So we hear, these days, about inflation rates [1], national debt [2], international supply chain disruptions [3], and tech job layoffs [4] over and over again. How have all of these headlines, conversations, and experiential touch points formed the opinions, for instance, of the cashier across the checkout aisle or of the person you are line with at the coffee shop? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way we could find out those views, not just those held by our closest friends…
Well, there IS a way! The Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey (MAS) has been conducted– since 2013– to find out what our neighbors in this region think. MAS, now in its 11th year, is the largest survey of perceptions and attitudes in the Atlanta Region and offers a statistically valid snapshot of resident opinions. We’ve just released a new and improved data dashboard to explore the survey results, and we provide an exploration of the tool here! NOTE: it’s not meant for mobile.
So what do the results say about economic sentiment?
*this analysis is completed only using the MAS dashboard for figures and data. You can click on pictures to explore them in the dashboard.
Historical Big Problem Concern Economy
In 2023, residents identified “The Economy” as the second biggest problem at 24% –only two percentage points below the biggest identified problem, Crime. “The Economy” this year was up twelve percentage points—from 12% metro-wide. This increase is abnormally large for the year-to-year change–as seen above in Figure 1.
So which groups metro Atlanta are involved in this rise in concern? Well we can split this into a two-part question.
1. We can look at what areas (geographies) within metro Atlanta are concerned…
2. We can look at which types of people (demographics) are concerned…
Figure 2: Suburban Counties are More Concerned By the Economy than Urban Metro Atlanta Counties
In all counties other than DeKalb and Fulton, a quarter or more (25%) of respondents say that the Economy is the largest problem. For Fulton and DeKalb (lighter shading above in Figure 2), no more than a fifth of their respective county say that
“The Economy” is the largest problem.
This is a sizable difference of opinion between the urban and suburban counties. Will looking at differences of opinion amongst demographics of people will give us any clues?
Figure 3: Middle and Lower Income Classes are More Concerned with The Economy than Upper- Income Class(es)
When we look above (Figure 3) at the level of economic concern by income, the lower and middle class are more likely to rate “The Economy” than are the extremely wealthy (who make over $250,000 a year).
Within the the lower and middle income classes of respondents, it actually appears that the middle class groups (those making between $25,000-$120,000) are most concerned with “The Economy”. Potentially the wealth and wages of the middle class versus expectations for higher quality of life are being strained, compared to the extremely poor (less than $25,000) and the upper middle class ($120,000-$250,000 groups).
Historical Biggest Problem 60k to 120k income
Looking deeper into that statistic in Figure 4, the $60,000-$120,000 for the middle class income group, “The Economy” is of greater concern in 2023 than even Crime. Crime was the #1 concern for all other income groups in metro Atlanta, as well as for this same middle income group, in the previous survey of 2021.
Figure 5: Long-Time Metro Atlanta Residents Have Greater Economic Concern(s)s
Figure 5 shows that those who have lived in metro Atlanta for more than two decades are more concerned about the economy than those who have lived in the metro less than 20 years. And this is not just age -related, as survey results by age cohort indicate that all age groups other than 60+ are nearly equally concerned about the economy. Potentially personal experiences from local job change and local inflation in the metro Atlanta regions over the years have contributed to this rise in concern.
In summary, we can learn quickly from the new MAS dashboard that the economy is the second largest concern in metro Atlanta. Those in the middle class, those who have lived in metro Atlanta the longest, and those who live in the suburbs are the most concerned about the economy in metro Atlanta.
More questions and answers for you to check out on the dashboard might be other economy-related questions such as…
- “How would you come up with $400 for an emergency?” : to see if the rise in concern is related to immediate need problems versus future sentiment.
- “Could you afford to move to another spot in metro Atlanta?”: to evaluate whether economic concerns are related to large expense increases like housing cost (not that there are some MAS housing result overviews here)
- “In 3 years, will living in Metro Atlanta be better, worse, or the same?”: perhaps people’s thoughts on the economy are more driven by their general feelings about near-term future.
This dashboard does not and is not meant to assess or provide any causal research relationships. But it might prove useful to follow up from other research on questions that emerge from these survey results. For instance, why is there such a divide between urban and suburban counties on economic outlook?
We’ll leave you curious enough to read the next post on MAS :). Meanwhile please explore other interesting opinions from your fellow metro Atlantans at the 2023 MAS dashboard. For further questions about survey questions and results, contact Jim Skinner at jskinner@atlantaregional.org. For questions about the dashboard, contact Bill Huang at bhuang@atlantaregional.org.