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Atlanta
State capital
Downtown Atlanta skyline Georgia State Capitol Georgia Aquarium Centennial Olympic Park Mercedes-Benz Stadium Bank of America Plaza World of Coca-Cola Fox Theatre
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  The City in a Forest,[1] ATL,[2] The A,[3] Hotlanta,[4] The Gate City,[5] Hollywood of the South[6] (See also Nicknames of Atlanta)
Motto(s):  Resurgens (Latin for Rising again, alluding to the myth of the phoenix)
Interactive map of Atlanta
Atlanta Location within Georgia Show map of Georgia
Coordinates: 33°44′56″N 84°23′24″W / 33.74889°N 84.39000°W / 33.74889; -84.39000
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Counties	Fulton, DeKalb
Founded (Terminus)	1837; 188 years ago (1837)
	(Marthasville)	1843; 182 years ago (1843)
	(City of Atlanta)	December 29, 1847; 177 years ago (1847-12-29)
Government
• Type	Strong–mayor council
• Mayor	Andre Dickens (D)
• Body	Atlanta City Council
Area [7]
• State capital	136.31 sq mi (353.04 km2)
• Land	135.32 sq mi (350.48 km2)
• Water	0.99 sq mi (2.57 km2)
Elevation [8]	1,050 ft (320 m)
Population  (2020)[9]
• State capital	498,715
• Estimate  (2024)[10]	520,070
• Rank	36th in the United States 1st in Georgia
• Density	3,685.4/sq mi (1,422.96/km2)
• Urban [11]	5,100,112 (US: 9th)
• Urban density	1,998/sq mi (771.3/km2)
• Metro [12]	6,411,149 (US: 8th)
Demonym	Atlantan
GDP [13]
• Metro	$570.663 billion (2023)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	30301–30322, 30324–30329, 30331–30334, 30336-30346, 30348-30350, 30353-30364, 30366, 30368-30371, 30374-30375, 30377-30378, 30380, 30384-30385, 30388, 30392, 30394, 30396, 30398, 31106-31107, 31119, 31126, 31131, 31136, 31139, 31141, 31145-31146, 31150, 31156, 31192-31193, 31195-31196, 39901
Area codes	404/678/770/470/943
FIPS code	13-04000[14]
GNIS feature ID	351615[8]
Website	www.atlantaga.gov

Atlanta (/ætˈlæntə/ ^ⓘ at-LAN-ə)^[15] is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the county seat of Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 498,715 at the 2020 census and estimated at 520,070 in 2024, Atlanta is the eighth-most populous city in the Southeast and 36th-most populous city in the U.S.^[16] Atlanta is classified as a Beta + global city. The Atlanta metropolitan area has an estimated population of over 6.4 million and is the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.^[17] Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Atlanta features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States.^[18]

Atlanta was originally founded as the terminus of a major state-sponsored railroad, but it soon became the convergence point among several railroads, spurring its rapid growth. The largest was the Western and Atlantic Railroad, from which the name "Atlanta" is derived, signifying the city's growing reputation as a major hub of transportation.^[19] During the American Civil War, it served a strategically important role for the Confederacy until it was captured in 1864. The city was almost entirely burned to the ground during General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea. However, the city rebounded dramatically in the post-war period and quickly became a national industrial center and the unofficial capital of the "New South". After World War II, it also became a manufacturing and technology hub.^[20] During the 1950s and 1960s, it became a major organizing center of the American civil rights movement, with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and many other locals becoming prominent figures in the movement's leadership.^[21] In the modern era, Atlanta has remained a major center of transportation, with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport becoming the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 1998 (a position it has held every year since, except for 2020), with an estimated 93.7 million passengers in 2022.^[22][23][24]

With a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $473 billion in 2021, Atlanta has the 11th-largest economy among cities in the U.S. and the 22nd-largest in the world.^[25] Its economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors in industries including transportation, aerospace, logistics, healthcare, news and media operations, film and television production, information technology, finance, and biomedical research and public policy. Atlanta established itself on the world stage when it won and hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. The Games impacted Atlanta's development growth into the 21st century, and significantly sparked investment in the city's universities, parks, and tourism industry.^[26] The gentrification of some of its neighborhoods has intensified in the 21st century with the growth of the Atlanta Beltline. This has altered its demographics, politics, aesthetics, and culture.^[27][28][29]

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers in North Georgia, the indigenous Creek people, Cherokee people, and their ancestors inhabited the area.^[30] Standing Peachtree, a Creek village where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Native American settlement to what is now Atlanta.^[31] Through the early 19th century, European Americans systematically encroached on the Creek of northern Georgia, forcing them out of the area from 1802 to 1825.^[32] The Creek were forced to leave the area in 1821, under Indian Removal by the federal government, and European American settlers arrived the following year.^[33]

In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to provide a link between the port of Savannah and the Midwest.^[34] The initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the "zero milepost" was driven into the ground in what is now Foundry Street, Five Points. When asked in 1837 about the future of the little village, Stephen Harriman Long, the railroad's chief engineer said the place would be good "for one tavern, a blacksmith shop, a grocery store, and nothing else".^[35] A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later Thrasherville, after a local merchant who built homes and a general store in the area.^[36] By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter Martha. Later, John Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlanta, supposedly a feminine version of the word "Atlantic", referring to the Western and Atlantic Railroad.^[19] (Atalanta was also Martha Lumpkin's middle name.) The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29, 1847.^[37]

By 1860, Atlanta's population had grown to 9,554.^[38][39] During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a strategic hub for the distribution of military supplies.^[40]

In 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the Battle of Atlanta and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman. On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood decided to retreat from Atlanta, and he ordered the destruction of all public buildings and possible assets that could be of use to the Union Army. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, Sherman ordered the city's civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Army's March to the Sea by ordering the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets.^[41]

After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt during the Reconstruction era. The work attracted many new residents. Due to the city's superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868.^[42] In the 1880 Census, Atlanta had surpassed Savannah as Georgia's largest city.^[43]

Beginning in the 1880s, Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, promoted Atlanta to potential investors as a city of the "New South" that would be based upon a modern economy and less reliant on agriculture. By 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology) and the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of historically black colleges made up of units for men and women, had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, which attracted nearly 800,000 attendees and successfully promoted the New South's development to the world.^[44]

During the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades' time, Atlanta's population tripled as the city limits expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs. The city's skyline grew taller with the construction of the Equitable, Flatiron, Empire, and Candler buildings. Sweet Auburn emerged as a center of Black commerce. The period was also marked by strife and tragedy. Increased racial tensions led to the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, when Whites attacked Blacks, leaving at least 27 people dead and over 70 injured, with extensive damage in Black neighborhoods. In 1913, Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent, was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in a highly publicized trial. He was sentenced to death, but the governor commuted his sentence to life. An enraged and organized lynch mob took him from jail in 1915 and hanged him in Marietta. The Jewish community in Atlanta and across the country were horrified.^[45][46] On May 21, 1917, the Great Atlanta Fire destroyed 1,938 buildings in what is now the Old Fourth Ward, resulting in one fatality and the displacement of 10,000 people.^[19]

On December 15, 1939, Atlanta hosted the premiere of Gone with the Wind, the epic film based on the best-selling novel by Atlanta's Margaret Mitchell. The gala event at Loew's Grand Theatre was attended by the film's legendary producer, David O. Selznick, and the film's stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Olivia de Havilland, but Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel, an African-American actress, was barred from the event due to racial segregation laws.^[47]

