Regional Snapshot: 2020 Population Estimates-Lowdown on a Slowdown

This regional snapshot presents ARC’s major jurisdiction population estimates for 2020. The 10-county Atlanta region added 63,600 new residents between April 2019 and April 2020, according to those estimates. Overall, the Atlanta region’s population increased by 1.3 percent and now stands at 4,692,000 — more than that of 24 states. A significant drop in job growth this past year has contributed to slowing of the region’s annual population growth, to a lower level than that seen in any of the last four years.

Highlights from this snapshot:

The 10-county Atlanta region is now home to 4,692,000 in 2020, up from 4,628,400 in 2019. From April 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020 the region added 63,600 new residents. This represents slower growth than what the region experienced in each of the previous four years.
The Atlanta region’s 2020 population is larger than that of 24 states.
The lower amount of growth reflects a slowdown in job growth over the past year. (NOTE: These estimates for April 1 do not reflect impacts of any pandemic-related job loss)
From 2019 to 2020, Gwinnett added 15,500 new residents, the largest single-year growth in the region. Next were Fulton with 12,400 new residents, Cobb with 8,200 new residents, and Cherokee with 6,800 new residents.
The City of Atlanta continues to experience steady but slowing growth. With lower levels of multi-family development, the city added 7,700 new residents between 2019 and 2020, down by almost a third from the record increase of 10,900 between 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, there were 22,580 new residential building permits in the 10-county region, which was a drop of over 5,000 permits (primarily a decline in the multifamily sector) from 2018 totals. Current building permit activity for the 10-county region as such remains lower than pre-recession permit levels, and still trails the 1980-2019 average annual level of 31,888.