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Atlanta's definitely not losing relevance. Though it may have become slightly stagnant. Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Nashville are definitely catching up in this regard.
Nashville has risen a lot over the last decade but was quiet in the first half of my life (kind of an anti-Portland in that sense).
Yeah, Nashville's rise has really accelerated FAST, from roughly 2015/2016 until now. Especially with downtown development, more white collar and tech jobs, and overall growth of population and infrastructure.
As far as culturally, Nashville is pretty red hot and super relevant there. It is the epicenter of a whole country style, music, food, tv and lifestyle, and impacts on a national scale.
It was slow to boom and develop though--I get what you mean there. Downtown's development was pretty slow overall, until it started to boom and rapidly change around 2015/2016.
Atlanta's definitely not losing relevance. Though it may have become slightly stagnant. Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Nashville are definitely catching up in this regard.
It may not have lost anything, but cities below it rose above it, and Seattle is nipping at its heels.
In 2000 I would have ranked the top 12 as follows:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. DC, Philadelphia, SFBA
7. ATL , Boston
9. Detroit
10. Miami
11. Houston, DFW
Today:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago, DC, SF
6. Boston, Houston
8. DFW, ATL, Philadelphia, Miami Seattle
Atlanta just has not grown in importance as Boston, SF, Houston and DFW. Atlanta isn't moving closer to the top 5, it is moving further away from it which in my way of thinking is a decline.
It may not have lost anything, but cities below it rose above it, and Seattle is nipping at its heels.
In 2000 I would have ranked the top 12 as follows:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. DC, Philadelphia, SFBA
7. ATL , Boston
9. Detroit
10. Miami
11. Houston, DFW
Today:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago, DC, SF
6. Boston, Houston
8. DFW, ATL, Philadelphia, Miami Seattle
Atlanta just has not grown in importance as Boston, SF, Houston and DFW. Atlanta isn't moving closer to the top 5, it is moving further away from it which in my way of thinking is a decline.
Atlanta was quite a bit smaller than Boston, Houston, and Dallas in 2000. I think you are underrating the Texas cities. I think Atlanta has mostly maintained in the same 8-10 range (Seattle feels wrong here even given Amazon).
I think Atlanta’s national standing is similar. What’s been hurt is its regional standing. The rise of Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando have all eaten away at its standing as the primary city for the Southeast. The TBS diplomacy which made Brave nation so large is not replicable today.
Atlanta was quite a bit smaller than Boston, Houston, and Dallas in 2000. I think you are underrating the Texas cities. I think Atlanta has mostly maintained in the same 8-10 range (Seattle feels wrong here even given Amazon).
Seattle MSA has a higher GDP than Atlanta MSA, despite having 2 million fewer people. Besides Amazon, there's also Microsoft, Nordstrom, Costco, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Boeing Commercial, and a regional office of nearly every major Silicon Valley employer. Seattle also has the largest cruise ship terminal on the West Coast, as well as some of the country's biggest naval bases and container ship ports nearby.
"Feels wrong." Yeah, feelings are more important than facts in America.
Atlanta was quite a bit smaller than Boston, Houston, and Dallas in 2000. I think you are underrating the Texas cities. I think Atlanta has mostly maintained in the same 8-10 range (Seattle feels wrong here even given Amazon).
I think Atlanta’s national standing is similar. What’s been hurt is its regional standing. The rise of Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando have all eaten away at its standing as the primary city for the Southeast. The TBS diplomacy which made Brave nation so large is not replicable today.
Nashville / Charlotte or even Orlando are still much smaller than Atlanta, though.
My take is that everything is relative - it's a lot easier to grow from 1.5M to 2M-2.5M (Which is what Charlotte, Nashville, and even Austin did) compare to 4M to 6M and continue to grow (Which is what Atlanta did). For all the talk about Atlanta slowing down, have you seen Midtown of 2010 compare to 2020? The growth of places like North Fulton/NW Gwinnett/Forsyth County? Oh...and upcoming development like The Gulch, the forever gentrifying O4W/Beltline area...