Atlanta played a vital role in the Allied effort during World War II. Colonel Blake Van Leer, the president of Georgia Tech, played a significant part by lobbying war-related manufacturing companies like Lockheed Martin to move to Atlanta, successfully lobbying the Government to build military bases, in turn helping attract thousands of new residents through new jobs. Van Leer also launched major research centers, which included Neely Nuclear Research Center and funds to help make Georgia Tech the "MIT" of the south while also founding Southern Polytechnic State University.^[48][49][50]

These new defense industries attracted thousands of new residents and generated revenues, resulting in rapid population and economic growth. In the 1950s, the city's newly constructed highway system, supported by federal subsidies, allowed middle class Atlantans the ability to relocate to the suburbs. As a result, the city began to make up an ever-smaller proportion of the metropolitan area's population.^[19]

African-American veterans returned from World War II seeking full rights in their country and began heightened activism. In exchange for support by that portion of the Black community that could vote, in 1948 the mayor ordered the hiring of the first eight African-American police officers in the city.^[51]

Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl, when the Pitt Panthers, with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on the roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.^[52] There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin's opposition to racial integration.^[53][54][55] After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. Later, students from both Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia held a protest against Griffin's stance, which soon turned into a riot. The students broke windows, upturned parking meters, hung Griffin in effigy, and marched all the way to the governor's mansion, surrounding it until 3:30 a.m. Griffin publicly blamed Georgia Tech's president for the "riots" and requested he be replaced and Georgia Tech's state funding be cut off. On December 5 the Georgia Tech board of regents voted 13–1 in favor of allowing the game to proceed as scheduled.^[56]

In the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement, with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities playing major roles in the movement's leadership. While Atlanta in the postwar years had relatively minimal racial strife compared to other cities, Blacks were limited by discrimination, segregation, and continued disenfranchisement of most voters.^[57] In 1961, the city attempted to thwart blockbusting by realtors by erecting road barriers in Cascade Heights, countering the efforts of civic and business leaders to foster Atlanta as the "city too busy to hate."^[57][58]

Desegregation of the public sphere came in stages, with public transportation desegregated by 1959,^[59] the restaurant at Rich's department store by 1961,^[60] movie theaters by 1963,^[61] and public schools by 1973 (nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional).^[62]

In 1960, Whites comprised 61.7% of the city's population.^[63] During the 1950s–70s, suburbanization and White flight from urban areas led to a significant demographic shift.^[57] By 1970, African Americans were the majority of the city's population and exercised their recently enforced voting rights and political influence by electing Atlanta's first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1973. Under Mayor Jackson's tenure, Atlanta's airport was modernized, strengthening the city's role as a transportation center. The opening of the Georgia World Congress Center in 1976 further confirmed Atlanta's rise as a convention city.^[64] Construction of the city's subway system began in 1975, with rail service commencing in 1979.^[65] Despite these improvements, Atlanta lost more than 100,000 residents between 1970 and 1990, over 20% of its population.^[66] At the same time, it developed new office space after attracting numerous corporations, with an increasing portion of workers from northern areas.^[67]

Atlanta was selected as the site for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Following the announcement, the city government undertook several major construction projects to improve Atlanta's parks, sporting venues, and transportation infrastructure; however, for the first time, none of the $1.7 billion cost of the games was governmentally funded. While the games experienced transportation and accommodation problems and the Centennial Olympic Park bombing occurred despite extra security precautions,^[68] the spectacle was still a watershed event in Atlanta's history. According to former Mayor Kasim Reed, the Olympic Games generated "a direct economic impact of at least USD 5 billion".^[69][70] For the first time in Olympic history, every one of the record 197 national Olympic committees invited to compete sent athletes, sending more than 10,000 contestants participating in a record 271 events. The related projects such as Atlanta's Olympic Legacy Program and civic effort initiated a fundamental transformation of the city in the following decade.^[66]

During the 2000s, the city of Atlanta underwent a profound physical, cultural, and demographic change. As some of the African-American middle and upper classes also began to move to the suburbs, a booming economy drew numerous new migrants from other cities in the United States, who contributed to changes in the city's demographics. African Americans made up a decreasing portion of the population, from a high of 67% in 1990 to 54% in 2010.^[71] From 2000 to 2010, Atlanta gained 22,763 white residents, 5,142 Asian residents, and 3,095 Hispanic residents, while the city's Black population decreased by 31,678.^[72][73] Much of the city's demographic change during the decade was driven by young, college-educated professionals: from 2000 to 2009, the three-mile radius surrounding Downtown Atlanta gained 9,722 residents aged 25 to 34 and holding at least a four-year degree, an increase of 61%.^[74] This was similar to the tendency in other cities for young, college educated, single or married couples to live in downtown areas.^[75]

In the lead-up to the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Atlanta Housing Authority demolished nearly all of its public housing.^[76][77][78] Residents instead received vouchers to pay for private housing; a wave of mixed housing was built using funding from the HOPE VI program under CEO Renee Lewis Glover (1994–2013).^[79]

In 2005, the city approved the $2.8 billion BeltLine project. It was intended to convert a disused 22-mile freight railroad loop that surrounds the central city into an art-filled multi-use trail and light rail transit line, which would increase the city's park space by 40%.^[80] The project stimulated retail and residential development along the loop, but has been criticized for its adverse effects on some Black communities.^[81] In 2013, the project received a federal grant of $18 million to develop the southwest corridor. In September 2019, the James M. Cox Foundation gave $6 million to the PATH Foundation which will connect the Silver Comet Trail to The Atlanta BeltLine, which was expected to be completed by 2022. Upon completion, the total combined interconnected trail distance around Atlanta for the Atlanta BeltLine and Silver Comet Trail will be the longest paved trail surface in the U.S., totaling about 300 miles (480 km).^[80]

Atlanta's cultural offerings expanded during the 2000s: the High Museum of Art doubled in size; the Alliance Theatre won a Tony Award; and art galleries were established on the once-industrial Westside.^[82] The College Football Hall of Fame relocated to Atlanta and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights museum was constructed. The city of Atlanta was the subject of a massive cyberattack which began in March 2018.^[83] In December 2019, Atlanta hosted the Miss Universe 2019 pageant competition.^[84][85][86] On June 16, 2022, Atlanta was selected as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.^[87]

Atlanta encompasses 134.0 square miles (347.1 km²), of which 133.2 square miles (344.9 km²) is land and 0.85 square miles (2.2 km²) is water.^[88] The city is situated in the Deep South of the southeastern United States among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. At 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta has the highest elevation among major cities east of the Mississippi River.^[89] Atlanta straddles the Eastern Continental Divide. Rainwater that falls on the south and east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide flows into the Gulf of Mexico.^[90] Atlanta developed on a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River, which is part of the ACF River Basin. The river borders the far northwestern edge of the city, and much of its natural habitat has been preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.^[91]

Atlanta is 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Marietta,^[92] 27 miles (43 km) southwest of Alpharetta, 146 miles (235 km) southwest of Greenville, South Carolina,^[93] 147 miles (237 km) east of Birmingham, Alabama,^[94] and 245 miles (394 km) southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.^[95]

Despite having lost significant tree canopy coverage between 1973 and 1999, Atlanta now has the densest urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States and is often called "City of Trees" or "The City in a Forest".^{[18][96][97][98]}

Atlanta is divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods.^[99] The city contains three major high-rise districts, which form a north–south axis along Peachtree: Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead.^[100] Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy, low-density neighborhoods, most of which are dominated by single-family homes.^[101]

