Metro Atlanta landlords filed 140,000 eviction cases in 2025, a rate researchers say is more than three times the national average and higher than any other major metro area in the country.
Researchers at Princeton University-based Eviction Lab spoke to attorneys, judges, elected officials, and nonprofit leaders on Sept. 10, shocking many audience members with statistics about Atlanta’s skyrocketing eviction filing rates.
About 31,000 of the five-county region’s eviction filings occurred within the City of Atlanta – one filing for every four renter households. New York City, with four times as many renter households as metro Atlanta, saw about 25,000 fewer eviction filings over the same period.
“That 25% eviction filing rate in Atlanta compares to 5% in New York, 9% in Houston, in Nashville, in Jacksonville,” said Peter Hepburn, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University-Newark who leads the Eviction Lab’s tracking system.
Eviction Lab’s data shows the metro’s highest eviction filings are in Norcross, Stone Mountain, Jonesboro, Redan, and Forest Park.
How does eviction work?
The road to eviction is a legal process to hold the renter responsible for paying rent and fees. It doesn’t always lead to an eviction. Eviction Lab found that 95% of cases are filed over non-payment of rent, and Atlanta landlords move quickly to file. The typical tenant facing eviction in Atlanta is only one month behind on rent, compared with two months in Minneapolis and Kansas City.
If a landlord chooses to file an eviction, they need to provide their tenants with at least three days notice and pay a filing fee between $54 and $75 (depending on the county) to the courts. In Alabama, where filings are significantly lower, the filing fee is $250.
About 65% of eviction filings are ultimately dismissed by landlords after they’re paid. About 25% end in default judgments against tenants who do not appear in court. The researchers cautioned that dismissed filings still leave a record that can follow tenants when they apply for future housing.
Who is affected?
Families with children are hit hardest by evictions. Hepburn said that in Georgia, nearly 240,000 children a year face eviction.
“For a child, an eviction can mean changing schools, losing friends and teachers, and starting over in a completely unfamiliar place. For a parent, it can mean figuring out where your children will sleep, how you’re going to get to work,” Atlanta Chief of Staff Courtney English said on behalf of Mayor Andre Dickens.
Underlying drivers of the crisis include rents rising faster than incomes, a housing shortfall of more than 100,000 rental homes in metro Atlanta, and restrictions that zone 94% of land for single-family housing.
The problem is when someone in crisis has to figure out the ecosystem for themselves, English said.
“They call one organization and get sent to another. They show up at the wrong door, and meanwhile, the rent is still due. The clock is still moving,” English said. “Someone who started out looking for help staying in their home gets closer to losing it while trying to navigate the system designed to help them.”
What can we do?
“The data is incredibly sobering, but absolutely necessary,” English said.
Since Dickens took office, the City has created a $2 million eviction diversion program, a housing help center, and tenant advocacy programs designed to connect at-risk tenants to services before they reach court. More than 14,600 affordable housing units have been built or are in the pipeline, part of Dickens’ goal of building 20,000 housing units by 2030.
Other cities are using policy changes to reduce eviction filings, including raising filing fees to discourage repeated filings; lengthening notice periods, which in Georgia currently stand at three business days; and sealing eviction records.
English encouraged people to speak with elected representatives. Georgia law currently bans the City of Atlanta from guaranteeing tenants a right to counsel in eviction cases, he said.
“Democracy dies in darkness,” English said. “If you are serious, get engaged with your city government … get engaged at the county level.”
“Go vote,” he added. “We are in an election year. Act accordingly.”
