permitted in 2015, and the highest annual performance of the decade. Still, current building permit activity for the 10-county region is quite a bit lower than pre-recession permit levels.

Click through the slides below or download the PDF Regional Snapshot: Population Estimates August 2017