America's wealthiest cities..ATLANTA does well

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by GF72

Yeah the Census Bureau doesn't exactly have it's act together. But then again it's massive undertaking. Looking at that list, the 519k estimate for Atlanta is too optimistic for me to believe, Atlanta Regional Commission as well as the Census fact sheet (which has full stats of everything other than just pop. estimate) put Atlanta in the 470k range. either way I am less inclined to believe Census mathematicians who are trying to chart the population trends of the whole country using formulas than the Atlanta Regional Commission whose sole job is to monitor the region.... but whatever, we'll have solid data in 2010 for the next census.

The Census Bureau really needs to completely redo its CDP system in metro Atlanta though to match up with the current suburb system. Most major unincorporated areas (like the majority of Dekalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett) will go unreported apart from either county-wide data or the poor fool who decides to try to work with all the little tracts individually and add them up to whatever suburb they want data for.

I agree. Do you think the Census Bureau CDP system just reflects Metro Atlanta's crazy set up? Is the CDP system matched up better in other metro areas?

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by aries4118

I agree. Do you think the Census Bureau CDP system just reflects Metro Atlanta's crazy set up? Is the CDP system matched up better in other metro areas?

I think these CDPs have been around for decades, don't see them realigning them or adding new ones to reflect the fast changes in this metro area.

The DC metro seems a lot like Atlanta, a lot of unincorporated areas in both Virginia and Maryland that aren't incorporated cities and a rather small central city that hasn't grown. Atlanta at least has the opportunity to expand, it has a little to the southwest recently. I am sure DC is locked with its current boundaries forever.

[GF72]

yeah the CDP's were selected a while ago and no one is going to bother to add more or change them because they just don't care on the federal level.

[SSPD53]

Sandy Springs is growing at a very fast rate. By 2020 they predict Sandy Springs will have a population of 135,000 .... However, I think it will be much higher then that.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by SSPD53

Sandy Springs is growing at a very fast rate. By 2020 they predict Sandy Springs will have a population of 135,000 .... However, I think it will be much higher then that.

This would not surprise me, either...with its' location on the northern point of I-285, a downtown ripe for higher density development, and surrounded by some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Atlanta, Sandy Springs could well become another urban center a la Buckhead, Perimeter, and Cumberland.

[SSPD53]

Very true!