The 2023 population estimates show the Atlanta region has grown to 5,158,374 residents, reflecting an increase of 66,730 people from 2022, up from a previous annual growth rate. Fulton County led the region with the most significant numeric increase of 18,500 residents, while housing demand remains high, contributing to elevated prices. The overall building permits reflect continued economic activity, with multifamily permits significantly outpacing single-family permits in the area.

1. 2023 Population Estimates
adopted August 9, 2023
1
Mike Carnathan
Managing Director, Research & Analytics Department
mcarnathan@atlantaregional.org

2. 2
The Highlights
The 11-county Atlanta region is now home to 5,158,374 residents in 2023, up from 5,091,644 in 2022. From April 1, 2022 to April 1, 2023
the region added 66,730 new residents. This represents an increase in growth compared to the 64,940 increase the region experienced
2021-2022, but still trails (but only slightly) the average annual increase in the 2010s, of 68,245.
The upward trend of growth this past year reflects strong permit activity and continued growth of our job base to levels that now well
exceed the pre-pandemic levels. Housing demand is very high—and prices as a result very high—which does act as a brake on population
growth. Single-family permits remain constrained, balanced by historically high multifamily permitting levels.
From 2022 to 2023, Fulton added 18,500 new residents, the largest single-year numeric increase in the region. Next were Gwinnett with
13,510 new residents, Cherokee with 7,120 new residents, and Cobb with 6,100 new residents.
The City of Atlanta set the pace in the leading county of Fulton, continuing the momentum from 2021-2022. With a year-over-year
increases in single-family permits and an all-time high of multifamily activity, the city added 14,300 new residents between 2022 and
2023, up close to threefold from 5,070 last year. The 2022-23 increase exceeds the previous record increase of 2018-2019 (10,900)
Cherokee County leads the region in percentage increase, 2022-23, at 2.5 percent. Forsyth and Henry follow at 2.1, with Rockdale (2.0)
following. The 2022-23 acceleration for Rockdale is notable, compared to 2021-22’s 1.3% increase.
In 2022, there were 36,074 new residential building permits in the 11-county region, which was an increase of nearly 9,000 permits (far
more multifamily but fewer single-family) from 2021 calendar year totals. Current building permit activity for the 11-county region
remains lower than pre-Great Recession permit levels but did exceed the 1980-2022 average annual level of 33,540.

3. 3
1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2022 2023
Average
Annual
Change,
1980-2010
Average
Annual
Change,
2010-2020
Average
Annual
Change,
2020-2023
Atlanta Region 1,924,140 2,601,883 3,527,779 4,283,261 4,967,514 5,091,644 5,158,374 78,637 68,425 63,620
Cherokee 51,699 91,000 141,903 214,346 266,620 279,840 286,960 5,422 5,227 6,780
Clayton 150,357 184,100 236,517 259,424 297,595 302,285 303,315 3,636 3,817 1,907
Cobb 297,718 453,400 607,751 688,078 766,149 779,249 785,349 13,012 7,807 6,400
DeKalb 483,024 553,800 665,865 691,893 764,382 775,022 779,442 6,962 7,249 5,020
Douglas 54,573 71,700 92,174 132,403 144,237 149,297 150,697 2,594 1,183 2,153
Fayette 29,043 62,800 91,263 106,567 119,194 122,684 124,284 2,584 1,263 1,697
Forsyth 27,958 44,083 98,400 175,511 251,283 265,033 270,833 4,918 7,577 6,517
Fulton 589,904 670,800 816,006 920,581 1,066,710 1,087,170 1,105,670 11,023 14,613 12,987
Gwinnett 166,808 356,500 588,448 805,321 957,062 983,702 997,212 21,284 15,174 13,383
Henry 36,309 59,200 119,341 203,922 240,712 252,502 257,802 5,587 3,679 5,697
Rockdale 36,747 54,500 70,111 85,215 93,570 94,860 96,810 1,616 836 1,080
City of Atlanta 424,922 415,200 416,474 420,003 498,715 507,015 521,315 (164) 7,871 7,533
The Estimates: 2023 ARC Population
The average annual increases since 2010 (the depth of the Great Recession) have trailed the average
growth from 1980-2010 by over 15%. The period of the 1990s saw the strongest growth. This pattern
does not hold for all the subregion areas though. Cherokee and Forsyth have grown faster (in absolute
terms) since 2010, and the City of Atlanta went from losses 1980-2010 to strong recovery since then.

