The Gentrification of Atlanta

Posted by Sheila Redick on March 12, 2006

The demographics of the city of Atlanta are shifting dramatically, with the city gaining a larger share of wealthier residents in the region.  In 1990 the per capita income in the city of Atlanta was below that of the metro area but now is 28 percent higher, the largest such shift in the nation.  Non-Hispanic blacks have declined from a high of 66.8 percent in 1990 to 61 percent in 2000 to 54 percent in 2004.  In the same period, non-Hispanic white went from 30.3 percent to 35 percent.  That, too, is atypical. 

Observers credit the pull of new in-town living options and the push of long commutes from the suburbs.

Read more in The New York Times piece by Shaila Dewan.