Downtown contains the most office space in the metro area, much of it occupied by government entities. Downtown is home to the city's sporting venues and many of its tourist attractions.^[102] Midtown is the city's second-largest business district, containing the offices of many of the region's law firms. Midtown is known for its art institutions, cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, and dense form.^{[103][104][105][106][107]} Buckhead, the city's uptown district, is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown and the city's third-largest business district. The district is marked by an urbanized core along Peachtree Road, surrounded by suburban single-family neighborhoods situated among woods and rolling hills.^{[108][109][110][111]}

Surrounding Atlanta's three high-rise districts are the city's low- and medium-density neighborhoods,^[108] where the craftsman bungalow single-family home is dominant.^[112] The eastside is marked by historic streetcar suburbs, built from the 1890s to the 1930s as havens for the upper middle class. These neighborhoods, many of which contain their own villages encircled by shaded, architecturally distinct residential streets, include the Victorian Inman Park, Bohemian East Atlanta, and eclectic Old Fourth Ward.^[113][114] On the westside and along the BeltLine on the eastside, former warehouses and factories have been converted into housing, retail space, and art galleries, transforming the once-industrial areas such as West Midtown into model neighborhoods for smart growth, historic rehabilitation, and infill construction.^[115]

In southwest Atlanta, neighborhoods closer to downtown originated as streetcar suburbs, including the historic West End, while those farther from downtown retain a postwar suburban layout. These include Collier Heights and Cascade Heights, historically home to most of the city's upper middle-class African-American population.^{[116][117][118]} Northwest Atlanta contains the areas of the city to west of Marietta Boulevard and to the north of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, including those neighborhoods remote to downtown, such as Riverside, Bolton and Whittier Mill. The latter is one of Atlanta's designated Landmark Historical Neighborhoods. Vine City, though technically Northwest, adjoins the city's Downtown area and has recently been the target of community outreach programs and economic development initiatives.^[119]

Gentrification of the city's neighborhoods is one of the more controversial and transformative forces shaping contemporary Atlanta. The gentrification of Atlanta has its origins in the 1970s, after many of Atlanta's neighborhoods had declined and suffered the urban decay that affected other major American cities in the mid-20th century. When neighborhood opposition successfully prevented two freeways from being built through the city's east side in 1975, the area became the starting point for Atlanta's gentrification. After Atlanta was awarded the Olympic games in 1990, gentrification expanded into other parts of the city, stimulated by infrastructure improvements undertaken in preparation for the games. New development post-2000 has been aided by the Atlanta Housing Authority's eradication of the city's public housing. As noted above, it allowed development of these sites for mixed-income housing, requiring developers to reserve a considerable portion for affordable housing units. It has also provided for other former residents to be given vouchers to gain housing in other areas.^[120] Construction of the Beltline has stimulated new and related development along its path.^[121]

Most of Atlanta was burned in the final months of the American Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet architecturally, the city had never been traditionally "southern": Atlanta originated as a railroad town rather than a southern seaport dominated by the planter class, such as Savannah or Charleston. Because of its later development, many of the city's landmarks share architectural characteristics with buildings in the Northeast or Midwest, as they were designed at a time of shared national architectural styles.^[113]

During the late 20th century, Atlanta embraced the global trend of modern architecture, especially for commercial and institutional structures. Examples include the State of Georgia Building built in 1966, and the Georgia-Pacific Tower in 1982. Many of the most notable examples from this period were designed by world renowned Atlanta architect John Portman. Most of the buildings that define the downtown skyline were designed by Portman during this period, including the Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. In the latter half of the 1980s, Atlanta became one of the early homes of postmodern buildings that reintroduced classical elements to their designs. Many of Atlanta's tallest skyscrapers were built in this period and style, displaying tapering spires or otherwise ornamented crowns, such as One Atlantic Center (1987), 191 Peachtree Tower (1991), and the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta (1992). Also completed during the era was the Bank of America Plaza built-in 1992. At 1,023 feet (312 m), it is the tallest building in the city and the 14th-tallest in the United States.^[122]

The city's embrace of modern architecture has often translated into an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation, leading to the destruction of many notable architectural landmarks. These include the Equitable Building (1892–1971), Terminal Station (1905–1972), and the Carnegie Library (1902–1977).^[123] In the mid-1970s, the Fox Theatre, now a cultural icon of the city, would have met the same fate if not for a grassroots effort to save it.^[113] More recently, preservationists may have made some inroads. For example, in 2016 activists convinced the Atlanta City Council not to demolish the Atlanta-Fulton Central Library, the last building designed by noted architect Marcel Breuer.^[124]

Under the Köppen classification, Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa)^[125] with generous precipitation year-round, typical for the Upland South. The city is situated in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, with the northern and western suburbs, as well as part of Midtown transitioning to 7b.^[126] Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures somewhat moderated by the city's elevation. Winters are overall mild but variable, occasionally susceptible to snowstorms even if in small quantities on several occasions, unlike the central and southern portions of the state.^[127][128] Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico can bring spring-like highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens °F (−7 to −12 °C).

July averages 80.9 °F (27.2 °C), with high temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on an average of 47 days per year, though 100 °F (38 °C) readings are not seen most years.^[129] January averages 44.8 °F (7.1 °C), with temperatures in the suburbs slightly cooler due largely to the urban heat island effect. Lows at or below freezing can be expected 36 nights annually,^[130] but the last occurrences of temperatures below 10 °F (−12 °C) were December 24, 2022,^[130] and January 2014, eight years apart. Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) on February 13, 1899 to 106 °F (41 °C) on June 30, 2012.^[130] Average dewpoints in the summer range from 63.7 °F (17.6 °C) in June to 67.8 °F (19.9 °C) in July.^[131]

Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall that is evenly distributed throughout the year, though late spring and early fall are somewhat drier. The average annual precipitation is 50.43 in (1,281 mm), while snowfall is typically light and rare with a normal of 2.2 inches (5.6 cm) per winter.^[130] The heaviest single snowfall occurred on January 23, 1940, with around 10 inches (25 cm) of snow.^[132] However, ice storms usually cause more problems than snowfall does, the most severe occurring on January 7, 1973.^[133] Tornadoes are rare in the city itself, but the March 14, 2008, EF2 tornado damaged prominent structures in downtown Atlanta.^[134]

Climate data for Atlanta
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily daylight hours	10.2	11.0	12.0	13.1	13.9	14.4	14.1	13.4	12.4	11.3	10.4	9.9	12.175
Average Ultraviolet index	3	5	6	8	10	11	11	10	8	6	4	3	6.8
Source: Weather Atlas[138]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1850	2,572		—
1860	9,554		271.5%
1870	21,789		128.1%
1880	37,409		71.7%
1890	65,533		75.2%
1900	89,872		37.1%
1910	154,839		72.3%
1920	200,616		29.6%
1930	270,366		34.8%
1940	302,288		11.8%
1950	331,314		9.6%
1960	487,455		47.1%
1970	495,039		1.6%
1980	425,022		−14.1%
1990	394,017		−7.3%
2000	416,474		5.7%
2010	420,003		0.8%
2020	498,715		18.7%
2024 (est.)	520,070		4.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[139] 1850–1870[140] 1870–1880[141] 1890–1910[142] 1920–1930[143] 1940[144] 1950[145] 1960[146] 1970[147] 1980[148] 1990[149] 2000[150] 2010[151] 2020[152] 2024 estimate:[153]

