METRO ATLANTA MILLENNIALS: AT A GLANCE
(Population Age 20-39 by county, race)
County White Black Hispanic Other* Total
Fulton 110,831 127,227 30,909 28,353 297,320
Gwinnett 81,079 56,653 62,578 29,828 230,138
DeKalb 62,410 111,565 31,500 20,464 225,939
Cobb 96,667 55,977 31,972 15,726 200,342
Clayton 7,750 52,858 14,065 5,423 80,096
Cherokee 43,173 3,580 7,670 2,175 56,598
Henry 25,858 20,095 3,731 2,888 52,572
Douglas 15,438 15,392 3,945 1,273 36,048
Rockdale 6,782 10,264 3,068 838 20,952
Fayette 11,448 4,002 1,878 1,403 18,731
METRO ATLANTA TOTAL: 1.218 million
• Includes Asian.
Source: Atlanta Regional Commission, 2014
METRO ATLANTA’S MILLENNIALS FAVOR:
Alternatives to automobiles:
- Public transit
- Bike lanes
The city vs the suburb:
- Walkable, mixed-use developments
A more tech-savvy region:
- More business startups.
- Metro Atlanta should be viewed as a “tech hub.”
WHAT MILLENNIALS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT:
- Metro Atlanta doesn’t work together as a region. Example: Failed transportation referendum.
- Gap in transportation and building environment
- Lack of equity capital
- No access to planning boards such as ARC. ARC relies on “elected officials who are worried about the fire of the day and are limited by their terms in office.”
- Metro Atlanta is “stuck in a 1970s view of race.” There’s very little intermingling of ethnic groups. The region still thinks of diversity in terms of black and white.
WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH MILLENNIALS:
- Social media
WHAT DOESN’T WORK:
- Flyers
- Newsletters
Source: "New Voices: Engaging Millennials at the ARC Table," Atlanta Regional Commission. 2014.
Josiah Potter moved his young family to Peachtree City from Orlando two years ago to start a nondenominational church and to be near his parents.
Orlando’s loss is Fayette County’s gain, and it’s a critical one, too.
For years, Fayette has promoted its top-drawer schools and laid-back lifestyle as an alternative to the hassles of Atlanta and other big cities. It fought against public transit and bragged about its small-town ways. But that approach has earned Fayette a national distinction it would just as soon forget. In holding on to its slower-paced lifestyle, it has managed to lose many of its young people, county chairman Steve Brown concedes..
Between 2007 and 2013, Fayette saw the nation’s steepest drop — 31 percent — in people in their late teens to mid-30s, an increasingly influential group known as the millennials.
Now Fayette is trying to lure them back — as is the rest of metro Atlanta, which also is working harder to keep and attract millennials like 32-year-old Potter and his 26-year-old wife Jordan.
Recent research by C&M/Civic Strategies found that people between the ages of 18-35 are vital to the region’s future. Millennials represent one in four metro Atlantans. That’s a significant number, but Atlanta regional planners say the metro Atlanta needs more millennials because many of the future policies are being created with them in mind.
“We don’t have a huge number of millennials on our board or other committees,” said Julie Ralston, director of strategic relations at the Atlanta Regional Commission. “However, the future we’re planning for will be for this age group.”
Additionally, the region will need to replenish its workforce with younger workers as older generations of workers retire, said Mike Alexander, manager of ARC’s Research Analytics division.
“Everybody’s interested in this large generation as they start to enter the workforce, “Alexander said.
ARC formed its “New Voices” initiative last year to get more millennials involved in regional planning.
ARC set about identifying millennials throughout the region for its boards, meeting with them in a Decatur restaurant and other casual settings to find out what they liked about metro Atlanta and what they’d like to see changed. One concern they have is public transportation. Two years ago, metro Atlantans rejected a referendum that would have addressed the issue throughout the region. Research shows millennials are more pro-transit than their baby boomer parents and Gen Xers.
They want to live in areas where they don’t have to own a car but could rely on public transit, walk or bike.
“We know they’re people really involved (in their communities) already,” Ralston said. “We wanted to tap into the wisdom, creativity, energy and ideas of millennials who may or may not be at the leadership table already.”
The meetings yielded surprising information:
- Young adults in metro Atlanta don't want the financial weight of homeownership, which aligns with national studies, Ralston said. A lot of them still have student loans and the still-uncertain economy has made it tough for them to find jobs in their desired fields.
- Many are underemployed or involved in startups that require them to be financially lean and mean.
- They have different values and visions about how they want their communities to be. "They will travel to a community where they find the quality of life they want, then they'll find a job or make a job," Ralston said.
“It became clear as a regional planning agency, we needed to tap into this age group’s creativity,” Ralston concluded. “Their commitment to the region is really high. So is their wisdom and creativity and vision for the future.”
A Millennial Advisory Committee will kick off early next year. “We’re forming it to begin to build this leadership perspective into our plans and programs for the future,” Ralston said. “We have a planning horizon out to 2040. So this is a critical age group.
In the meantime, some metro Atlanta communities are trying to reach more millennials. Gwinnett has the largest population of millennials in the region. To that end, Duluth is trying to make its downtown a destination point and it’s also focusing on arts and entertainment as a way to attract younger people, said Mayor Nancy Harris. Eddie Owens Presents is a popular spot where they can see live entertainment, Harris noted and it has helped ignite the downtown night life. Harris has hired a consulting firm to find out what type of attractions will draw more of them to Duluth.
Similarly, Fayette also is trying to address its dearth of millennials through it Fayette Visioning Initiative, a strategic planning program started in 2013 that focuses on education, economy and community. Focus groups and research revealed some harsh truths.
“We’re one of the most rapidly aging communities in metro region.” Fayette Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive Virginia Gibbs said. “At same time, we’ve lost our millennials.”
That said, Fayette is not likely to transform into the next Buckhead.
“Fayette County can’t compete with Buckhead’s singles scene,” Commission Chairman Steve Brown said. “The area we triumph over the rest of Atlanta is when these couples start having children and they start looking for quality lifestyle.”
Alexander said people move to places that have jobs. He noted that metro Atlanta continues to adds job even though its unemployment rate remains higher than the rest of the nation.
More young families will consider Fayette as the economy and job prospects continue to improve and as more starter homes in Fayette — once considered too expensive and unattainable — become available as older generations downsize and move out of those homes, Brown said.
“We like how life is lived here,” Potter said. “We love when people love their city. That was a huge draw for us.”
Potter said he's already seen changes being made to attract more millennials. At The Avenue, Fayette's posh shopping district, several stores that once catered to older women have been replaced with retailers that cater to younger women. Several of Potter's friends work at Pinewood Studios, the British film conglomerate Fayette landed two years ago. Its state-of-the-art complex has attracted those in their 20s and 30s.
Potter also has made efforts to reach out to young adults. He said most of the congregation at CrossPointe, the church he started, are young adults and young families.
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