Augusta-Atlanta (Columbus, Savannah, Macon: new home, neighborhood, schools)

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by truemann

Columbus will never pass augusta in metro population. By the time columbus adds lee county. Augusta would have added mccormick, lincoln, washington, wilkes, warrenton, or barnwell county. Columbus CSA is smaller than Augusta's MSA already.

Yea, maybe those counties will be in 50 years. Augusta is not growing jobs nearly as fast as Columbus, that's a fact. What major companies are in Augusta?? Can't think of one. I'm not saying Augusta isn't growing, but it will not experience the level of growth that Columbus will see over the next 20 years.

[DisgustaTruth]

With the exception of the old money areas on "The Hill" and parts of West Augusta, most of the rest of Augusta is pretty much ghetto.
As far as job growth, Columbus wins that hands down.. it's even expected to outpace Atlanta in job growth per capita in the next five years. Augusta's economy continues to just sputter along with most new jobs being of the variety of Wal-Mart Greeter or food server at an applebees.

[B to the T]

Well if I move forward and apply for the job, I will pick Atlanta (Buckhead), simply because of nightlife, getting a high rise condo/loft and the fact it is in the middle of the territory... I will have some more insider info early next week to help me decide.

Thanks for all the input everyone... it helped a lot!

[georgialaw]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Columbus is growing because of jobs, not just BRAC. Kia up the road is creating 7,000+ new jobs. Aflac in Columbus is creating 2,000 jobs. Columbus is poised to overtake Augusta in population by 2010 therefore regaining its status as Georgia's second largest city. When Lee County, Alabama (which is right across the Chattahoochee) becomes part of Columbus' metro area, that will push Columbus higher in metro population than Augusta. Columbus is Georgia's job creator right now and will be for the years to come.

Columbus has dwelled on Aflac/TSYS and Synovus for too many years.
If the financial market continues to spiral downward this could prove to be devastating.
Not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket.
Alabama and Harris County residents contribute little to the tax base in Columbus other than sales tax and have left the city extremely weak which is reflected in the Mayors recent plea for a sales tax hike as this is the only way the city can collect from employees who live outside of Muscogee County and is not directed at tourism dollars as stated.
Eventually they will be pressed to raise property taxes which have been frozen for years and will cause Columbus a bigger problem than they can endure at the present time.
This city is certainly approaching a cutoff point and it will be interesting to see who gets the rap this time.

[DisgustaTruth]

Actually, according to the Selig Center at the UGA's Terry College of Business, Columbus has one of the most diversified economies in the state (certainly Atlanta ranks first). It's projected to have the best job growth of any city in the state in the next five years. BRAC will bring 35,000 new people to Columbus.. which will create even more jobs. But what sets Columbus apart from the other second tier cities in Georgia is the number of "white collar" professional jobs.. and corporate headquarters in Columbus.. you just don't usually see it in a city its size.

[yerocal]

Originally Posted by truemann

Wh is augusta the second biggest city in georgia then. Augusta's city population is the second biggest in the state. And their metro population is twice as big as columbus, macon, and savannah. Alot of people must like augusta because it has more residents living in the metro area. OThan every city in georgia other than atlanta. B to T if you go to augusta to visit. Their is alot of growth happening. I don't think you can travel in any part of metro augusta without seeing some type of construction going on. Savannah and macon city population's are losing people. Augusta's and columbus are gaining residents in their city limits. And the only reason columbus is adding residents. Is because of brac and new soldiers coming to the area. Not people who would otherwise moved there. If you ride down I-20 you will get a feel for what im talking about with the growth. There are about 15 cranes alone in richmond county. Not to mention construction in aiken, mcduffie, burke, columbia and other surrounding counties. Covington, and conyers are getting built up closer and closer. On I-20 to warrenton, and thomson near augusta.

