Metro Atlanta


Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the eighth-largest in the United States, based on the July 1, 2024 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Its economic, cultural, and demographic center is Atlanta, and its total population was 6,411,149 in the 2024 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The core 5 counties of metropolitan Atlanta are Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, and Clayton, with over 60% of the metro area’s population residing in these counties. The metro area forms the core of a broader trading area, the Atlanta–Athens–Clarke County–Sandy Springs combined statistical area. The combined statistical area spans up to 39 counties in North Georgia. The CSA recorded in the 2020 U.S. census a population of 6,930,423. One in ten of residents served by the Atlanta Regional Commission live within Atlanta city limits.

Definitions

By U.S. Census Bureau standards, the population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of, comparable to the size of New Jersey. Because Georgia contains more counties than any other state except Texas, 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 limits.
A 2006 survey by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce counted 140 cities and towns in the 28‑county Metropolitan Statistical Area in mid-2005. Eleven cities – Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills, Dunwoody, Peachtree Corners, Brookhaven, Tucker, Stonecrest, South Fulton, Mableton and Mulberry – have incorporated since then, following the lead of Sandy Springs in 2005.
The Atlanta metropolitan area was first defined in 1950 as Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton counties. Walton, Newton, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Cherokee, Rockdale, and Butts counties were added after the 1970 census, with Barrow and Coweta counties joining in 1980 and Bartow, Carroll, Paulding, Pickens and Spalding counties in 1990.
Atlanta's larger combined statistical area adds the Gainesville and Athens metropolitan areas plus LaGrange, Thomaston, Jefferson, Calhoun, and Cedartown micropolitan areas, for a total 2012 population of 6,162,195. The CSA also abuts the Macon and Columbus MSAs. The region is one of the metropolises of the Southeastern United States, and is part of the emerging megalopolis known as Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion along the I-85 Corridor.

Metropolitan statistical area

The counties listed below are included in the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area. In 2023, the Office of Management and Budget split the Metropolitan statistical area into two conurbated metropolitan divisions.
The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan division consists of the following 24 counties:
The Marietta metropolitan division consists of the following five counties.
Some entities define a much smaller metropolitan area by including only the counties which have the densest suburban development. Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton were the five original counties when the Atlanta metropolitan area was first defined in 1950, and continue to be the core of the metro area. These five counties along with six more are members of the Atlanta Regional Commission, a weak metropolitan government organization which also is a regional planning agency. The eleven ARC counties, bolded, and four more, with an asterisk, form part of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, created in 2001.

Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell MSA

CountySeat2020 census2010 censusChangeAreaDensity
Fulton *Atlanta--
Gwinnett *Lawrenceville--
Cobb *Marietta--
DeKalb *Decatur--
Clayton *Jonesboro--
Cherokee *Canton--
Forsyth *Cumming--
Henry *McDonough--
Paulding *Dallas--
Coweta *Newnan--
Douglas *Douglasville--
Fayette *Fayetteville--
CarrollCarrollton--
NewtonCovington--
Bartow *Cartersville--
WaltonMonroe--
Rockdale *Conyers--
BarrowWinder--
SpaldingGriffin--
LumpkinDahlonega--
PickensJasper--
HaralsonBuchanan--
DawsonDawsonville--
ButtsJackson--
MeriwetherGreenville--
MorganMadison--
PikeZebulon--
JasperMonticello--
HeardFranklin--
Total--

The 10 counties listed above with under 60,000 residents are usually not included in any other metropolitan definition except the OMB/Census Bureau's MSA and CSA.
Hall County forms the Gainesville MSA, but with astronomical growth to over 200,000 residents, is now also part of the Atlanta CSA.
The official tourism website of the State of Georgia features an that includes only eight counties: Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton, Douglas, Fayette, and Henry.

Combined statistical area

Atlanta GA-AL CSA

Statistical area2020 census2010 censusChangeAreaDensity
Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell, GA MSA--
Athens–Clarke County, GA MSA--
Gainesville, GA MSA--
LaGrange, GA-AL Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Rome, GA MSA--
Jefferson, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Cornelia, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Cedartown, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Thomaston, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Toccoa, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area--
Total--

Municipalities

Edge cities

More than one half of metro Atlanta's population is in unincorporated areas or areas considered a census-designated-place by the census bureau. One notable example is East Cobb, an unincorporated area adjacent to Marietta and Roswell in Cobb County. With an estimated population of approximately 164,055 as of 2020, it would be the second largest city in the metro besides Atlanta if incorporated.
Metro Atlanta includes the following incorporated and unincorporated suburbs, exurbs, and surrounding cities, sorted by population according to 2020 census data :

Cities and suburbs

Principal Cities
  • Atlanta pop. 498,044
  • Athens pop. 127,315
Places with 100,000 to 399,999 inhabitants
  • East Cobb pop. 164,055
  • Sandy Springs pop. 108,080
  • South Fulton pop. 107,436
Places with 75,000 to 99,999 inhabitants
  • Roswell pop. 92,833
  • Big Creek pop. 83,277
  • Johns Creek pop. 82,453
  • Mableton pop. 78,000
Places with 50,000 to 74,999 inhabitants
  • Lost Mountain pop. 73,312
  • Alpharetta pop. 65,818
  • Marietta pop. 60,972
  • Stonecrest pop. 59,194
  • Smyrna pop. 55,663
  • Brookhaven pop. 55,161
  • Dunwoody pop. 51,683
Places with 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants
Places with 24,999 or fewer inhabitants