Racial-ethnic composition	2020[154]	2010[154][155]	2000	1990[63]	1980[63]	1970[63]	1940[63]
Black or African American	46.7%	54.0%	61.4%	67.1%	66.6%	54.3%	39.6%
White (Non-Hispanic)	38.5%	38.4%	33.2%	30.3%	31.9%	39.4%	65.4%
Asian	4.5%	3.9%	0.9%	1.9%	0.5%	0.9%	0.1%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	6.0%	5.2%	4.5%	1.9%	1.4%	1.2%	n/a

The 2020 United States census reported that Atlanta had a population of 498,715. The population density was 3,685.45 persons per square mile (1,422.95/km²). The racial and ethnic makeup of Atlanta (including Hispanics) was 51.0% Black or African American, 40.9% non-Hispanic white, 4.2% Asian and 0.3% Native American, and 1.0% from other races. 2.4% of the population reported two or more races.^[156] Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 6.0% of the city's population.^[157] The median income for a household in the city was $77,655 in 2022.^[158] The per capita income for the city was $60,778 in 2022.^[158] Approximately 17.7% percent of the population was living below the poverty line in 2022.^[158] Circa 2024, of the Atlanta residents, 391,711 of them lived in Fulton County and 28,292 of them lived in DeKalb County.^[159]

⬤ Black

⬤ Asian

⬤ Hispanic

⬤ Other

In the 1920s, the Black population began to grow in Southern metropolitan cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, and Memphis.^[160] Since the 1970s, Atlanta has been widely recognized as a hub of African American political activism, education, entrepreneurship, and culture—earning it the reputation of being a Black mecca.^{[161][162][163]} However, in the 1990s, Atlanta started to experience Black flight.^[164][165] African Americans have moved outside the city seeking a lower cost of living or better public schools. The African American share of Atlanta's population has declined faster than that of any racial group.^[166] The city's share of Black residents shrank from 67% in 1990 to 47% in 2020. Blacks made up nine percent of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020.^{[166][71][72]} At the same time, Atlanta is home to a sizable foreign-born Black population,^[167] notably from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Somalia, Liberia, and Nigeria.^[168]

With many notable investments occurring in Atlanta initiated by the 1996 Summer Olympics, the non-Hispanic White population of Atlanta began to rebound after several decades of White flight to Atlanta's suburbs.^[169][170] Between 2000 and 2020, the proportion of Whites in the city had strong growth. In two decades, Atlanta's White population grew from 33% to 39% of the city's population. Whites made up the majority of new Atlanta residents between 2010 and 2020.^[166][171]

The Hispanic and Latino populations of metro Atlanta have grown significantly in recent years.^[172] The largest Hispanic ancestries in Atlanta are Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban.^[173] There is a growing population of Mexican ancestry throughout the region, with notable concentrations along the Buford Highway and I-85 corridor, and now extending into Gwinnett County.^[174] In 2013, Metro Atlanta had the 19th largest Hispanic population in the United States.^[175]

The Atlanta area also has a fast growing Asian American population. The largest groups of Asian origin are those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Pakistani and Japanese descent.^[176] Pew Research Center ranks the Atlanta area among the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas by Indian population in 2019.^[177]

Early immigrants in the Atlanta area were mostly Jews and Greeks. Since 2010, the Atlanta area has experienced notable immigration from India, China, South Korea, and Jamaica.^[178][179] Other notable source countries of immigrants are Vietnam, Eritrea, Nigeria, the Arabian gulf, Ukraine and Poland.^[180] Within a few decades, and in keeping with national trends, immigrants from England, Ireland, and German-speaking central Europe were no longer the majority of Atlanta's foreign-born population. The city's Italians included immigrants from northern Italy, many of whom had been in Atlanta since the 1890s; more recent arrivals from southern Italy; and Sephardic Jews from the Isle of Rhodes, which Italy had seized from Turkey in 1912.^[181] Europeans from Great Britain, Ireland and Germany settled in the city as early as the 1840s.^[182] Most of Atlanta's European population are from the United Kingdom and Germany. Bosnian refugees settled in Atlanta.^[183]

Vietnamese people, Cambodians, Ethiopians and Eritreans were the earliest refugees formally brought to the city.^[184]

Of the total population five years and older, 83.3% spoke only English at home, while 8.8% spoke Spanish, 3.9% another Indo-European language, and 2.8% an Asian language.^[185] Among them, 7.3% of Atlantans were born abroad (86th in the US).^[157][186] Atlanta's dialect has traditionally been a variation of Southern American English. The Chattahoochee River long formed a border between the Coastal Southern and Southern Appalachian dialects.^[187] Because of the development of corporate headquarters in the region, attracting migrants from other areas of the country, by 2003, Atlanta magazine concluded that Atlanta had become significantly "de-Southernized". A Southern accent was considered a handicap in some circumstances.^[188] In general, Southern accents are less prevalent among residents of the city and inner suburbs and among younger people; they are more common in the outer suburbs and among older people.^[187] At the same time, some residents of the city speak in Southern variations of African-American English.^[189]

Atlanta has a thriving and diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. According to a survey by the Williams Institute, Atlanta ranked third among major American cities, behind San Francisco and slightly behind Seattle, with 12.8% of the city's total population identifying as LGB.^[190] The Midtown and Cheshire Bridge areas have historically been the epicenters of LGBT culture in Atlanta.^[191] Atlanta formed a reputation for being a place inclusive to LGBT people after former mayor Ivan Allen Jr. dubbed it "the city too busy to hate" in the 1960s (referring to racial relations).^{[192][193][194][195]} Atlanta has consistently scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index that measures how inclusive a city's laws, policies and services are for LGBT people who live or work there.^[196]

Religion in Atlanta, while historically centered on Protestant Christianity, now encompasses many faiths, as a result of the city and metro area's increasingly international population. Some 63% of residents identified as some type of Protestant according to the Pew Research Center in 2014,^[197][198] but in recent decades the Roman Catholic Church has increased in numbers and influence because of new migrants to the region. Metro Atlanta also has numerous ethnic or national Christian congregations, including Korean and Indian churches. Per the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, overall, 73% of the population identify with some tradition or denomination of Christianity;^[199] despite continuing religious diversification, historically African-American Protestant churches continue prevalence in the whole metropolitan area alongside historic Black Catholic churches. The larger non-Christian faiths according to both studies are Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. Overall, there are over 1,000 places of worship within Atlanta.^[200]

With a GDP of $385 billion,^[201] the Atlanta metropolitan area's economy is the 8th-largest in the country and the 15th-largest in the world. Corporate operations play a major role in Atlanta's economy, as the city claims the nation's third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies (tied for third with Chicago).^[202][203] It also hosts the global headquarters of several corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company,^[204] The Home Depot,^[205] Delta Air Lines,^[206] Arby's,^[207] AT&T Mobility,^[208] Georgia-Pacific,^[209] Chick-fil-A,^[210] Church's Chicken,^[211] Dunkin' Donuts,^[212] Norfolk Southern Railway,^[213] Mercedes-Benz USA,^[214] NAPA Auto Parts, Papa John's,^[215] Porsche AG,^[216] Newell Brands, Rollins, Inc., Marble Slab Creamery, and UPS.^[217] Over 75% of Fortune 1000 companies conduct business operations in the city's metro area, and the region hosts offices of over 1,250 multinational corporations.^[218] Many corporations are drawn to the city by its educated workforce; as of 2014^[update], 45% of adults aged 25 or older residing in the city have at least four-year college degrees, compared to the national average of 28%.^{[219][220][221]}

Atlanta was born as a railroad town, and logistics continue to represent an important part of the city's economy to this day. In 2021, major freight railroad Norfolk Southern moved their headquarters to Atlanta,^[222] and the city hosts major classification yards for Norfolk Southern and CSX. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport,^[223] and the headquarters of Delta Air Lines. Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson and is metro Atlanta's largest employer.^[224] UPS, the world's largest courier company, operates an air cargo hub at Hartsfield-Jackson, and has their headquarters in neighboring Sandy Springs.

