A recent study analyzed how young adult populations have shifted geographically in the last 20 years across the United States. This dataset, accessed at migrationpatterns.org, was originally published along with a paper by Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau titled “The Radius of Economic Opportunity: Evidence from Migration and Local Labor Markets.” The full findings of the study are available at this website.

The dataset can be explored interactively and allows filtering migration patterns by race/ethnicity and income level of the parents. The patterns take place across so-called “commuter zones,” county-wide aggregations that approximate metro areas. For this snapshot, we have taken the original national dataset and looked at net migration patterns across all income and racial/ethnic categories for only the Atlanta commuter zone.

The main takeaways for Atlanta’s migration patterns are as follows:

  • The data presented here profile metro to metro migration trends for young adults, age 16-26,  between the years of 2000 and 2018.
  • The largest cohort of young adult in-migration that Atlanta sees comes from low-income Black movers. In fact, of all young movers into Atlanta during this period, 78% came from Black movers. Atlanta has a reputation as a place of opportunity for Black populations, and these data support that.
  • In fact, almost all of the young adult in-migration that the Atlanta area has experienced since 2000 has come from movers of color. Compared to some of its peers, the Atlanta has one of the lowest net in-migration from white movers.
  • The largest income cohort (across all race/ethnicity groups) of young adult in-migration that Atlanta sees comes low-income. Of all the young adult in-migration into Atlanta during this period,  about 72% come from the lowest income quartiles.
  • The top commuter zone of origin for migration into Atlanta is New York City, while the top commuter zone destination for migration out of Atlanta is LaGrange (GA)—followed closely by…New York City.

For more context and visuals related to this study, download the Atlanta Migration Patterns (PDF), or peruse the slideshare below: