Where the money is made is Atlanta by county Study (Sandy Springs: insurance, homes)

[Atlwarrior]

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Metro Atlanta: Where the Money Is*Made
It’s common to hear discussions about what parts of cities are the most prosperous and wealthy. In Atlanta, the highest-income county is Forsyth at $88,000 per household, according to the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, followed by Fayette at $81,000. Meanwhile, the median household in region’s hub county, Fulton, makes only $58,500 per household, putting it behind the likes Cobb, Gwinnett, and Cherokee Counties.

But, in our view, where the money resides is only half the equation. Where is the money made? Where do all of these people work?

The Atlanta Monitor has conducted an exclusive analysis of BLS County Employment Data to determine where Atlantans work, and where the higher-income jobs are located.

First, the limitations. The BLS data only includes covered jobs, which means folks eligible for unemployment insurance. This includes salaried and hourly workers, but not the self-employed. Certain counties are big (Fulton, namely), so there’s no breakdown of where workers are concentrated within Fulton, unfortunately.

Where Atlantans Work



This map shows the number of covered jobs in each county. In addition, it divides the number of covered jobs by the number of people, thus giving the number of jobs per resident (which we call the employment ratio).

The most important trend is also the least mistakable: Fulton County is the real employment driver of Metro Atlanta. Roughly one-in-three metro jobs is located there, and the concentration of jobs per capita is almost double the next highest county: Cobb. Fulton has four jobs for every five residents: certainly this means Fulton provides a net surplus of jobs to the metro, and probably by a handsome margin. Fulton has more jobs than Cobb and Gwinnett combined.

Looking closer, inner suburbs are the next most important areas. Cobb, Dekalb, Clayton, and Gwinnett counties all have relatively strong employment ratios, with roughly two jobs for every five residents. (Overall, metro Atlanta has about 2.3 million jobs for about 5.5 million residents, so the employment ratios of these inner suburbs are not far off of the metro average.)

Going out one ring, it turns into more of a mixed bag: counties like Hall (Gainesville) and Fayette do reasonably well. Counties like Newton, Cherokee, and Paulding have very low numbers, on the other hand. Interestingly, once you get further outside of the outer suburbs and into rural counties, employment density generally starts to increase again.

Average Wages by County

Now let’s look at what the average worker in each county makes. Remember, this isn’t where the workers live; it’s where they work. Someone who commutes from Gwinnett to Dekalb would be counted in Dekalb’s numbers.



The differences are more understated here, but, once again, Fulton rules the roost with $1,238 per worker per week. The average worker in Fulton makes 25% more than the average worker in the next highest-paid county. Which happens to be Dekalb.

In general, the closer a county is to the urban core, the higher its wages tend to be. Dekalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett form the next tier of counties, all with weekly wages between $900 and $1,000.

It’s harder to draw conclusions in the more distant suburbs. Areas without significant employment centers tend to fare the worst. People in Fayette County might be surprised to learn workers in Clayton earn more (no doubt aided by the airport); likewise workers in Cherokee are making less than workers in Bartow. Forsyth, the aforementioned highest-income county in the metro, is not remarkable in terms of income per worker.

Although I noted that employment ratios tend to increase as you go from the distant suburbs to rural counties, the same doesn’t seem to be generally true about income.

Putting It All Together

Multiplying the number of covered jobs by the average wage gives us an idea of the total weekly income generated in each county.



Even more so than in the previous two charts, Fulton dominates total income earned. It contributes a greater share of metro earnings than the three next largest counties combined. Over 80% of metro Atlanta’s income is earned between Fulton and the four inner-suburban counties.

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August 28, 2012Leave a reply
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[cabasse]

...here's the link. Metro Atlanta: Where the Money Is Made « The Atlanta Monitor some interesting info.

copying and pasting the entire article is a nono, atlwarrior.

[researchnerd]

Thanks for this info!

When I lived in Cherokee County I would drive past these high-end subdivisions with huge homes and giant McMansions and wonder...where do all these people work? Because nobody who works in Cherokee (as you can see in the Average Weekly Wage section) could afford to live there. Now I know...they're all commuting (or teleworking) to Fulton.

[belleislerunner]

Law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms and financial institutions in almost every city (Atlanta included) are all based in the downtown district. Yet they often employ rather generous work/life balance arrangements - or said another way - most of these are white collar professional jobs. You'll never see a PwC, Ernst and Young, Bain or Boston Consulting office in Dunwoody/Alpharatta - but half the partners etc would live in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Alpharatta etc - same concept for all the other gigs.