The Only reason Why Augusta and Columbus are doing so well as far as POP is because the City/County Consolidation, so if the county gains pop so does Augusta, before Augusta consolidated with Richmond county it has well under 100,000 pop in the city limits.... Now as for Macon most of the people are leaving the city because of the all the new development and growth are outside of the city limits.... but the pop of Bibb county is consistently growing..... Thats why Macon is debating whether to annex or consolidate because of all the growth, Also Macon Metro pop numbers is smaller as far as the US census goes because WarnerRobins/Houston & Ft Valley/Peach was not included in Macon Metro anymore..... Because if Houston and Peach county were added back to Macon Metro is would be third after Augusta's Metro or maybe larger by now......

[DisgustaTruth]

Before the city and county consolidated, the city of Augusta had only about 43,000 ppl. It's worth to note though, that Richmond County has grown very little over the last 20 years... staying at right aroung 200,000 ppl for that entire time. Much of the growth of Richmond County occurred in the 60s, 70s, and early to mid 80s.. since then almost all of the new population growth has been in Columbia and Aiken Counties. It's also worth noting that if Savannah and Chatham county ever decided to consolidate.. Savannah would easily be the state's second largest city with a population around 250,000.

[DisgustaTruth]

I think MSAs are very tricky and they are not consistent.. For instance Augusta's MSA includes large counties in SC like Aiken. But Beaufort and Jasper Counties are not inluded in Savannah's MSA even though they are just right across the river from downtown and are clearly part of the Savannah trade area. Same with Columbus.. it's MSA is artificially smaller because the Alabama counties are not included.. but these places are clearly part of the Greater Columbus trade area. And even though Macon and Warner Robins are separate cities.. they are also part of the one greater trade area. Because of the quirks in how the census calculates MSA's businesses have stopped relying on them.. and instead look at trade areas. When you look at trade areas.. Savannah is the second largest in the state after Atlanta.

[yerocal]

My point exactly, the City-county consolidation has helped Columbus, Augusta and even Athens a lot, if not for that I'm sure Augusta would not be at number 2# on the roster.... for an example before Athens-Clarke County consolidation, Athens ranked way below Albany,Ga but after consolidation it jumped up in front of Macon as number 5 and everyone in Ga knows that Athens is no way near as large as Macon in size.....

1980-1996 before Augusta-Richmond Consolidation
Atlanta 425,022
Columbus 169,441
Savannah 141,390
Macon 116,868
Albany 74,550
Augusta 47,532
Athens 42,549

After 1996 after Augusta-Richmond Consolidation
Atlanta
Augusta
Columbus
Savannah
Macon
Albany
Athens

After 2000After Athens/clarke Consolidation
Atlanta -498,109
Augusta -195,182
Columbus -188,660
Savannah -128,500
Athens -111,580
Macon -97,606 -After Athens Consolidation knocks Macon to #6
Sandy Springs - 85,771
Roswell - 79,334
Albany -76,939 knocks Albany down to #9

[yerocal]

Originally Posted by DisgustaSucks

I think MSAs are very tricky and they are not consistent.. For instance Augusta's MSA includes large counties in SC like Aiken. But Beaufort and Jasper Counties are not inluded in Savannah's MSA even though they are just right across the river from downtown and are clearly part of the Savannah trade area. Same with Columbus.. it's MSA is artificially smaller because the Alabama counties are not included.. but these places are clearly part of the Greater Columbus trade area. And even though Macon and Warner Robins are separate cities.. they are also part of the one greater trade area. Because of the quirks in how the census calculates MSA's businesses have stopped relying on them.. and instead look at trade areas. When you look at trade areas.. Savannah is the second largest in the state after Atlanta.

I think that was the smartest thing for business's to do because going according to the US census Metro system is a very poor method as to getting an accurate evaluation/analysis of these cities Metro area; Because if Aiken is considered apart of Augusta metro than surely W.Robins should indeed be considered apart of Metro Macon because they are closer.... they rely too much on each other with Macon having a stronger pull. I remember Back when the Shoppes at River Crossing(New Open Air Mall) was being proposed in north Macon they said that Macon has a trade area of 22 counties with pop over 650,000....