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Atlanta's metro sprawls over 10,000 square miles compared to Charlotte's 6000. There really isn't much point in comparing the count of strip malls and cul de sac neighborhoods of one place over the other. Go to Union county and you seen 90% of the ATL metro and vice versa.
there shouldn't be a comparison thread about the two. there is no comparison. at all.
Now, keep in mind that density usually drops off as you annex away from the central city. In Atlanta's case, annexing farther into Dekalb would be the best bet (though the city is actually located in Fulton and slightly located in Dekalb).
Here are the stats for both Fulton and Dekalb counties....
The average density of the Atlanta-facing side of Dekalb is about 2,700 people per sq/mile. Atlanta would need 165 sq/miles of new land to equal Charlotte's size. This would give Atlanta roughly 867,000 people if Charlotte and Atlanta had the same exact land area. Again, this is based on an all-Dekalb annexation (which would be the most favorable for Atlanta). I say that because Charlotte's Meck county actually has a slightly higher density than Fulton.
^^^Obviously, an all-Fulton annexation wouldn't get Atlanta much in terms of being more populated than Charlotte.
No question about it, Atlanta is bigger and is a more exciting place to visit. However, the population growth of Atlanta's core counties (Cobb, Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton combined) was roughly 235,000 or so from 2000-2010. The population growth of Charlotte's one core county (Mecklenburg) was 225,000 over the same time period. Clearly, one city is much bigger and closer to its peak while the other city seems to be "just getting started" (but you already knew that).
Atlanta city limits are currently in Fulton and dekalb counties. So you would need to use Atlantas Urban area population which also includes Cobb Clayton and Gwinnett counties would be over a million people of it was the same size as charlottes city limits. Atlanta is no where near its peak.
Just reread some of this. A few posters kept making the city limits point. The city of Charlotte is bigger, But Atlanta’s Metro is bigger.
By this logic, Jacksonville is larger than Miami, DC... and even Charlotte. The metro area is what gives life to the city limits in most cities, especially southern ones. City limit population matters very little in these sort comparisons, I don’t know why this is lost on some people.
Both are nice, but I prefer Atlanta. It’s suburbs are much hillier and nicer. Also, while it’s more a big version of Charlotte than a tiny NY, it has many things that Clt doesn’t, like a zoo, a baseball team, an aquarium, etc.
More significantly, Atl generally doesn’t get the snow that Charlotte does, and it’s generally about 5 to 7 degrees warmer than Clt on any winter day.
Just reread some of this. A few posters kept making the city limits point. The city of Charlotte is bigger, But Atlanta’s Metro is bigger.
By this logic, Jacksonville is larger than Miami, DC... and even Charlotte. The metro area is what gives life to the city limits in most cities, especially southern ones. City limit population matters very little in these sort comparisons, I don’t know why this is lost on some people.
Exactly .
Charlotte's CSA metro population is 2.6 million. Raleigh's CSA metro population is 2.3 million. Nashville's CSA metro population is 2 million.
Atlanta's CSA metro population 6.5 million.
Charlotte's peer city comps are Raleigh and Nashville, not Atlanta.
Atlanta’s a bigger metro area, yet they ironically are pretty much the same with hardly any difference.
As a poster said a couple post up... ATL has a zoo, baseball team, aquarium and “etc” - That’s a very insignificant difference. Both are incredibly similar and probably couldn’t be anymore similar than they already are.
Huge area. Not impressed. Is part of this earth shattering Atlanta CSA in Alabama?
Atlanta’s a bigger metro area, yet they ironically are pretty much the same with hardly any difference.
As a poster said a couple post up... ATL has a zoo, baseball team, aquarium and “etc” - That’s a very insignificant difference. Both are incredibly similar and probably couldn’t be anymore similar than they already are.
Huge area. Not impressed. Is part of this earth shattering Atlanta CSA in Alabama?
Sigh. I was hoping people would just ignore that last post as someone resurrected an old thread just to repeat what was already established, but here we are so let me jump in also.
Yes both metros are similar but saying they are "pretty much the same with hardly any difference" and "couldn't be anymore similar than they already are" are pretty big overstatements and it's pretty disingenuous to imply that those things you mentioned are the only differences between Atlanta and Charlotte. They are not clones of each other. Major differences include more big office districts, more prominent suburban counties/communities, a bigger higher ed presence, more 'hoods, more historic areas, a much more prominent TV/film/music industry, a bigger Black presence, a bigger gay presence, more extensive transit, etc. in and throughout metro Atlanta. They have similarities but nobody is going to mistake one for the other.
And Atlanta's CSA is completely within Georgia. That's an old map and I'm not sure what the point was in posting it anyway.
