With a population of 519,145, Atlanta is the thirty-third largest city in the United States, and the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Area is the 8th largest region in the United States, with more than 5,376,285 residents. The Atlanta Combined Statistical Area, an area home to 5,729,304 people, is the most populous in the Southeastern United States, and the city is considered the central metropolis and the unofficial capital of the region.
Internationally known as a top business city and transportation hub, Atlanta is a beta world city and contains the world headquarters of businesses such as The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T Mobility, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, and UPS. Atlanta has the nation's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is located seven miles south of downtown Atlanta, is the busiest airport in the world.
Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, although a small portion of the city limits extends into DeKalb County. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.
At the 2005-2007 American Community Survey Estimates, the city's population was 38.6% White (35.7% non-Hispanic White alone), 57.3% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.3% Asian, 2.4% from some other race and 1.1% from two or more races. 4.7% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [13]
As of July 2007, the city of Atlanta had a population of 519,145, while the Atlanta metropolitan area had an estimated population of 5,376,285. The racial makeup of the city was 56.8% black, 37.7% white, 2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 2.3% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races; 4.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The city of Atlanta also has one of the highest LGBT populations per capita. It ranks 3rd of all major cities, behind San Francisco and slightly behind Seattle, with 12.8% of the city's total population recognizing themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. According to the 2000 United States Census (revised in 2004), Atlanta has the twelfth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, which was at 38.5%. The median income for a household in the city was $51,482 and the median income for a family was $55,939. Males had a median income of $36,162 compared to $30,178 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,772. About 22.7% of the population and 21.3% of families lived below the poverty line.
According to a 2000 daytime population estimate by the Census Bureau, over 250,000 more people commuted to Atlanta on any given workday, boosting the city's estimated daytime population to 676,431. This is an increase of 62.4% over Atlanta's resident population, making it the largest gain in daytime population in the country among cities with fewer than 500,000 residents.
According to census estimates, Metropolitan Atlanta is the fastest growing area in the nation since 2000 by numerical increase. It was the second-fastest growing metro area from 2006 to 2007, behind Dallas-Fort Worth. The city of Atlanta itself was the seventh fastest growing city in the nation in terms of numerical increase.
Atlanta is also seeing a unique and drastic demographic increase in its white population, and at a pace that outstrips the rest of the nation. The white share of the city's population, says Brookings Institution, grew faster between 2000 and 2006 than that of any other U.S. city. It increased from 31 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2006, a numeric gain of 26,000, more than double the increase between 1990 and 2000. The trend seems to be gathering strength with each passing year. Only Washington, D.C. saw a comparable increase in white population share during those years.
The Korean population of Metro Atlanta has also seen a drastic change. Metro Atlanta currently is home to the fastest-growing Korean population in the country. The Korean population saw a sharp increase from 42,000 in 2000, to an estimated 80,000 in 2006.
Since the 1990s, the number of immigrants from Latin America to the Atlanta metropolitan area has greatly increased. This flow of immigrants has brought new cultural and religious practices and affect the economy and demography of the urban area, resulting in a vibrant Hispanic communities within the city.
Atlanta is also home to the fastest growing millionaire population in the United States. The number of households in Atlanta with $1 million or more in investable assets, not including primary residence and consumable goods, will increase 69% through 2011, to approximately 103,000 households.
The population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of 8,376 square miles (21,694 km) – a land area larger than that of Massachusetts. Because Georgia contains more counties than any other state east of the Mississippi River, area residents live under a heavily decentralized collection of governments. As of the 2000 census, fewer than one in ten residents of the metropolitan area lived inside Atlanta city proper.
There are over 1,000 places of worship within the city of Atlanta. Protestant Christian faiths are well represented in Atlanta, the city historically being a major center for traditional Southern denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). There are a large number of "mega churches" in the area, especially in suburban areas.
Atlanta contains a large, and rapidly growing, Roman Catholic population which grew from 292,300 members in 1998 to 750,000 members in 2008, an increase of 156 percent. About 10 percent of all metropolitan Atlanta residents are Catholic. As the see of the 84 parish Archdiocese of Atlanta, Atlanta serves as the metropolitan see for the Province of Atlanta. The archdiocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Christ the King and the current archbishop is the Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory. Also located in the metropolitan area are several Eastern Catholic parishes.
The city hosts the Greek Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral, the see of Metropolis of Atlanta and its bishop, Alexios.
Atlanta is also the see of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, which includes all of northern Georgia, much of middle Georgia and the Chattahoochee River valley of western Georgia. This Diocese is headquartered at the Cathedral of St Philip in Buckhead and is led by the Right Reverend J. Neil Alexander.