Media is also an important aspect of Atlanta's economy. In the 1980s, media mogul Ted Turner founded the Cable News Network (CNN), Turner Network Television (TNT),^[225] HLN (HLN), Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Cartoon Network, Inc. and its namesake television network, TruTV (truTV) and the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in the city.^[226] Around the same time, Cox Enterprises, now the nation's third-largest cable television service and the publisher of over a dozen American newspapers, moved its headquarters to the city.^[227] Notable sports networks headquartered in Atlanta include TNT Sports, NBA TV, Bally Sports South, and Bally Sports Southeast.^[228][229] The Weather Channel is also based just outside of the city in suburban Cobb County.^[230]

Information technology (IT) has become an increasingly important part of Atlanta's economic output, earning the city the nickname the "Silicon peach". As of 2013^[update], Atlanta contains the fourth-largest concentration of IT jobs in the US, numbering 85,000+. The city is also ranked as the sixth fastest-growing for IT jobs, with an employment growth of 4.8% in 2012 and a three-year growth near 9%, or 16,000 jobs. Companies are drawn to Atlanta's lower costs and educated workforce.^{[231][232][233][234]}

Recently, Atlanta has been the center for film and television production, largely because of the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which awards qualified productions a transferable income tax credit of 20% of all in-state costs for film and television investments of $500,000 or more.^[235][236] Film and television production facilities based in Atlanta include Techwood Studios, Pinewood Atlanta Studios, Tyler Perry Studios, Williams Street Productions, and the EUE/Screen Gems soundstages. Film and television production injected $9.5 billion into Georgia's economy in 2017, with Atlanta garnering most of the projects.^[237] Atlanta has emerged as the all-time most popular destination for film production in the United States and one of the 10 most popular destinations globally.^[235][238]

Compared to other American cities, Atlanta's economy was disproportionately affected by the Great Recession, with the city's economy being ranked 68th among 100 American cities in a September 2014 report due to an elevated unemployment rate, declining real income levels, and a depressed housing market.^{[239][240][241][242]} From 2010 to 2011, Atlanta saw a 0.9% contraction in employment and plateauing income growth at 0.4%. Although unemployment had decreased to 7% by late 2014, this was still higher than the national unemployment rate of 5.8%.^[243] Atlanta's housing market has also struggled, with home prices dropping by 2.1% in January 2012, reaching levels not seen since 1996. Compared with a year earlier, the average home price in Atlanta plummeted to 17.3% in February 2012, thus becoming the largest annual drop in the history of the index for any American or global city.^[244][245] The decline in home prices prompted some economists to deem Atlanta the worst housing market in the nation at the height of the depression.^[246] Nevertheless, the city's real estate market has resurged since 2012, so much median home value and rent growth significantly outpaced the national average by 2018, thanks to a rapidly-growing regional economy.^{[247][248][249]}

Atlanta has drawn residents from many other parts of the U.S., in addition to many recent immigrants to the U.S. who have made the metropolitan area their home, establishing Atlanta as the cultural and economic hub of an increasingly multi-cultural metropolitan area.^[250][251] This unique cultural combination reveals itself in the arts district of Midtown, the quirky neighborhoods on the city's eastside, and the multi-ethnic enclaves found along Buford Highway.^[252]

Atlanta is one of few United States cities with permanent, professional, and resident companies in all major performing arts disciplines: opera (Atlanta Opera), ballet (Atlanta Ballet), orchestral music (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), and theater (the Alliance Theatre).^{[253][254][255][256]} Atlanta attracts many touring Broadway acts, concerts, shows, and exhibitions catering to a variety of interests. Atlanta's performing arts district is concentrated in Midtown Atlanta at the Woodruff Arts Center, which is home to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Alliance Theatre. The city frequently hosts touring Broadway acts, especially at The Fox Theatre, a historic landmark among the highest-grossing theaters of its size.^[257]

As a national center for the arts,^[258] Atlanta is home to significant art museums and institutions. The renowned High Museum of Art is arguably the South's leading art museum. The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) and the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film are the only such museums in the Southeast.^[259][260] Contemporary art museums include the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. A recent arts addition is known as The Warehouse, a storage facility that was turned into a world-class art gallery featuring more than 400 works of art collected over more than 40 years, the collection open to the public for free.^[261] Institutions of higher education contribute to Atlanta's art scene, with the Savannah College of Art and Design's Atlanta campus providing the city's arts community with a steady stream of curators. Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum contains the largest collection of ancient art in the Southeast.^[262] The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is the only museum in the nation to focus on art by women of the African diaspora.^[263] Georgia Tech's Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking features the largest collection of paper and paper-related artifacts in the world.^[264]

Atlanta has become one of the U.S.'s best cities for street art in recent years.^[265] It is home to Living Walls, an annual street art conference and the Outerspace Project, an annual event series that merges public art, live music, design, action sports, and culture. Examples of street art in Atlanta can be found on the Atlanta Street Art Map.^[266]

Atlanta is home to the nationally known Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, whose music directors have included Robert Shaw (1967–1988), Yoel Levi (1988–2000), Robert Spano (2001–2021), and Nathalie Stutzmann (2022–present). The orchestra presents a season-long series of concerts including prominent world soloists such as pianists Kirill Gerstein, Yeol Eum Son, Inon Barnatan, Lang Lang, Francesco Piemontesi, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, singer Andrea Bocelli and many others.

Atlanta has played a major or contributing role in the development of various genres of American music at different points in the city's history. Beginning as early as the 1920s, Atlanta emerged as a center for country music, which was brought to the city by migrants from Appalachia.^[267] During the countercultural 1960s, Atlanta hosted the Atlanta International Pop Festival, with the 1969 festival taking place more than a month before Woodstock and featuring many of the same bands. The city was also a center for Southern rock during its 1970s heyday: the Allman Brothers Band's hit instrumental "Hot 'Lanta" is an ode to the city, while Lynyrd Skynyrd's famous live rendition of "Free Bird" was recorded at the Fox Theatre in 1976, with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant directing the band to "play it pretty for Atlanta".^[268] During the 1980s, Atlanta had an active punk rock scene centered on two of the city's music venues, 688 Club and the Metroplex, and Atlanta famously played host to the Sex Pistols' first U.S. show, which was performed at the Great Southeastern Music Hall.^[269] The 1990s saw the city produce major mainstream acts across many different musical genres. Country music artist Travis Tritt, and R&B sensations Xscape, TLC, Usher and Toni Braxton, were just some of the musicians who call Atlanta home. The city also gave birth to Atlanta hip hop, a sub-genre that gained relevance and success with the introduction of the home-grown Atlantans known as Outkast, along with other Dungeon Family artists such as Organized Noize and Goodie Mob; however, it was not until the 2000s that Atlanta moved "from the margins to becoming hip-hop's center of gravity with another sub-genre called Crunk, part of a larger shift in hip-hop innovation to the South and East".^{[270][271][272][273]} In the 2000s, Atlanta was recognized by the Brooklyn-based Vice magazine for its indie rock scene, which revolves around the various live music venues found on the city's alternative eastside.^[274][275] To facilitate further local development, the state government provides qualified businesses and productions a 15% transferable income tax credit for in-state costs of music investments.^[276]

