Metro Atlanta has added nearly 65,000 residents in the past year, according to new population estimates from the Atlanta Regional Commission.
That pushes the population of 11-county region to roughly 5.1 million, says ARC.
The recent population gain is up from 2020-2021 when there were 59,190 new residents, but still lower than the average annual increase metro Atlanta experienced in the 2010s.
Each of the 11 counties saw population increases from 2021 to 2022, with Gwinnett adding the most new residents – 13,460. Fulton County added 11,200 residents, and DeKalb added 5,430.
The city of Atlanta saw 5,070 new residents between 2021 and 2022, higher than the 3,230 residents added the previous year.
ARC says a strong increase in building permits and a fuller recovery from pandemic-driven job losses is driving the population gain.
“We are clearly recovering from the initial shock of the pandemic in 2020,” Anna Roach, executive director of ARC, said in a press release. “These population gains are encouraging, and they are a testament to the quality of life metro Atlanta offers. As we look to the future, we must continue to work on housing affordability, access to transit, transportation infrastructure, and other critical issues so that we foster a region where everyone thrives.”
The 11-county metro Atlanta region includes Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, as well as the city of Atlanta and 74 other cities.