During his annual State of the City address earlier this year, Mayor Andre Dickens was boastful about Atlanta’s being a place where Black residents can thrive.
Citing credited (and uncredited) data points, Hizzoner reeled off a list of superlatives. It’s true that Atlanta and the metro area ranks high for Black-owned business, homeownership and in-migration. Of course, like any major city with large Black populations, there are challenges.
We’ll explore more of these topics over the course of this series.
Here’s a snapshot of numbers, data and context behind some realities of Black life in Atlanta and the metro area:
A predominantly Black city?
Let’s talk about demographics. Yes, Atlanta is mostly Black. Residents living in the city limits who identify as Black or African American represent 46% of the population, according to the latest American Community Survey data.
When we’re talking about the larger 29-county metro Atlanta area, that’s 2.3 million Black residents, which means we rank second for the most Black people in any U.S. metro area. That’s just ahead of Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dallas’ metro areas. Who holds the top spot? New York City’s metro area with 3.8 million.
Where will you find the most Black folks living in metro Atlanta? While Fulton County is home to more than 460,000 Black residents, seven out of 10 Clayton County residents are Black.
On the move
“We full” is a common quip (and T-shirt) from Black natives who feel like the influx of transplants is pushing us to capacity.
Atlanta might not be busting at the seams, but we are a leader in migration for Black Americans. A 2022 study from Brookings Institution found that metro Atlanta has led the country in Black in-migration (folks moving to the area) for the past four decades up to that point.
Between 1995 and 2020, metro Atlanta saw the largest gain of just over 183,000 Black residents. In the same span of time, the metro area with next highest in-migration gains was Dallas at just over 72,000.
Haves and have-nots
When it comes to median household income, sadly, you can’t spell inequality without A-T-L. In Atlanta, the median household income for Black residents is $38,854, compared to $114,195 for white residents, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This is one of the largest Black-white income gaps in the country.
Overall, the median household income for Atlanta is $85,880.
In the Atlanta metro area, the median household income for Black residents was $70,969, according to 2023 Census data. That’s more than $30,000 less than the median household income for white residents and $40,000 less than Asian residents.
For Hispanic and Latino residents of any race, the median household income was $73,425.
American dream, deferred
According to a 2021 report from the Atlanta Regional Commission, 47.5% of Black residents are homeowners, compared to 73.7% for white residents in metro Atlanta.
The research also shows that Cobb County has the largest gap in metro Atlanta between Black and white homeowners at 30.3 percentage points. The smallest gap? Fayette County with a 4.9-percentage gap.
A 2024 report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that only 35% of Black residents in the city of Atlanta own their homes compared to 58% of white residents.
And what about buying a home?
Dickens said Atlanta is “the best city for Black homebuyers.”
That’s true for the metro area, according to the Mortgage Research Center’s analysis of approval rates for Black applicants. We ranked first ahead of the Washington, D.C., Dallas, Houston and Chicago metro areas for a score that looks at successful purchases for Black homebuyers and mortgage applicant approval rates. The rankings also consider the spread between Black and white approval rates.
Metro Atlanta had an 82% approval rate for Black mortgage applicants. However, we also had a 9.5% gap between Black and white approval rates. That’s relatively high compared to other metro areas.
In metro Atlanta, the suburban parts of Cobb, Rockdale, DeKalb and Fulton counties have the highest concentration of Black homeowners.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
‘Git up, Git out’
The 1994 OutKast and Goodie Mob song, “Git Up, Git Out,” is a call to young Black folks in Atlanta to hustle and seek opportunity. It’s also a song about the systemic challenges keeping the city’s Black have-nots from doing so.
Labor participation rates track how many residents are employed and/or actively looking for employment.
In Atlanta, the labor force participation rate for Black residents is 63%. That’s slightly lower than the 70% labor force participation rate for all Atlanta residents.
The song is now over 30 years old, but the reality is still the same.
When it comes to how many folks are still without jobs, for the past 10 months, Georgia’s unemployment rate has hovered around 3.6%. The nationwide average is 4.1%.
In Atlanta, the unemployment rate for Black residents is 8.4% compared to 5.7% for residents overall, according to 2023 American Community Survey data.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Educational attainment
It’s true that Atlanta is home to the largest consortium — Spelman College, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Clark Atlanta University — of historically Black colleges and universities in America. (Side note: don’t sleep on Morris Brown’s resurgence or the Interdenominational Theological Center’s struggles.)
Dickens referred to Atlanta as “the most educated city” in America.
That came by way of a Forbes Advisor report, which compiled rankings based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics, educational providers and organizations.
Of the top five, Atlanta was ahead of Arlington, Virginia, St. Petersburg, Florida, San Antonio, Texas, and San Diego.
However, of those top five, Atlanta had the second-highest gap in bachelor’s degree attainment between white and nonwhite residents.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Voting power
We know that Atlanta got its first Black mayor in 1974, and it’s stayed that way since.
Georgia — seemingly always in the eye of election storms — has over 2 million active Black voters. What percentage of this electorate calls Atlanta or the metro area home? And what’s that number look like for those who actually show up and cast ballots?
Across Georgia, Black voters make up about 30% of the state’s voter registration rolls. When you count just the folks who showed up to the polls in the most recent presidential election, Black voters cast 26% of ballots statewide.
Here in Atlanta, 47% of registered voters are Black, and 39% of ballots were cast by Black voters in the 2024 election.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Signs of Black progress
Dickens mentioned that Black Enterprise Magazine named Atlanta “the best city to start a business.” The publication was referencing a study from real estate resource site Home Bay titled, “2024 Data: What Are the Best Cities to Start a Business?”
The study credited Atlanta as being a hub for startups, citing the city as high on talent pool and low on startup costs.
There’s definitely some truth to that for Black residents in metro Atlanta.
According to analysis from online loan marketplace Lending Tree, 11.3% of businesses in metro Atlanta are Black-owned. That figure puts us first, just ahead of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Virginia Beach, Memphis and Washington, D.C.
Another win for Atlanta comes in its standing on Human Rights Campaign’s municipal equality index. This annual report tracks how U.S. cities support LGBTQ+ residents and employees. Atlanta received a perfect 100 score.
Data journalist Stephanie Lamm and data editor Charles Minshew contributed data collection and analysis to this story.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
“Atlanta: America’s Black mecca?” is an original content series from UATL that explores that question with data-driven, thoughtful reporting that prioritizes the voices of locals and transplants who call this city home. These stories will appear in the paper, UATL.com and AJC.com each month through January 2026.
Got a Black mecca story to tell? We want to hear about your experiences. Hit us up at uatl@ajc.com.
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