Atlanta 2020 Census
 

Opening a thread for any interesting items/data from the 2020 census, or related discussion. Some new data was recently released.

Population density by census tract is interesting. I pulled all with at least 10K density from the online visualization (hopefully didn't miss any)

density (people per sq mi) - tract - location
54,888 - 12.06 - Midtown, 6th to 10th, W Peachtree to Juniper
43,440 - 11.01 - Midtown, W. Peachtree to Piedmont park, 12th to 14th
40,197 - 19.01 - Techwood, Parker to North
37,628 - 11.02 - Midtown, W. Peachtree to Piedmont Park / 10th to 12th
34,885 - 28.01 - GSU north, east downtown, jackson street bridge area
25,607 - 12.05 - Southern Midtown. W. Peachtree to Juniper / North to 6th
21,432 - 28.02 - GSU/east side of downtown, sweet auburn
20,152 - 12.03 - Southeast Midtown. Juniper to Argonne, North to 5th.
19,693 - 6.02 - West side of Atlantic Station - north of 14th / west of State
18,057 - 100.06 - Buckhead - Phipps Plaza, Alliance Center
17,958 - 12.04 - east central Midtown. 5th to 10th, Juniper to Argonne
17,189 - 94.07 - northeast of Lindbergh station, Buford Hwy at Sidney Marcus (Lenox Pointe)
15,760 - 96.07 - Buckhead northeast of Lenox / Sims Park / Roxboro Rd area
15,360 - 95.03 - southern Buckhead, at Peachtree and Andrews
15,306 - 94.05 - Lindbergh station area
13,839 - 18.01 - Renaissance Park, Central Park, Angier to North / Piedmont to Parkway
13,704 - 96.05 - Buckhead village north of Pharr rd
13,555 - 10.01 - Western midtown (14th to north, Connector to W Peachtree), Home Park
13,552 - 17.02 - O4W at eastside trail, Highland to North
11,959 - 18.02 - civic center and east, north to Pine/Angier
11,936 - 13.01 - south half of Midtown garden district, Ponce to 8th
11,813 - 15.01 - Poncey Highland
11,691 - 91.03 - Brookwood west of Peachtree
10,727 - 6.01 - West Midtown between 8th and 14th
10,722 - 38 - AUC/Clark Atlanta/Vine City
10,289 - 10.02 - Georgia Tech, West Midtown south of 8th
10,272 - 43 - Castleberry Hill/AUC/Spelman
10,266 - 15.02 - South half of Virginia Highland - Virginia to Ponce (probably only partly in city limits)
10,204 - 94.06 - east of Lindbergh station
10,056 - 119.02 - Sweet Auburn south of Edgewood and north of Decatur st, to eastside trail

A few thoughts:
-The most dense area of the city is not a surprise. Includes Viewpoint, Spire, Skyhouse South, Metropolis, Peachtree Lofts, Dagny, Nine15, etc. Of note, this area will get significantly more dense, with several high-rise apartment buildings currently under construction or proposed.
-Techwood is surprising at over 40K density. A lot of students live in the former Olympic housing. This will also grow, with new apartments opening just south of grant field.
-The "garden district" of Midtown packs in a surprising amount of people. This mix of SFHs, ADUs, and small to midsize apartment and condo buildings results in relatively dense housing.
-Buckhead has a couple of dense areas, but not even close to the core of Midtown's density.
-While two census tracts in downtown are quite dense (largely because of GSU), for the most part downtown is not that dense. Five Points and south downtown area is only 4,101 people per sq mile
-tract 10.01 would likely be more dense if it weren't so large and oddly shaped. It includes all of the land area of the connector from North to 14th, and much of SFH Home Park, but also the very dense areas of western Midtown (Icon, SkyHouse, Plaza Midtown, Aqua, Modera, University House, Midcity Lofts, Alexan on 8th, The Standard, etc).

Thanks for posting! Very interesting.

Midtown will become denser. Hopefully, downtown will after Centennial Yards is built up.

The growth in Asian population on the northeast side is astounding. There are numerous census tracts that are 40-60% Asian in S Forsyth, NW Gwinnett, N Fulton, etc.

In 2010 the entire metro area didn't have a single census tract where Asians were the largest group. Now there are probably 20.

Yup. Many Koreans in the US are saying Duluth/Suwanee/Johns Creek is a good area for Koreans and many are moving there from elsewhere. Similar thing for Indians in Cumming and nearby areas.

Atlanta now has more than 2,000,000 African-Americans residing in the metro, which I believe is the largest number of blacks of any metro in the U.S., including the NYC.

The metro is 33% African-American according to some reports.

Extrapolating from the 2020 Census--

Atlanta surpassed Miami and became the nation's 8th Largest MSA on November 19, 2021
Atlanta will surpass Philadelphia to become the nation's 7th Largest MSA on September 2, 2022.

Just in case you were wondering

:cheers::cheers::cheers:WOW

Atlanta for the past 50 years has been considered a mecca for African Americans for obvious reasons from the city's political, economic and social history. With the recent rise of Asian communities, what is the driver of that influx, and would people in those communities consider Atlanta a "mecca" for them? What other cities are in the running for creating favorable environments for Asians that we could emulate?

^This is just my anecdotal experience, so take it for what you will, but:
A Korean population was established in Atlanta, and especially the northeast suburbs, for a variety of reasons. Similar weather, low cost of living, a growing economy, an international spotlight on Atlanta from the Olympics, business ties, major airport, and excellent universities. From 1990-2000 Georgia had the highest percentage increase in Koreans of any state. From there it snowballed - Koreans came to Atlanta when moving to the US because they had family or friends here. A similar thing happened in the suburbs of DC (Annandale, Virginia).
Atlanta is very well known in Korea, and is considered a "mecca."

