Do these numbers look about right? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: subdivisions, live in, stats)

[Rocco Barbosa]

Do these numbers look about right? and What I really wanted to know, is, what is considered "metro Atlanta".

I've heard and read different things.

[alicat105]

Why are you on the Portland page?

[lorilove]

You are correct - the definition of Metro Atlanta changes

According to Wikipedia - the 5.5 million number is the MSA - Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Yes those numbers look correct based on the MSA but to many of us this includes areas too far out to be considered suburbs and at best are exurbs.

According to census.gov - the 2007 Metropolitan Statistical Area is comprised of thefollowing counties in Georgia: Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee,Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton,Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding,Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton County.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by lorilove

You are correct - the definition of Metro Atlanta changes

According to Wikipedia - the 5.5 million number is the MSA - Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Yes those numbers look correct based on the MSA but to many of us this includes areas too far out to be considered suburbs and at best are exurbs.

According to census.gov - the 2007 Metropolitan Statistical Area is comprised of thefollowing counties in Georgia: Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee,Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton,Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding,Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton County.

I think I understand what you are saying, but the truth is most metro Atlantans live in the conurbation and not in the commuter belt as some claim. The Atlanta conurbation is now 2,600 square miles and has a population of about 5,000,000. Very little of the metro population is in the "exurbs" and most of the population is concentrated in the developed land area that extends out into Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, and major parts of Cherokee, Forsyth, Douglas, Coweta, Henry, Rockdale, Bartow, Fayette, Paulding, Carroll, and Hall counties. Looking at a maps available shows subdivisions and development have spread into all of these counties like a blob. Most of the rest of the MSA counties are very small in population and pretty rural still. Take them away, and Atlanta still has 5 million people.

The ARC definitions have confused many people. They only include the most heavily developed counties. Forsyth was in discussion to join the ARC at one point but it still has not...

[lem1985]

i think sometimes there is a 20 county metro Atlanta which has shown 6.2 million also or im thinking of the CSA which has it 6.2 million. metro Atlanta grew from the initial 5 counties back in the day to what it is now

[netdragon]

Yes, there's the CSA which has 6.2 million and others MSAs including Gaineseville, Athens and a few others. Then the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta MSA is smaller and has 5.5 million. The MSA is here: http://www.metroatlantachamber.com/d...3.pdf?sfvrsn=0 and the map below shows its boundaries in the state of GA



I love visuals. The map above highlights what people have been saying about the MSA boundaries being pretty large in area. Consider the fact that GA is the largest state in land area* East of the Mississippi and just after the state of Washington in land area.

* If including water, then MI, FL, and WI have more area.

Another visual that's useful in seeing scope of area of metro ATL. This one is population density.

[bryantm3]

someone has mentioned this before, but i think the best census estimate for population is in terms of 'urban land area'. instead of being countywide, it goes by census tract and includes areas that meet the definition and leaves out others that do not.

List of United States urban areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i like this definition because of its specificity, but also because it shows the urban areas of miami, dallas, philadelphia, houston, washington, boston, and atlanta as all generally being the same size (which they are), instead of the MSA and CSA numbers which can play tricks with the numbers.

[lem1985]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Yes, there's the CSA which has 6.2 million and others MSAs including Gaineseville, Athens and a few others. Then the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta MSA is smaller and has 5.5 million. The MSA is here: http://www.metroatlantachamber.com/d...3.pdf?sfvrsn=0 and the map below shows its boundaries in the state of GA



I love visuals. The map above highlights what people have been saying about the MSA boundaries being pretty large in area. Consider the fact that GA is the largest state in land area* East of the Mississippi and just after the state of Washington in land area.

* If including water, then MI, FL, and WI have more area.

Another visual that's useful in seeing scope of area of metro ATL. This one is population density.

thanks for the visual..the bottom one is very interesting