New metro population forecast: 8 million
Regional planners have upped their estimate for metro Atlanta’s population growth, saying the number will rise to 8 million by 2040.
That’s up from an estimate of 7.8 million when the Atlanta Regional Commission last forecast long-term population gains in 2011.
Back then, the region was still struggling to emerge from the Great Recession. Now the economy is better, job creation is up and the flow of new residents from elsewhere to Atlanta has resumed.
The metro population currently is about 5.5 million.
Most of the population growth through 2040 will be in the suburbs, according to the ARC. But “significant growth” is also expected in downtown Atlanta, Midtown, Buckhead and neighborhoods inside I-285.
More than in previous decades of surging growth, people are choosing to live near jobs or transportation, said Jane Hayse, director of ARC’s Center for Livable Communities.
“Walkable communities” are also becoming more popular, she said. “There’s been a change in the region’s development pattern. We see this trend continuing, and even accelerating, over the next 25 years.”
The ARC predicts an additional 1.5 million jobs by 2040.
“The Atlanta region is a hub for high tech, professional services and logistics jobs,” said Mike Alexander, manager of ARC’s Research and Analytics Division. “The region seems to have a solid economic footing for the future.”
Jobs in metro Atlanta will also be concentrated in the region’s core, major employment centers and along major highway corridors, with 44 percent of jobs located in these areas in 2040, the ARC projects. That’s down from 47 percent now.
That slight decline is a sign of how many more jobs are being added in the rest of the region, rather than a weakening in the core, the ARC said.
Outside the core the largest job growth will be in retail, service and education. The core will have a much higher percentage of higher-paying management, scientific and information technology jobs, the ARC predicts.