As the national leader for motion picture and television production,^[235][277] and a top ten global leader,^[238][235] Atlanta plays a significant role in the entertainment industry. Atlanta is home to the Tyler Perry Studios which is one of the largest film production studios in the U.S.^[278][279] Atlanta doubles for other parts of the world and fictional settlements in blockbuster productions, among them the newer titles from The Fast and the Furious franchise and Marvel features such as Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), The Change Up (2011), Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War (both 2018).^[280][281] On the other hand, Gone With the Wind (1939), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Slugger's Wife (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989),^[282] ATL (2006), Ride Along (2014) and Baby Driver (2017) are among several notable examples of films actually set in Atlanta.^[283][284] It was announced in 2022 a film about the 1956 Sugar Bowl and '56 Atlanta riots would be produced here.^[285][286]

The city also provides the backdrop for shows such as Ozark, Watchmen, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Love Is Blind, Star, Dolly Parton's Heartstrings, The Outsider, The Vampire Diaries, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and Atlanta, in addition to a myriad of animated and reality television programming.^{[235][287][288]}

Atlanta's festival season stretches from January through November.^[289] Atlanta has more festivals than any city in the southeastern United States.^[290] Some notable festivals in Atlanta include the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Shaky Knees Music Festival, Dragon Con, the Peachtree Road Race, Music Midtown, the Atlanta Film Festival, National Black Arts Festival, Festival Peachtree Latino, the neighborhood festivals in Inman Park, Atkins Park, Virginia-Highland (Summerfest), and the Little Five Points Halloween festival.^[291][292]

As of 2010^[update], Atlanta is the seventh-most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.^[293] Although the most popular attraction among visitors to Atlanta is the Georgia Aquarium,^[294] and until 2012, the world's largest indoor aquarium, Atlanta's tourism industry is mostly driven by the city's history museums and outdoor attractions. Atlanta contains a notable number of historical museums and sites, including the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, which includes the preserved childhood home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as his final resting place; the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum, which houses a massive painting and diorama in-the-round, depicting the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War; the World of Coca-Cola, featuring the history of the world-famous soft drink brand and its well-known advertising; the College Football Hall of Fame, which honors college football and its athletes; the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, which explores the civil rights movement and its connection to contemporary human rights movements throughout the world; the Carter Center and Presidential Library, housing U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life; and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum, where Mitchell wrote the best-selling novel Gone with the Wind.^[295]

Atlanta contains several outdoor attractions.^[296] The Atlanta Botanical Garden, adjacent to Piedmont Park, is home to the 600-foot-long (180 m) Kendeda Canopy Walk, a skywalk that allows visitors to tour one of the city's last remaining urban forests from 40 feet (12 m) above the ground. The Canopy Walk is the only canopy-level pathway of its kind in the United States.^[297] Zoo Atlanta, in Grant Park, accommodates over 1,300 animals representing more than 220 species. Home to the nation's largest collections of gorillas and orangutans, the zoo is one of only four zoos in the U.S. to house giant pandas.^[298] Festivals showcasing arts and crafts, film, and music, including the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Film Festival, and Music Midtown, respectively, are also popular with tourists.^[299]

Tourists are drawn to the city's culinary scene,^[300] which comprises a mix of urban establishments garnering national attention, ethnic restaurants serving cuisine from every corner of the world, and traditional eateries specializing in Southern dining. Since the turn of the 21st century, Atlanta has emerged as a sophisticated restaurant town.^[301] Many restaurants opened in the city's gentrifying neighborhoods have received praise at the national level, including Bocado, Bacchanalia, and Miller Union in West Midtown, Empire State South in Midtown, and Two Urban Licks and Rathbun's on the east side.^{[82][302][303][304]} In 2011, The New York Times characterized Empire State South and Miller Union as reflecting "a new kind of sophisticated Southern sensibility centered on the farm but experienced in the city".^[305] Visitors seeking to sample international Atlanta are directed to Buford Highway, the city's international corridor, and suburban Gwinnett County. There, the nearly-million immigrants that make Atlanta home have established various authentic ethnic restaurants representing virtually every nationality on the globe.^[306][307] For traditional Southern fare, one of the city's most famous establishments is The Varsity, a long-lived fast food chain and the world's largest drive-in restaurant.^[308] Mary Mac's Tea Room and Paschal's are more formal destinations for Southern food.^[309][310]

Atlanta is best known for its barbecue, hamburgers, Southern fried chicken, and lemon pepper wings.^[311][312] Buford Highway (immediately northeast of Atlanta) is home to many authentic ethnic cuisines such as Mexican and Asian foods.^[313] Atlanta's culinary landscape is highlighted by its inclusion in the prestigious Michelin Guide, featuring several restaurants recognized for their exceptional cuisine and premier dining destination in the Southeast.^[314] Atlanta's rapidly expanding food scene is marked by a notable diversity, particularly with the increasing variety and number of Indian restaurants across the city and its metropolitan area,^[315] including Chai Pani, a Michelin Guide restaurant.

Sports are an important part of the culture of Atlanta. The city is home to professional franchises for four major team sports: the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball,^[316] the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association,^[317] the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League,^[318] and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer.^[319] In addition, many of the city's universities participate in collegiate sports. The city also regularly hosts international, professional, and collegiate sporting events.^[320]

The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. Originally established as the Boston Red Stockings in 1871, they are the oldest continually operating professional sports franchise in the United States.^[321] The Braves franchise overall has won eighteen National League pennants and four World Series championships in three different cities, with their first in 1914 as the Boston Braves, in 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves, and in 1995 and 2021 as the Atlanta Braves.^[322] The 1995 title occurred during an unprecedented run of 14 straight divisional championships from 1991 to 2005.^[323][324] The team plays at Truist Park, having moved from Turner Field for the 2017 season. The new stadium is outside the city limits, located 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown in the Cumberland/Galleria area of Cobb County.^[325]

The Atlanta Falcons have played in Atlanta since their inception in 1966. The team plays its home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, having moved from the Georgia Dome in 2017. The Falcons have won the division title six times (1980, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012, 2016) and the NFC championship in 1998 and 2016. They have been unsuccessful in both of their Super Bowl trips, losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999 and to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI in 2017,^[326] the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.^[327] In 2019, Atlanta also briefly hosted an Alliance of American Football team, the Atlanta Legends, but the league was suspended during its first season and the team folded.

The Atlanta Hawks were founded in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, playing in Moline, Illinois. They moved to Atlanta from St. Louis in 1968 and play their games in State Farm Arena.^[328] The Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association shared an arena with the Hawks for most of their existence; however the WNBA team moved to a smaller arena in the southern Atlanta suburb of College Park in 2021.^[329]

Professional soccer has been played in some form in Atlanta since 1967. Atlanta's first professional soccer team was the Atlanta Chiefs of the original North American Soccer League which won the 1968 NASL Championship and defeated English first division club Manchester City F.C. twice in international friendlies. In 1998 the Atlanta Silverbacks were formed, playing the new North American Soccer League. They now play as an amateur club in the National Premier Soccer League. In 2017, Atlanta United FC began play as Atlanta's first premier-division professional soccer club since the Chiefs.^[330] They won MLS Cup 2018, defeating the Portland Timbers 2–0. Fan reception has been very positive; the team has broken several single-game and season attendance records for both MLS and the U.S. Open Cup. The club is estimated by Forbes to be the most valuable club in Major League Soccer.^[331] The United States Soccer Federation moved their headquarters from Chicago to Atlanta in 2023 with the help of Falcons and Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank, with the new training center bearing his name.

