Crime, economy top concerns for metro Atlantans, survey says

Crime ranks as the top issue facing metro Atlanta residents, according to a new survey released Friday by the Atlanta Regional Commission, but concern about the economy appears to be growing.

In the ARC’s regular Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey, nearly 27% of respondents said crime is the biggest issue for the region. The share of respondents who feel crime is the area’s main issue has dropped nearly 6 points since 2021, the last time the survey was conducted. Data show violent crime and murder rates have dropped since a pandemic surge.

Seven-in-10 metro respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I feel safe walking in my neighborhood at night.”

The commission worked with researchers from Kennesaw State University to ask nearly 5,000 residents in 11 counties their thoughts on varied topics such as feeling safe in their neighborhoods, climate change and the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed this year felt the economy is the biggest problem facing metro residents, which is the highest share of respondents pointing the finger at economic issues since at least 2016. It’s also double the proportion who said the economy was their top issue two years ago.

The Federal Reserve continues its battle against persistent inflation by hiking interest rates, making borrowing more expensive. But Georgia’s jobs engine remains strong and the U.S. in the third quarter reported strong economic growth.

The ARC, which is the metro’s regional planning agency, has conducted the Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey annually since 2013 (except for last year) to understand how residents perceive quality of life.

“I can sit there and tell you about poverty rates and educational attainment and just thousands of other demographic variables, but hearing directly from the voices of residents, that information is invaluable,” said Mike Carnathan, managing director of the research and analytics department for ARC.

Now that the survey has been conducted for a decade, changes in people’s priorities over the years can be seen, particularly around transportation, which often polled as the top issue prior to the pandemic.

“That was just sort of the zeitgeist of the Atlanta region for so long is, you know, people standing around the watercooler to talk about their commute and so it was just part of our lives, it was just part of our identity, but the pandemic shifted that,” Carnathan said.

Respondents also were split over what steps would best solve bottlenecks with 36% preferring expanded transit and about 30% choosing road improvements.

Nine-in-10 surveyed said improved transit is very or somewhat important for the region, but fewer than half said they would pay more taxes to expand regional bus and rail networks. In the city of Atlanta, however, more than half would support more taxes for better transit.

Overall, most respondents are content living in the region. About 58% said if given the chance to stay where they are, move to a different neighborhood or leave the metro altogether, they would stay put. Less than a quarter — 23% — would move away from metro Atlanta and about 18% would move to a different neighborhood.

However, those surveyed are somewhat pessimistic about the trajectory of the region. A little more than a third of participants said they thought living conditions would get worse in the next few years and a similar tally thought conditions would be the same. Only a quarter said they thought conditions would improve in that time.

Affordability is another challenge. More than 55% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they could not afford to move to another house or apartment anywhere in the metro if they had to. About 41% of those surveyed think the best course of action to addressing affordable housing challenges is increasing public financing to incentivize developers to build at lower prices.

Only about half of those surveyed would be able to pay for a $400 financial emergency with cash, check or a debit card. A quarter of respondents would have to borrow money, sell or pawn items or just not be able to get the money at all. And 23% said they would put it on a credit card.

And a plurality of respondents also thought that more affordable housing would be most likely to attract and retain a skilled workforce. But looking to the future, about three-quarters of respondents said they think too many workers will lose their jobs to some type of automation or artificial intelligence.

This year, ARC asked two new questions about electric vehicles and climate change to inform the commission’s planning work in those areas.

About 91% of respondents did not own an electric vehicle and most were not planning on buying one in the next five years, largely because they think the cars are too expensive or inconvenient to charge. But about a third of those surveyed are planning to buy an electric vehicle in the next few years, and nearly 48% of respondents said over the next 10 years, climate change will be a major global threat to the metro area.

The survey’s margin of error for the metro region was plus or minus 1.5%. The 11 counties represented in the survey are: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale. Fulton and DeKalb were oversampled so researchers could get a statistically significant sub-sample of city of Atlanta residents. In total, 4,852 adults responded to the survey.

Carnathan said the large sample size is what makes the survey’s insights so valuable and he hopes the responses will help drive conversations about the challenges facing the region that then impact policy.

“If you sit there and continue to put in front of policymakers that this is what your residents are saying, eventually the policy will follow,” Carnathan said.

Metro Atlanta Speaks

“I feel safe walking in my neighborhood at night:”

“If I had to move right now, I could not afford to move to another house or apartment anywhere in the metro Atlanta area:”

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