Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There is a good bit of new growth Taking place on Macon's North Side, Northwest Side
I can see Macon having an appeal to a remote worker who wants a small city but needs to be in Atlanta for occasional meetings. Especially if they fly a lot.
I can see Macon having an appeal to a remote worker who wants a small city but needs to be in Atlanta for occasional meetings. Especially if they fly a lot.
I can see that as well. That Area on the North side has more of a Suburban, smaller City feel but close to Atlanta for easy Commuting. Plus you get the convenience of the City of Macon and it's amenities as well.
Why would you compare Little Rock to Macon? Macon lags behind Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah and Columbus in GA. Augusta probably would have been a better comparison for Little Rock.
The only thing that favors Macon in my opinion is the fact that it's in GA and I'd rather live in GA than AR.
I'd never been, but I've heard and read actually remarkably good things about NW AR. the Fayetteville area
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
2,014 posts, read 5,098,018 times
Reputation: 2089
Little Rock is considerably larger than Macon and it's also the largest city/capital of it's state, so this isn't a fair comparison
Quote:
Originally Posted by masonbauknight
City-county consolidation, like city annexation, artificially boosts a city's population at the stroke of a pen, overnight. It has no bearing on that city's overall economic and demographic health. Macon is the only second-tier GA metro area (200,000-600,000 population range) that is declining in population each year. Neighboring Warner Robins is showing flat growth. Macon itself is the most depressed of all GA cities over 50,000 people except for Albany. Sure, it has lots of potential, but that's all it has at the moment. Other Georgia 2nd tiers are in better, or far better, health. Thus, any comparison with Little Rock is silly. You'd have to choose Little Rock in every category -- except grand old homes.
While I agree that in most cases city-county consolidation and city annexation artificially boosts a city's population, in Macon's case, I believe it gives a more accurate population of the city.
In several cases, it draws in many outer areas that really arent "the city" into the city proper's population.
With Macon, before the consolidation, 90-95% of "North Macon" was just "Unincorporated Northern Bibb County" so unlike most places, the Macon-Bibb Consolidation actually added areas that should have already been counted into the city proper population figures as opposed to mostly including places that really arent "the city." Remember that in general the land size of Georgia's Counties are pretty small anyway, especially one like Bibb.
Even though Macon definitely hasn't been booming over the last 2-3 decades, excluding "North Macon" from city proper population created the illusion that Macon was severely declining when actually it was just stagnant. People will point to Macon's population "declining" from the 110,000s, to the 100,000s, to below 100,000 and I even believe below 90,000 at one point.......but Bibb County's population has been pretty stagnant. Since the 80s, Bibb County's population seems to bounce back and forth between gaining very little and losing very little depending on the year, but creeps up slowly. We went from dangling around the 140,000s in the 70s, to around 150,000 by 1980 stagnated there into the 1990s, slight raises of about 2-3,000 from 2000 and again by 2010, Now we're bouncing back and forth between 153,000-156,000. I know that's not saying much at all but it hasnt been as bad as it appears on paper since North Macon, the city's best part, wasnt even included in the "stats" until the consolidation.
Last edited by Southern Soul Bro; 03-20-2017 at 10:49 PM..
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
2,014 posts, read 5,098,018 times
Reputation: 2089
Here's a perfect example of Macon's stagnant "take 2 steps forth, then back, then forth again" nature. Downtown Macon has really improved with all the new bars, lofts, and restaurants popping up but the old Macon Mall is about to lose one of it's long time major anchor stores, JC Penney. Fort Hill in East Macon really isnt as crime ridden as it used to be but then a neighborhood like Bloomfield has gotten even worse. We lost Starcadia years ago but now have a new family fun center in Pin Strikes. We're just running in circles but I really think Downtown is turning into something special.
Little Rock is considerably larger than Macon and it's also the largest city/capital of it's state, so this isn't a fair comparison
While I agree that in most cases city-county consolidation and city annexation artificially boosts a city's population, in Macon's case, I believe it gives a more accurate population of the city.
In several cases, it draws in many outer areas that really arent "the city" into the city proper's population.
With Macon, before the consolidation, 90-95% of "North Macon" was just "Unincorporated Northern Bibb County" so unlike most places, the Macon-Bibb Consolidation actually added areas that should have already been counted into the city proper population figures as opposed to mostly including places that really arent "the city." Remember that in general the land size of Georgia's Counties are pretty small anyway, especially one like Bibb.
Even though Macon definitely hasn't been booming over the last 2-3 decades, excluding "North Macon" from city proper population created the illusion that Macon was severely declining when actually it was just stagnant. People will point to Macon's population "declining" from the 110,000s, to the 100,000s, to below 100,000 and I even believe below 90,000 at one point.......but Bibb County's population has been pretty stagnant. Since the 80s, Bibb County's population seems to bounce back and forth between gaining very little and losing very little depending on the year, but creeps up slowly. We went from dangling around the 140,000s in the 70s, to around 150,000 by 1980 stagnated there into the 1990s, slight raises of about 2-3,000 from 2000 and again by 2010, Now we're bouncing back and forth between 153,000-156,000. I know that's not saying much at all but it hasnt been as bad as it appears on paper since North Macon, the city's best part, wasnt even included in the "stats" until the consolidation.
Not to Mention neighboring Suburban Warner Robins/ Houston County area has a very diverse Population, estimated to be over 150,000 residents and Growing adding to the CSA Population as well. About 63.3% are white, 28.6% are black, 2.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.4% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanics make about 6.1% of the population making it even more Diverse than inner City Macon-Bibb. Houston County/Robins AFB alone adds a Major asset to the Macon-Central Georgia Area as like Ft. Benning does for Columbus and Ft. Gordon does for Augusta. In a nut shell, it's just not enough difference between GA. 2nd Tier cities to even have this big Comparison war between them. But again back to the original post, No their is no Comparison between Macon and Little Rock, not even close or in the same league of Cities, and to be honest, no 2nd Tier Georgia city is. Little Rock is Arkansas's Major City.
I can see Macon having an appeal to a remote worker who wants a small city but needs to be in Atlanta for occasional meetings. Especially if they fly a lot.
Yep. I had a remote job or business, Macon would be a strong consideration. Close enough, but far enough from Atlanta, and a shorter drive to the Florida beaches, which would be great.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
