The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently released that, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, Atlanta’s population has officially surpassed half a million residents. The AJC says, “The city added 12,000 new residents between 2022 and 2023, and ranked sixth for population growth nationwide. Atlanta reached a population of 510,800 in July of last year, ranking between Kansas City, Missouri and Mesa City, Arizona.”
And if you’ve lived in Atlanta for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard the phrase “we full,” which refers to Atlanta’s population.
Other than that short period of population decline after 2020, Atlanta’s population has been steadily increasing since 2010.
Wait… we didn’t already have half a million residents?
With all the traffic, busy restaurants and crowded public spaces, it might feel like way more people live here, but actually, Atlanta’s population growth stalled and then began to decline after 202o. The AJC says, “Atlanta briefly surpassed 500,000 residents in 2019 according to previously released census data, but those numbers fell with the 2020 Census and subsequent yearly estimates.”
The population outside of Atlanta
Metro Atlanta isn’t the only growing population in the state, however. The smaller cities and towns surrounding Atlanta are currently growing exponentially as well. For example, Loganville, Chamblee and Grayson have all grown by, according to the AJC, “5% or more,” and “Chattahoochee Hills, Kennesaw and Douglasville had growth rates of about 3%.” And probably most impressively, “Cumming, about 40 miles from the center of Atlanta, saw a 23% increase from 2022 to 2023. The Forsyth County city has about 10,000 residents according to the estimates.”
Atlanta’s population is now more than 500,000 people, and we definitely feel it!
This isn’t exactly shocking news, seeing as Atlanta is the #1 best place to start a career in the U.S., and in the top 100 best places to live in the U.S.!