A new report in Slate suggests something very big off of a relatively small data point: Atlanta might actually be getting dumber, Jordan Weissmann wrote, at least according to a one-year estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Out of the 51 cities analyzed, Atlanta was the only one where a smaller percentage of [25- to 34-year-olds] had earned at least a bachelor's [degree] than in 2000," Weissman wrote. This according to one-year estimates in the Census' 2012 American Community Survey. (The decrease itself falls within the ACS margin of error.)
Meanwhile, the Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., metro areas saw growth of 1.8 and 4.6 percents, respectively, in four-year degree attainment. Both cities are seen as contenders in the race for the New South's new capital, fighting hard for jobs and talent — a contest in which Atlanta, in some ways, alarmingly lags.
The AJC took an in-depth look at this issue earlier this year, in our "Atlanta Forward" series.
Slate has other anecdotal evidence of a kind of "brain drain" in Atlanta, referencing a 2014 New York Times report that said the city's "young, educated population has increased just 2.8 percent since 2000, significantly less than its overall population. ... suffering the consequences of overenthusiasm for new houses and new jobs before the crash." (That same report said Dallas and Charlotte have experienced similar slow growth.)
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