Will Atlanta become the 5th largest metropolitan area in the country? (California, living)

[brock2010]

Originally Posted by R1070

And that's fine. It's good that different places have different vibes.

I agree.

[MarcBetrus]

The long answer is: noooooo. The short answer is: no.

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Did you just do a quick eye test and come up with that $200 figure? That doesn't constitute a statistical analysis.

According to this source that lists median November 2021 rents in the nation's 100 largest cities, DC ranks 5th while Atlanta ranks 15th with a difference of $530 between their 1BR apartment median rents and $760 for 2BR's. According to this source ranking the most populous 100 cities according to 1BR and 2BR average rents for October 2021, DC comes in at 21st for highest 1BR average rents and Atlanta 41st with a difference of $548; for 2BR's, DC ranks 16th and Atlanta 31st, registering an average difference in rents of $946.

Atlanta isn't exactly a cheap city anymore with median/average 1BR rents around $1700 and 2BR's around $2200, but that's still several hundred bucks lower than DC's ~$2200 and $3100 median/average rents for 1BR and 2BR apartments respectively.

Agreed. Clearly Atlanta is growing and so is the cost-of-living but it’s still not DC expensive which is a good thing imo. This area has become so expensive that since COVID I can name like 8 people who have left not because they didn’t like the area but because the high CoL.

But there’s no denying Atlanta is far more expensive today than it was a year ago but it’s still affordable… for now.

[saybanana]

Atlanta is reaching Los Angeles prices for rent in older and basic amenities
DC prices are prices for new luxury LA apartments with all the fancy amenities.

[Soonhun]

Originally Posted by kcmo

The USA has few real mega "cities" and Chicago is one of them.

Technically no. It has New York and Los Angeles.

[Need4Camaro]

Chicago is kind of on the crest IMO. Too big to be considered an ordinary large city, but too small to be considered a world premiere city in terms of population.

I.E. - It’s in a different tier than Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Phoenix … but it isn’t quite a NYC, Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, ect

When it comes to recognition however, things are quite a bit different. It seems Chicago is just as heavily recognized as any mega-city across the globe.

[Bluefox]

Doubt it. Population growth is expected to significantly slow down. Unless Atlanta suddenly becomes a major destination area, like attracting double the population, it’s not likely. I won’t say anything bad about Atlanta but I don’t think it’s that amazing.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Doubt it. Population growth is expected to significantly slow down. Unless Atlanta suddenly becomes a major destination area, like attracting double the population, it’s not likely. I won’t say anything bad about Atlanta but I don’t think it’s that amazing.

Bingo.

Considering global birth rates keep setting record lows every year, I don't think most folks realize--especially Americans--the extent to which population growth is continuing to slow down. And because this is now a global phenomenon--no longer just "first world" countries--it will also begin to impact immigration levels, which is a HUGE source of population growth of just about every major metro area in the US.

This is on top of the fact that things like climate change (and pandemics!) are going to continue to threaten human life in the coming years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/22/w...shrinking.html

Not trying to come off as a downer or doomsdayer, but these trends are all very real, and I just find so many conversations on city-data regarding future population/growth projections completely divorced from this reality.

As they say, demographics are destiny.

[atadytic19]

It will be interesting to see if Phoenix will be able to beat the odds and keep growing and be yet another city in the mix with Atlanta. They both grew about the same pace last decade but Atlanta is still over a million bigger, but who knows. Phoenix is closer to Atlanta in population than Atlanta is to DFW.

[saybanana]

Atlanta is starting to get expensive. Like most bigger cities, the more expensive it gets the slower the future growth as everyone at lower income seek cheaper housing metro.

What was driving growth in all the cities in the past decade?