You can prefer one over the other for various reasons, but let's not negate facts.
Sigh. I was hoping people would just ignore that last post as someone resurrected an old thread just to repeat what was already established, but here we are so let me jump in also.
Yes both metros are similar but saying they are "pretty much the same with hardly any difference" and "couldn't be anymore similar than they already are" are pretty big overstatements and it's pretty disingenuous to imply that those things you mentioned are the only differences between Atlanta and Charlotte. They are not clones of each other. Major differences include more big office districts, more prominent suburban counties/communities, a bigger higher ed presence, more 'hoods, more historic areas, a much more prominent TV/film/music industry, a bigger Black presence, a bigger gay presence, more extensive transit, etc. in and throughout metro Atlanta. They have similarities but nobody is going to mistake one for the other.
And Atlanta's CSA is completely within Georgia. That's an old map and I'm not sure what the point was in posting it anyway.
You can prefer one over the other for various reasons, but let's not negate facts.
The point was that such a vast geographic region, not really sure those far out CSA counties are any different in any respect to Charlotte CSA counties.
The only thing I read in your post is Atlanta is bigger. Bigger office districts, more prominent suburbs, more gays, etc doesn’t seem like it would have an impact on anyone’s lives. When I lived in Ballantyne, I never went to Huntersville. Sure, went for the lake. When I lived in Huntersville, I never went to Ballantyne. I never ran out of gays on the roster in CLT. Not really sure more Atlantans use mass transit more than Charlotteans.
. I would say Atlanta is much more similar to Charlotte and vice versa than any other city excluding maybe Raleigh. From chains, grocery stores, layout, suburb dominated, weather, etc etc. both are similar. Oklahoma City is closer in size to Charlotte. I think Charlotte is nothing like OKC. If I were to live in Sandy Springs.... not sure my life would differ anymore than it would in Ballantyne or North Hills. Except we have to drive an hour or so to the zoo.
At the end of the day, the vast majority of both residents live in identical single family home neighborhoods, go to shopping centers anchored by a Target, Publix with some Zaxbies or Chick-Fil-A in the parking lot and some HomeGoods. For the very small minority, like myself, yes. There is a difference between the downtowns.
Last edited by Charlotte485; 09-10-2018 at 02:24 PM..
The point was that such a vast geographic region, not really sure those far out CSA counties are any different in any respect to Charlotte CSA counties.
The only thing I read in your post is Atlanta is bigger. Bigger office districts, more prominent suburbs, more gays, etc doesn’t seem like it would have an impact on anyone’s lives. When I lived in Ballantyne, I never went to Huntersville. Sure, went for the lake. When I lived in Huntersville, I never went to Ballantyne. I never ran out of gays on the roster in CLT. Not really sure more Atlantans use mass transit more than Charlotteans.
. I would say Atlanta is much more similar to Charlotte and vice versa than any other city excluding maybe Raleigh. From chains, grocery stores, layout, suburb dominated, weather, etc etc. both are similar. Oklahoma City is closer in size to Charlotte. I think Charlotte is nothing like OKC. If I were to live in Sandy Springs.... not sure my life would differ anymore than it would in Ballantyne or North Hills. Except we have to drive an hour or so to the zoo.
At the end of the day, the vast majority of both residents live in identical single family home neighborhoods, go to shopping centers anchored by a Target, Publix with some Zaxbies or Chick-Fil-A in the parking lot and some HomeGoods. For the very small minority, like myself, yes. There is a difference between the downtowns.
It goes without saying that suburbia is suburbia no matter where you go. Did that even need to be said? Obviously the discussion went beyond that, but okay...I guess. In that case, there's not much of a difference between Charlotte and any other metro in the country, which renders just about any and all comparisons meaningless; after all, everybody's regular day-to-day routine is essentially the same whether you're in NYC, DC, Philly, LA, SF, Chicago, Charlotte, Houston, Denver, etc.--get up, go to work, drop kids off at school, get off work, pick kids up from school, go grocery shopping, go to yoga, drop kids off at soccer practice, pick kids up from soccer practice, eat dinner, go to bed, rinse and repeat. That's saying nothing. But I'm assuming you didn't bother to read the original post which was asking for a comparison of the cities and their amenities from the standpoint of a visitor.
And no, the differences between the two metros aren't simply a case of Atlanta being bigger. I can name metros larger than Charlotte that don't have several of those characteristics that Atlanta has, but I'm sure you know that.
And yes, more Atlantans use mass transit than Charlotteans. I can't believe someone who comes across as otherwise reasonable would even say something like that.
Last edited by Mutiny77; 09-10-2018 at 03:44 PM..
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