Atlanta serves as headquarters for several regional church bodies also. The Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America maintains offices in downtown Atlanta; ELCA parishes are numerous throughout the metro area. There are eight United Church of Christ congregations in the Atlanta metro area, one of which, First Congregational in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, is noted for being the church with which former mayor Andrew Young is affiliated.
Traditional African-American denominations such as the National Baptist Convention and the African Methodist Episcopal Church are strongly represented in the area. These churches have several seminaries that form the Interdenominational Theological Center complex in the Atlanta University Center.
The headquarters for The Salvation Army's United States Southern Territory is located in Atlanta. The denomination has eight churches, numerous social service centers, and youth clubs located throughout the Atlanta area.
The city has a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located in the suburb of Sandy Springs, Georgia, as well as the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta in adjacent Lilburn, Georgia. It is currently the largest Hindu temple outside of India.
Metropolitan Atlanta is also home to a Jewish community estimated to include 120,000 individuals in 61,300 households. This study places Atlanta's Jewish population as the 11th largest in the United States, up from 17th largest in 1996.
There also are an estimated 75,000 Muslims in the area and approximately 35 mosques.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (IATA: ATL, ICAO: KATL), the world's busiest airport as measured by passenger traffic and by aircraft traffic, provides air service between Atlanta and many national and international destinations. Situated 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown, the airport covers most of the land inside a wedge formed by Interstate 75, Interstate 85, and Interstate 285. The MARTA rail system has a station within the airport terminal, and provides direct service to Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, and Sandy Springs. The major general aviation airports near the city proper are DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (IATA: PDK, ICAO: KPDK) and Brown Field (IATA: FTY, ICAO: KFTY). See List of airports in the Atlanta area for a more complete listing.
With a comprehensive network of freeways that radiate out from the city, Atlantans rely on their cars as the dominant mode of transportation in the region – a fact that leads some to call the city "the Los Angeles of the South." Atlanta is mostly encircled by Interstate 285, a beltway locally known as "the Perimeter" which has come to mark the boundary between the interior of the region and its surrounding suburbs.
Three major interstate highways converge in Atlanta; I-20 runs east to west across town, while I-75 runs from northwest to southeast, and I-85 runs from northeast to southwest. The latter two combine to form the Downtown Connector (I-75/85) through the middle of the city. The combined highway carries more than 340,000 vehicles per day. The Connector is one of the ten most congested segments of interstate highway in the United States. The intersection of I-85 and I-285 in Doraville – officially called the Tom Moreland Interchange, is known to most residents as Spaghetti Junction. Metropolitan Atlanta is approached by thirteen freeways. In addition to the aforementioned interstates, I-575, Georgia 400, Georgia 141, I-675, Georgia 316, I-985, Stone Mountain Freeway (US 78), and Langford Parkway (SR 166) all terminate just within or beyond the Perimeter, with the exception of Langford Parkway, limiting the transportation options in the central city.
This strong automotive reliance has resulted in heavy traffic and contributes to Atlanta's air pollution, which has made Atlanta one of the more polluted cities in the country. The Clean Air Campaign was created in 1996 to help reduce pollution in metro Atlanta.
In recent years, the Atlanta metro area has ranked at or near the top of the longest average commute times in the U.S. Also the Atlanta metro area has ranked at or near the top for worst traffic in the country.
Notwithstanding heavy automotive usage, Atlanta's subway system, operated by Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), is the seventh busiest in the country. MARTA also operates a bus system within Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties. Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties each operate separate, autonomous transit authorities, using buses but no trains.
Atlanta has a reputation as being one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians, as far back as 1949 when the Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell was struck by a speeding car and killed while crossing Peachtree Street.
The proposed Beltline would create a greenway and public transit system in a circle around the city from a series of mostly abandoned rail lines. This rail right-of-way would also accommodate multi-use trails connecting a string of existing and new parks. In addition, there is a proposed streetcar project that would create a streetcar line along Peachtree Street from downtown to the Buckhead area as well as possibly another East-West MARTA line.
Atlanta began as a railroad town and it still serves as a major rail junction, with several freight lines belonging to Norfolk Southern and CSX intersecting below street level in downtown. It is the home of major classification yards for both railroads, Inman Yard on the NS and Tilford Yard on the CSX. Long-distance passenger service is provided by Amtrak's Crescent train, which connects Atlanta with many cities. The Amtrak station is located several miles north of downtown — and it lacks a connection to the MARTA rail system. An ambitious, long-standing proposal would create a Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal downtown, adjacent to Philips Arena and the Five Points MARTA station, which would link, in a single facility, MARTA bus and rail, intercity bus services, proposed commuter rail services to other Georgia cities, and Amtrak.
Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service between Atlanta and many locations throughout the United States, Canada, and the Mexican border.