In ice hockey, Atlanta has had two National Hockey League franchises, both of which relocated to a city in Canada after playing in Atlanta for fewer than 15 years. The Atlanta Flames (now the Calgary Flames) played from 1972 to 1980, and the Atlanta Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets) played from 1999 to 2011. The Atlanta Gladiators, a minor league hockey team in the ECHL, have played in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth since 2003.^[332]

The ASUN Conference moved its headquarters to Atlanta in 2019.^[333]

Several other emerging sports also have professional franchises in Atlanta. The Georgia Swarm compete in the National Lacrosse League. The Atlanta Vibe compete in the Pro Volleyball Federation. In Rugby union, on September 21, 2018, Major League Rugby announced that Atlanta was one of the expansion teams joining the league for the 2020 season^[334] named Rugby ATL.^[335] while in Rugby league, on March 31, 2021, Atlanta Rhinos left the USA Rugby League and turned fully professional for the first time, joining the new North American Rugby League.^[336]

Atlanta has long been known as the "capital" of college football in America.^[337] It is home to four-time national champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football and the Georgia State Panthers. Also, Atlanta is within a few hours driving distance of many of the universities that make up the Southeastern Conference, college football's most profitable and popular conference,^[338] and annually hosts the SEC Championship Game. Other annual college football events include the Aflac Kickoff Game, the Celebration Bowl, the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl which is one of College Football's major New Year's Six Bowl games and a College Football Playoff bowl.^[339] Atlanta additionally hosted the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship and eventually would the host the 2025 event in the city as well.

Atlanta regularly hosts a variety of sporting events. Most famous was the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics.^{[340][341][342][343]} The city has hosted the Super Bowl three times: Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994, Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, and Super Bowl LIII in 2019.^[344] In professional golf, The Tour Championship, the final PGA Tour event of the season, is played annually at East Lake Golf Club. In 2001 and 2011, Atlanta hosted the PGA Championship, one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, at the Atlanta Athletic Club. In 2011, Atlanta hosted professional wrestling's annual WrestleMania.^[345] In soccer, Atlanta has hosted numerous international friendlies and CONCACAF Gold Cup matches. The city has hosted the NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball Championship five times, most recently in 2020.^{[citation needed]} Atlanta will serve as one of the eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.^[346] Every summer, Atlanta hosts the Atlanta Open, a men's professional tennis tournament.

Running is a popular local sport, and the city declares itself to be "Running City USA".^[347] The city hosts the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race, annually on Independence Day.^[348] Atlanta also hosts the nation's largest Thanksgiving day half marathon, which starts and ends at Center Parc Stadium.^[349] The Atlanta Marathon, which starts and ends at Centennial Olympic Park, routes through many of the city's historic landmarks.^[350]

Atlanta's 343 parks, nature preserves, and gardens cover 3,622 acres (14.66 km²),^[351] which amounts to only 5.6% of the city's total acreage, compared to the national average of just over 10%.^[352][353] However, 77% of Atlantans live within a 10-minute walk of a park, a percentage slightly better than the national average of 76%.^[354] In its 2023 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that among the park systems of the 100 most populous U.S. cities, Atlanta's park system received a ranking of 28.^[354] Piedmont Park, in Midtown, is Atlanta's most iconic green space.^[355][356] The park, which underwent a major renovation and expansion in recent years, attracts visitors from across the region and hosts cultural events throughout the year. Shirley Clarke Franklin Park, a 280-acre green space and reservoir, opened in 2021 and is the city's largest park. Other notable city parks include Centennial Olympic Park, a legacy of the 1996 Summer Olympics that forms the centerpiece of the city's tourist district; Woodruff Park, which anchors the campus of Georgia State University; Grant Park, home to Zoo Atlanta; and Chastain Park, which houses an amphitheater used for live music concerts.^[357] The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, in the northwestern corner of the city, preserves a 48 mi (77 km) stretch of the river for public recreation opportunities.^[358]

The Atlanta Botanical Garden, adjacent to Piedmont Park, contains formal gardens, including a Japanese garden and a rose garden, woodland areas, and a conservatory that includes indoor exhibits of plants from tropical rainforests and deserts. The BeltLine, a former rail corridor that forms a 22 mi (35 km) loop around Atlanta's core, has been transformed into a series of parks, connected by a multi-use trail, increasing Atlanta's park space by 40%.^[359]

Atlanta offers resources and opportunities for amateur and participatory sports and recreation. Golf and tennis are popular in Atlanta, and the city contains six public golf courses and 182 tennis courts. Facilities along the Chattahoochee River cater to watersports enthusiasts, providing the opportunity for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, boating, or tubing. The city's only skate park, a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m²) facility that offers bowls, curbs, and smooth-rolling concrete mounds, is at Historic Fourth Ward Park.^[360]

Atlanta has a reputation as a "city in a forest" due to an abundance of trees that is rare among major cities.^{[362][363][364]} The city's main street is named after a tree, and beyond the Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead business districts, the skyline gives way to a dense canopy of woods that spreads into the suburbs. The city is home to the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, an annual arts and crafts festival held one weekend during early April, when the native dogwoods are in bloom. The nickname is factually accurate, as vegetation covers 47.9% of the city as of 2017,^[365] the highest among all major American cities, and well above the national average of 27%.^[366] Atlanta's tree coverage does not go unnoticed—it was the main reason cited by National Geographic in naming Atlanta a "Place of a Lifetime".^[361][367]

The city's lush tree canopy, which filters out pollutants and cools sidewalks and buildings, has increasingly been under assault from man and nature due to heavy rains, drought, aged forests, new pests, and urban construction. A 2001 study found Atlanta's heavy tree cover declined from 48% in 1974 to 38% in 1996.^[368] Community organizations and the city government are addressing the problem. Trees Atlanta, a non-profit organization founded in 1985, has planted and distributed over 113,000 shade trees in the city,^[369] and Atlanta's government has awarded $130,000 in grants to neighborhood groups to plant trees.^[363] Fees are additionally imposed on developers that remove trees on their property per a citywide ordinance, active since 1993.^[370]

Atlanta is governed by a mayor and the 15-member Atlanta City Council. The city council consists of one member from each of the city's 12 districts and three at-large members. The mayor may veto a bill passed by the council, but the council can override the veto with a two-thirds majority.^[372] The mayor of Atlanta is Andre Dickens, a Democrat elected on a nonpartisan ballot whose first term in office began on January 3, 2022.^[373][374] Every mayor elected since 1973 has been Black.^[375] In 2001, Shirley Franklin became the first woman to be elected mayor of Atlanta, and the first African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major Southern city.^[376] Atlanta city politics suffered from a notorious reputation for corruption during the 1990s administration of Mayor Bill Campbell, who was convicted by a federal jury in 2006 on three counts of tax evasion in connection with gambling winnings during trips he took with city contractors.^[377]

As the state capital, Atlanta is the site of most of Georgia's state government. The Georgia State Capitol building, located downtown, houses the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state, as well as the General Assembly. The Governor's Mansion is in a residential section of Buckhead. Atlanta serves as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).^[378][379] The City of Atlanta annexed the CDC into its territory effective January 1, 2018.^[380] Atlanta also plays an important role in the federal judiciary system, containing the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.^[381]

