Mapping America's future-Georgia growth projections to 2030

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by skbl17

Aside from the usual disclaimer that these are estimates and that anything can happen between now and 2030, all I have to say is:

"Hooray!" and "Crap."

On one hand, it's nice to see Atlanta continue to grow like this; it's a sign of a healthy metro area. It would be nice to see CoA trends vs. the rest of the metro, though.

On the other hand, AtlantaisHot makes a great point. Assuming that a very significant chunk of this growth happens in the city of Atlanta and in the norther suburbs, our traffic situation will deteriorate even further. Hopefully, people are sending this kinds of studies and links to GDOT, MARTA, and the Governor, because we'll need not only further investment in roads, but significant investment in mass transit.

- skbl17

Exactly, I love that metro Atlanta is a great place to live and work but it means that traffic gets worse every year.

[Newsboy]

The Savannah-Hilton Head projections are very impressive but might in fact be on the low side, considering how much the area is booming already -- especially in the South Carolina side of the of region.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by mattee01

You're saying Georgia could start looking like California politically?

...that's depressing

I'm not saying that Georgia's continuing demographic changes will make the state look exactly like California politically. With a population of nearly 40 million residents and the status of having the world's sixth-largest economy and being a gateway to and from the Pacific Rim, California is a state that no other state can quite emulate.

I'm just using California as an example of the kinds of dramatic changes massive demographic shifts can bring to a state's political climate.

In 1980 (and before), California was a much stronger state for Republicans when whites made up 67% of the state's population....But over 30 years later by the current decade of the 2010's when whites make up only 39% of the state's population, California is a state that has come to be completely dominated by Democrats at the statewide level and in Presidential elections.

(...California is where past presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan started and cultivated their political careers....And up until the 1980's, highly-populated Los Angeles suburbs like the San Fernando Valley, Riverside County and Orange County were hardcore Republican strongholds in Southern California in much the same way that highly-populated Atlanta suburbs like Cobb County, Gwinnett County and North Fulton County are currently hardcore Republican strongholds in a rapidly-changing Georgia.)

The changes that continuing massive demographic shifts bring to Georgia's political climate don't have to be "depressing"....But the changes that those continuing demographic shifts will most assuredly bring to Georgia's statewide political climate have to be acknowledged....That's because the changes to the state's political climate that those ongoing massive demographic shifts will affect mean that racial and ethnic minorities are going to be playing a much greater role in Georgia's statewide political scene than they have in the past when whites were the dominant group in the state demographically.

[InnerCitySoul]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

I'm not saying that Georgia's continuing demographic changes will make the state look exactly like California politically. With a population of nearly 40 million residents and the status of having the world's sixth-largest economy and being a gateway to and from the Pacific Rim, California is a state that no other state can quite emulate.

I'm just using California as an example of the kinds of dramatic changes massive demographic shifts can bring to a state's political climate.

In 1980 (and before), California was a much stronger state for Republicans when whites made up 67% of the state's population....But over 30 years later by the current decade of the 2010's when whites make up only 39% of the state's population, California is a state that has come to be completely dominated by Democrats at the statewide level and in Presidential elections.

(...California is where past presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan started and cultivated their political careers....And up until the 1980's, highly-populated Los Angeles suburbs like the San Fernando Valley, Riverside County and Orange County were hardcore Republican strongholds in Southern California in much the same way that highly-populated Atlanta suburbs like Cobb County, Gwinnett County and North Fulton County are currently hardcore Republican strongholds in a rapidly-changing Georgia.)

The changes that continuing massive demographic shifts bring to Georgia's political climate don't have to be "depressing"....But the changes that those continuing demographic shifts will most assuredly bring to Georgia's statewide political climate have to be acknowledged....That's because the changes to the state's political climate that those ongoing massive demographic shifts will affect mean that racial and ethnic minorities are going to be playing a much greater role in Georgia's statewide political scene than they have in the past when whites were the dominant group in the state demographically.

...That's encouraging!

Can't happen soon enough!

[arjay57]

I think our growing Hispanic population will have a huge impact.