Atlanta pace of growth is slightly behind DFW or Houston, but definitely not the doom and gloom so people are suggesting. Growth in Atlanta still outpace places like DMV and definitely Greater Boston.
Seriously, want a place that fade in relevance? Go to places like Cleveland or Detroit or St. Louis. Just b/c Atlanta growth slowed down doesn't all of a sudden make it "less relevant" - it's still growing fast and at a good pace.
Atlanta was quite a bit smaller than Boston, Houston, and Dallas in 2000. I think you are underrating the Texas cities. I think Atlanta has mostly maintained in the same 8-10 range (Seattle feels wrong here even given Amazon).
I think Atlanta’s national standing is similar. What’s been hurt is its regional standing. The rise of Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando have all eaten away at its standing as the primary city for the Southeast. The TBS diplomacy which made Brave nation so large is not replicable today.
I am not talking population, I am talking relevance. Atlanta's peak popularity in my lifetime was mid 90s to mid 2000s.
And no Atlanta was NOT way smaller than Houston and Boston in 2000.
2000 population:
Houston 4,177,646
Atlanta 4,112,198
A difference of 65k
2022:
Houston 7,340,118
Atlanta 6,222,106
A difference of 1.12 Million
They were almost dead even in 2000 but Houston has put a ton of daylight between the the two in terms of population.
Miami had almost a million more people in 2000, now Houston is 1.2M more than Miami.
People on here are either slow to pick up on trends or purposefully grasping at the past but it is clear that Houston and DFW are pulling away from their southern peers.
It may not have lost anything, but cities below it rose above it, and Seattle is nipping at its heels.
In 2000 I would have ranked the top 12 as follows:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. DC, Philadelphia, SFBA
7. ATL , Boston
9. Detroit
10. Miami
11. Houston, DFW
Today:
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago, DC, SF
6. Boston, Houston
8. DFW, ATL, Philadelphia, Miami Seattle
Atlanta just has not grown in importance as Boston, SF, Houston and DFW. Atlanta isn't moving closer to the top 5, it is moving further away from it which in my way of thinking is a decline.
Agreed. Back in the 2000s, Atlanta was fresh off the Olympic hype. You had people saying Atlanta was going to pass Houston in population by 2010 and then pass DFW. The number one export you'd heard about from Atlantans back then was Coke but it isnt seen in the same light today in a more health conscious world. The entertainment industry Atlanta has developed helped keep its relevance higher with all the "made in Georgia" credits after each show filmed there. Without this rise Atlanta would certainly be behind DFW and probably Philly in my opinion.
It was mentioned earlier by another poster how Austin hasn't really cut into Houston or DFW's relevance (it has to an extent). The thing with this is they are all in the same state. Atlanta has Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, and even Greenville-Spartanburg rising in prominence and all except the NC cities are in different states. I think this contributes to them stealing more of Atlanta's relevancy because in the 00s they were just too little compared to Atlanta.
So it is not that Atlanta declined, but its peers of Houston/DFW just had quicker jumps and the smaller satellite metros entered the national spotlight.
Here, they are showing 4.7 million for Houston, 4.2 million for Atlanta (Dallas at 5.2 million).
Regardless, it’s likely 1995-1996 will be always be peak Atlanta if only because of the WS and the Olympics. But relative to the field, it still feels like it’s stayed in that 8-10 range it’s been at since it popped in the 80s. Some cities have moved above it, some below it, but it’s continued growing throughout. It has replaced Chicago as Hollywood’s stand-in for the average American city for instance.
Seattle is richer than Atlanta. And if I were ranking best city for jobs, Seattle would be ahead of Atlanta. But as fas as impact on the the country at large, I don’t think Seattle is in the same tier. Closer than it was though.
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