Atlanta is already there:

Good School districts.

Job opportunity/opportunity to open businesses.

Access to Korean amenities. With 5 Super H-marts in the metro area, a Mega Mart (only one outside of Korea and created by Nongshim), a Zion Market, multiple Namdaemun markets, and Assi Plaza, Atlanta can compete with any U.S. city in terms of Korean grocery needs. The first Super H-Mart opened in Duluth around 20 years ago. Before that, they had a few small locations in Virginia, NJ, and NY. After the Duluth Super H-mart, H-mart did rapid expansion all over the country and they're in Canada and other countries too now. There are numerous Korean restaurants that can compete with the top ones in LA and Fort Lee/Palisades Park, NJ. The biggest Korean spa in Spa Land. Many Korean clinics, lawyers, etc. Many Korean churches here which is also important. You have two non-stop flights to Incheon airport (Delta and Korean Air). Also, Asiana air has daily flights from Korea for logistics.

But with housing price increases that may be a hindrance but that's also happening in a lot of sunbelt cities. Back in 2018/2019, it was quite common to hear of Koreans in NJ/NY selling their $1 million+ homes and moving to Atlanta for a bigger newer house for $500,000 and having money leftover to start their own businesses.

We just need more of them to live in and open more businesses in the city.

——

Does anyone know when city council districts will be redrawn? Any preliminary maps you could share? Considering the concentration of growth recently, will be interesting to see how representation shifts for the neighborhoods.

https://urbanize.city/atlanta/post/census-data-metro-atlanta-miami-population-surpassed

“ As several large metros declined for the first time in decades, metro Atlanta packed on 42,904 new residents—the sixth largest gain of any city in 2021, per the Census tally. The official estimate now: 6,144,050 residents.

Miami’s metro, covering much of South Florida, lost 32,541 people from 2020, down to just shy of 6.1 million.”

Atlanta is changing and property values are increasing accordingly. Arguably, in the past, its biggest appeal was a low cost of living. Now, it needs to (and does, I believe) prove itself in other ways. It'll be interesting to see how this all balances out in coming years. Stable climate and ample land will certainly work in our favor over cities like New York and Miami.

Metro Atlanta still seems like a bargain to those relocating from higher priced metros. I just spent a long weekend in Seattle and was slacked jawed at the housing prices there. This is even as 3/2 renovations in EAV are listing for over $500K now and $700K and even $800+K (three doors down from me) are becoming more commonplace.

Best thing City of Atlanta can do IMO is encourage better land use, like more housing on smaller footprints of land, particularly from Five Points to the outer sections of the BeltLine Overlay. Then also do it’s best to add trails, protected bike lanes, and transit only lanes in to connect the BeltLine neighborhoods with Downtown & Midtown.

SFH will continue to be a premium even beyond those boundaries due to low inventory, so if you own a home enjoy the increase in property values and hopefully you can manage with the property taxes.

List of Atlanta neighborhoods by population
 

1. Midtown - 25,142
2. Old Fourth Ward - 14,177
3. Downtown - 13,613
4. North Buckhead - 13,362
5. Morningside/Lenox Park - 11,576
6. Emory - 11,150
7. East Atlanta - 10,924
8. Pine Hills - 9,256
9. Virginia Highland - 8,660
10. Grant Park - 8,167
11. Georgia Tech - 7,791
12. East Lake - 7,099
13. Kirkwood - 7,072
14. Home Park - 7,028
15. Lindbergh/Morosgo - 6,742
16. Greenbriar - 6,178
17. Glenrose Heights - 5,588
18. Inman Park - 5,392
19. Collier Heights - 5,286
20. Campbellton Road - 5,239
21. Underwood Hills - 5,024
22. Atlanta University Center - 5,019
23. Edgewood - 4,930
24. Vine City - 4,789
25. West End - 4,732
26. Ormewood Park - 4,696
27. Southwest - 4,682
28. Sweet Auburn - 4,593
29. Peachtree Hills - 4,536
30. Grove Park - 4,432
31. Candler Park - 4,415
32. Lindridge/Martin Manor - 4,167
33. Reynoldstown - 3,927
34. Venetian Hills - 3,890
35. Oakland City - 3,801
36. Princeton Lakes - 3,797
37. Peachtree Heights West - 3,772
38. Adamsville - 3,691
39. Poncey-Highland - 3,680
40. Bolton - 3,674

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/loc.../85-fed443d9-4d6f-4426-809d-f6c226bc2598

So if my math is right, if Atlanta averaged the same population density of Inman Park across the whole city we would basically have the population of Chicago. Obviously that's a simplistic calculation, but to me that does put in perspective just how wide a range of housing types we could be building. To me it suggests the housing issue in the area isn't even too much SFH, so much as it is too many areas with big lot sizes and little mix with commercial centers.

Why can't we build more Inman Parks?

I lived in Inman Park for 20 years starting in 1999. The neighborhood only had about 2200 people back then and the whole vibe of the hood was let's fill in and bring in more businesses and development. Many of the people that moved in back in the seventies were still around and they remembered well having no grocery stores, banks, restaurants, etc so they were definitely "bring it on!" people.

Look at a neighborhood like Virginia-Highland where they were basically "NO" on any new business development. Pretty much all they allowed was tear-downs of existing houses to build giant monstrosities that take over the entire lot removing all the mature trees. Funny, when Buckhead Village got torn down most nightlife seemed to migrate down to VA-Hi so maybe that spooked them. Not sure, but the result is their once vibrant scene is pretty much gone. They still have the old stalwarts George's, Moes & Joes, Murphy's, Taco Mac but nothing like Inman Park's dynamic environment.

So true! I remember the days of wonderful places like colorbox.