4. 4
Some Background: Estimates Over The Past Decade
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19 19-20 20-21 21-22 22-23
Annual Population Change, ARC Estimates
10 County 11 County
The average annual population growth (10-county) did not bounce back, post-Great Recession, to
50,000-plus until 2013-14. While growth then climbed to nearly 80,000 in 2016-17, this was followed
by declines until and including the 2020-2021 “year of COVID onset. There has been moderate
recovery since then (2021-2023)--while the job market recovered, migration was constrained by
factors like reduced housing supply and affordability.

5. The Supporting Facts: Job Increases
-2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
Austin Dallas Las Vegas Orlando Atlanta Houston Miami Denver Los Angeles Boston Chicago Minneapolis Washington DC
% Change since Pre-Pandemic (Feb. 2020 – May 2023)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
More on that job growth—Atlanta ranks fifth in percentage growth in job base over the span of the
pandemic and recovery. Dallas is the only MSA of comparable size that has matched the rate of job
recovery in Atlanta. Many larger metros (E.G. Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago) have substantially
lagged Atlanta’s job base growth February 2020 through May 2023.

6. The Supporting Facts: Building Permits – Long View
Source: State of the Cities Data System (HUD)
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
42-Year Annual Average: 33,540
Permits for 2022 (which “feed” our April,
2023 estimate) matched the 42-year
average annual—for the first time since
2007, but 2022 levels still fall below each
annual value for the 1993-2005 period.

7. The Supporting Facts: Building Permits – Last Year (2022)
Source: State of the Cities Data System (HUD)
1,775
2,495
373
1,371 1,141
374 597
1,354
2,225
3,655
1,580
460
10,078
526
0
1,502
1,268
291 5
1,247
547
1,704
942
564
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
5,500
6,000
6,500
7,000
7,500
8,000
8,500
9,000
9,500
10,000
10,500
11,000
11,500
12,000
City of
Atlanta
Cherokee Clayton Cobb DeKalb Douglas Fayette Forsyth Fulton Non-
COA
Gwinnett Henry Rockdale
Residential Units Authorized By Building Permit, 2022 (11-County)
Single-Family Multifamily
2022 11-County permitting was
“dominated” by the 10,000+ multifamily
units in the City of Atlanta. Gwinnett,
Cherokee, and Fulton (outside of the City
of Atlanta) had the top three amounts of
single-family permits. There were over 500
multifamily units in all jurisdictions save
Douglas, Fayette, and Clayton.

8. The “Good To Have” Information: Mapping Single-Family Permits
Permits in 2022, for the
11-County area,
continued to cluster to
the north of I-20,
outside the 285
Perimeter, in areas off
the I-85 and I-75
corridor. Single-family
permitting is healthy in
the City of Atlanta,
growing in Henry
County and West
Fayette, and spinning
up along I-20 East in
Rockdale and Newton
Counties. NOTE: A
share of these permits
are on recently created
streets, cannot be
precisely geocoded,
and as a result are
allocated to tract or zip
centroid.

9. The “Good To Have” Information: Mapping Multi-Family Units
Source: Co-Star
As the permit slides
showed earlier, plans
for and construction of
multifamily projects has
exploded in 2022.
Development activity
has spread further out
along the interstate
corridors, but the larger
recently built or ‘under
construction’ projects
continue to cluster in
the core and the portion
of the region north of I-
20 . This multifamily
clustering to the north”
is even more dramatic
than with single-family
development.