Any cities that were different than you expected? Columbus, GA for me. (Needs replies from my younger crowd) (Atlanta: credit)

[brentyoung12]

From the census.gov links I posted

Stats for Muscogee County and Bibb County are similiar, with Bibb County having a higher % of people with Bachelor's or higher. Either way, every stat was between 1 and 4% of being identical.

Considering that Columbus and Augusta are consolidated with their counties, it's real easy to make the Macon and Savannah areas look worse, as most of the higher income/better areas are in the county rather than the city.

If Macon consolidated Bibb County, the Macon and Columbus stats would be similar.

[DisgustaTruth]

YOu are probably right.. I would imagine that if you looked at stats from the entire county.. Disgusta would rank at the bottom of the four cities.

[brentyoung12]

These are all mid-sized Georgia cities. There is nothing either one of them has that someone would actually care about that overwhelmingly puts them in a front runners seat. It's just funny that Columbus seems to think they are those front runners.
As I said, NOTHING any one of these cities overwhelmingly puts them ahead of the other, but if any of the cities did have something to boast, at least Augusta is known for a golf tournament and Macon is known for several of the musicians being from there.. What is Columbus known for? At least Macon and Augusta are in great locations and at least LOOK like actual cities coming through them. Columbus looks small.

Now If you think those are silly things boast about, it is equally as silly to think that someone cares more about columbus than augusta and macon because of a river walk or 1 building.

[DisgustaTruth]

Just checked the census site.. for these criterea when adjusted on a county basis.. Chatham County (Savannah) ranks on top by a big margin.. and Disgusta/Richmond County ranks at the bottom.. Macon/Bibb and Columbus/Muscogee fall in between.

[DisgustaTruth]

Disgusta looks like a real city from from the view of I20?? I never realized that billboards, waffle houses, and gas stations was the landscape one associated with a real city.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by brentyoung12

These are all mid-sized Georgia cities. There is nothing either one of them has that someone would actually care about that overwhelmingly puts them in a front runners seat. It's just funny that Columbus seems to think they are those front runners.
As I said, NOTHING any one of these cities overwhelmingly puts them ahead of the other, but if any of the cities did have something to boast, at least Augusta is known for a golf tournament and Macon is known for several of the musicians being from there.. What is Columbus known for? At least Macon and Augusta are in great locations and at least LOOK like actual cities coming through them. Columbus looks small.

Now If you think those are silly things boast about, it is equally as silly to think that someone cares more about columbus than augusta and macon because of a river walk or 1 building.

OK. but who is boasting? Truthfully, Columbus and Savannah are the only second tier cities that have done a good job of building up and improving their cities. Columbus and Savannah have done a good job of recruiting and growing industry. Some industries want to be away from the large metro areas, cost of living and other frustrations and stresses associated with big city living. If you are going to toss statistics around as if they are the Gospel, then pray that one of the persons analyzing them is not a math, engineer or science major. By the way, looks can be deceiving and they usually are. Please tell us what makes a city a city, because this simple mind of mine is not getting it. Maybe, all that time I have spent in Atlanta, Denver and Phoenix has somehow twisted my reasoning ability.

[PJA]

Obviously you have to look at all the counties in a metro and not just pick out one. Here's a better view from the census.gov site.

The second tier Metro Counties by Median Income Ranking:

1. Columbia County (AUGUSTA) 55,682
2. Bryan County (SAVANNAH) 48,345
3. Harris County (COLUMBUS) 47,763
4. Effingham County (SAVANNAH) 46,505
5. Monroe County (MACON) 44,195
6. Jones County (MACON) 43,301
7. Aiken County (AUGUSTA) 37,889
8. Crawford County (MACON) 37,848
9. Chatham County (SAVANNAH) 37,752
10. Chattahoochee Cty. (COLUMBUS) 37,106
11. Edgefield County (AUGUSTA) 35,146
12. Muscogee County (COLUMBUS) 34,798
13. Bibb County (MACON) 34,532
14. Richmond County (AUGUSTA) 33,086
15. McDuffie County (AUGUSTA) 31,920
16. Twiggs County (MACON) 31,608
17. Marion County (COLUMBUS) 29,145
18. Burke County (AUGUSTA) 27,877
19. Russell County (COLUMBUS) 27,492

[PJA]

The Second Tier Metro Counties by Percentage of People with Bachelor's Degrees over 25:

1. Columbia (AUGUSTA) 32%
2. Chatham (SAVNNAH) 25%
2. Chattahoochee (COLUMBUS) 25%
4. Bibb (MACON) 21.3%
5. Harris (COLUMBUS) 21.1%
6. Muscogee (COLUMBUS) 21.3%
7. Aiken (AUGUSTA) 19.9%
8. Bryan (SAVANNAH) 19.3%
9. Richmond (AUGUSTA) 18.7%
10. Monroe (MACON) 17.1%
11. Jones (MACON) 15%
12. Effingham (SAVANNAH) 13.6%
13. Edgefield (AUGUSTA) 12.5%
14. McDuffie (AUGUSTA) 11.7%
15. Russell (COLUMBUS) 9.7%
16. Burke (AUGUSTA) 9.5%
17. Marion (COLUMBUS) 8.9%
18. Crawford (MACON) 6.8%
19. Twiggs (MACON) 5.5%

[JLA]

PJA, take a look at the 2006 statistics and one will see a glaring problem in the Augusta area. The money is not equally distributed, it's in Columbia county. There seems to be "white flight". Most of the professionals are living in Columbia county. I suppose they got tired of the fighting and ran.

[PJA]

Since people seem to be concerned with "Corporate Presence", here's a ranking of the percentage of people who work in a professional career.

1. Columbia (AUGUSTA) 41.5%
2. Harris (COLUMBUS) 33.6%
3. Bibb (MACON) 32.3%
3. Chatham (SAVANNAH) 32.3%
5. Aiken (AUGUSTA) 30.8%
6. Muscogee (COLUMBUS) 30.7%
7. Richmond (AUGUSTA) 30.5%
7. Jones (MACON) 30.5%
9. Bryan (SAVANNAH) 30.2%
10. Monroe (MACON) 28.3%
11. Chattahoochee (COLUMBUS) 26.6%
12. Effingham (SAVANNAH) 25.5%
13. McDuffie (AUGUSTA) 24.7%
14. Edgefield (AUGUSTA) 24.3%
15. Russell (COLUMBUS) 22.6%
16. Burke (AUGUSTA) 21.4%
17. Crawford (MACON) 21.1%
18. Marion (COLUMBUS) 20.7%
19. Twiggs (MACON) 15.4%