By the time today’s newborns are finishing college, we’ll be living in a metropolis of nearly 8 million people, according to a new analysis of metro Atlanta growth trends.
That’s one key finding in a recent Spotlight Atlanta 2026 study of the “epicenter of the Southeast” compiled by JLL, a Chicago-based, global real estate services firm.
JLL’s study tracks closely with cited research by the Atlanta Regional Commission that indicates the metro is set to swell by roughly 30 percent over the next couple of decades—packing on the population equivalent of an Indianapolis.
JLL’s findings come at a time when Atlanta has reclaimed its place as the sixth largest U.S. metro, and the core city’s population has climbed higher than it’s ever been, though urban and suburban growth rates have slowed slightly, which ARC officials blame mostly on a housing shortage.
Nonetheless, JLL’s study found that metro Atlanta added 147 new residents each day last year, good for the third highest population increase in the U.S.
The metro now accounts for just over 57 percent of Georgia’s total population, per the analysis.
Courtesy of JLL
Some other eye-opening stats, according to JLL:
Metro Atlanta’s addition of nearly 735,000 residents over the past decade accounted for a 12.8 percent growth rate
Over that same time period, a 14.9 percent uptick in jobs, along with a current 3.2 percent unemployment rate, have kept the labor market “exceptionally tight.”
By 2050, JLL’s forecast call for 1.8 million more people in the metro—in addition to 840,000 more jobs.
Courtesy of JLL
Don’t call us Florida 2.0, but as that happens, the metro’s population of residents age 75 and older is expected to balloon by more than 214 percent.
Below are stats and charts cherrypicked from JLL’s findings. Collectively the data point to the opposite of stagnation—or the antithesis of a population center, like many, that’s losing jobs and people.
But it begs the question: Are we ready for this, Atlanta?
Courtesy of JLL
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Courtesy of JLL
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Courtesy of JLL
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A JLL rundown of “suburban nodes” trends around the metro. The City of Atlanta’s population is rising at a faster pace, but “the majority of the suburban locations around the city are also seeing healthy population gains,” per JLL. Courtesy of JLL
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• Atlanta climbs (back) to 6th largest metro in the United States (Urbanize Atlanta)