Historically, Atlanta has been a stronghold for the Democratic Party. Although municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, nearly all of the city's elected officials are registered Democrats. The city is split among 14 state house districts and four state senate districts, all held by Democrats. At the federal level, Atlanta is split between three congressional districts. Most of the city is in the 5th district, represented by Democrat Nikema Williams. Much of southern Atlanta is in the 13th district, represented by Democrat David Scott. A small portion in the north is in the 11th district, represented by Republican Barry Loudermilk.^[382]

The city is served by the Atlanta Police Department (APD), which numbers 2,000 officers^[383] and oversaw a 40% decrease in the city's crime rate between 2001 and 2009. In 2012, Forbes ranked Atlanta as the 6th most dangerous American city but by 2023 the city dropped out of its top 10.^[384][385] Despite some improvement in crime, street gangs have continued to plague the city since the 1980s.^{[386][387][388][389]} In 2022, there was a 200% increase in gang-related charges in the city.^[388] In 2023, Money Inc named Atlanta the third worst gang city in the U.S.^[390] Also in 2023, it was estimated that about 1,000 gangs in the Atlanta area were responsible for at least 70% of all crime including identity theft, credit card fraud, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Gang Task Force in partnership with the APD is leading efforts in dismantling gang activity and arresting culprits.^[391]

The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department provides fire protection and first responder emergency medical services to the city from its 35 fire stations. In 2017, AFRD responded to over 100,000 calls for service over a coverage area of 135.7 square miles (351.5 square kilometers). The department also protects Hartsfield–Jackson with five fire stations on the property, serving over 1 million passengers from over 100 countries. The department protects over 3000 high-rise buildings, 23 miles (37 kilometers) of the rapid rail system, and 60 miles (97 kilometers) of interstate highway.^[392]

The Georgia National Guard is based in the city.^[393]

Emergency ambulance services are provided to city residents by hospital-based Grady EMS (Fulton County),^[394] and American Medical Response (DeKalb County).^[395]

Atlanta in January 2017 declared the city was a "welcoming city" and "will remain open and welcoming to all". Nonetheless, Atlanta does not consider itself to be a "sanctuary city".^[396] Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said: "Our city does not support ICE. We don't have a relationship with the U.S. Marshal's Service. We closed our detention center to ICE detainees, and we would not pick up people on an immigration violation."^[397]

In 2025, Atlanta Public Safety Training Center opened a $118 million training center for police and firefighters.^[398][399]

With more than 15 colleges and universities, including three law schools and two medical schools, Atlanta is considered one of the nation's largest hubs for higher education. Three universities have earned the highest classification of "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".^[400][401]

The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, is a prominent public research university in Midtown. It offers highly ranked degree programs in engineering, design, industrial management, the sciences, business, and architecture.^[402][403]

Georgia State University is a major public research university based in Downtown Atlanta; it is the second largest in student population of the 26 public colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia and is a significant contributor to the revitalization of the city's central business district.^[404]

Atlanta is home to nationally renowned private colleges and universities, most notably Emory University, a leading liberal arts and research institution that operates Emory Healthcare, the largest health care system in Georgia.^[405] The City of Atlanta annexed Emory into its territory effective January 1, 2018.^[380]

The Atlanta University Center is also in the city; it is the nation's only contiguous consortium of historically black colleges, comprising Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Morehouse School of Medicine.^{[406][407][408][409]} Atlanta contains a campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, a private art and design university that has proven to be a major factor in the recent growth of Atlanta's visual art community. Atlanta also boasts American Bar Association accredited law schools: Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, Emory University School of Law, and Georgia State University College of Law.^[410]

The University of Georgia's Terry College of Business operates a satellite campus in Atlanta's Buckhead district, a major financial center in the city.^[411] This location facilitates Executive and Professional MBA programs plus executive education offerings. The Buckhead campus also serves as a hub where Terry students, alumni, faculty, and staff can engage with the business community.^[412]

The Atlanta Regional Council of Higher Education (ARCHE) is dedicated to strengthening synergy among 19 public and private colleges and universities in the Atlanta region. Participating Atlanta region colleges and universities partner on joint-degree programs, cross-registration, library services, and cultural events.^[413]

Approximately 49,000 students are enrolled in 106 schools in Atlanta Public Schools (APS), some of which are operated as charter schools.^[414][415] Atlanta is served by many private schools including, without limitation, Atlanta Jewish Academy,^[416] Atlanta International School,^[417] The Westminster Schools,^[418] Pace Academy,^[419] The Lovett School,^[420] The Paideia School,^[421] Holy Innocents' Episcopal School^[422] and Roman Catholic parochial schools operated by the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

In 2018 the City of Atlanta annexed a portion of DeKalb County containing the Centers for Disease Control and Emory University; this portion was to be zoned to the DeKalb County School District until 2024, when it was to transition into APS.^[423] In 2017 the number of children living in the annexed territory who attended public schools was nine.^[424]

The primary network-affiliated television stations in Atlanta are WSB-TV 2 (ABC),^[425], WAGA-TV 5 (Fox).^[426], WXIA-TV 11 (NBC),^[427], WPXA-TV 14 (Ion), WPCH-TV 17, (CW),^[428], WUVG-TV 34 (Univision/UniMás), WATL 36 (MyNetworkTV), WANF 46 (Independent),^[429], WKTB-CD 47 (Telemundo) and WUPA 69 (CBS). The Atlanta metropolitan area is served by two public television stations (both PBS member stations), and two public radio stations. WGTV 8 is the flagship station of the statewide Georgia Public Television network, while WABE-TV 30 is owned by Atlanta Public Schools. Georgia Public Radio is listener-funded and comprises one NPR member station, WABE, a classical music station also operated by Atlanta Public Schools. The second public radio, listener-funded NPR member station is WCLK, a jazz music station owned and operated by Clark Atlanta University.^[430]

Atlanta is served by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, its only major daily newspaper with wide distribution. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of a 1950 merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, with staff consolidation occurring in 1982 and separate publication of the morning Constitution and afternoon Journal ceasing in 2001.^[431] Alternative weekly newspapers include Creative Loafing, which has a weekly print circulation of 80,000. Atlanta Daily World is the oldest Black newspaper in Atlanta and one of the earliest Black newspapers in American history.^[432] Atlanta magazine is a monthly general-interest magazine based in and covering Atlanta.^[433]

Atlanta's transportation infrastructure comprises a complex network that includes a heavy rail rapid transit system, a light rail streetcar loop, a multi-county bus system, Amtrak service via the Crescent, multiple freight train lines, an Interstate Highway System, several airports, including the world's busiest, and over 45 miles (72 km) of bike paths.^[434]

Atlanta has a network of freeways that radiate out from the city, and automobiles are the dominant means of transportation in the region.^[435] Three major interstate highways converge in Atlanta: I-20 (east-west), I-75 (northwest-southeast), and I-85 (northeast-southwest). The latter two combine in the middle of the city to form the Downtown Connector (I-75/85), which carries more than 340,000 vehicles per day and is one of the most congested segments of interstate highway in the United States.^[436] Atlanta is mostly encircled by Interstate 285, a beltway locally known as "the Perimeter" that has come to mark the boundary between "Inside the Perimeter" (ITP), the city and close-in suburbs, and "Outside the Perimeter" (OTP), the outer suburbs and exurbs. The heavy reliance on automobiles for transportation in Atlanta has resulted in traffic, commute, and air pollution rates that rank among the worst in the country.^{[437][438][439]} The City of Atlanta has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 15.2 percent of Atlanta households lacked a car, and increased slightly to 16.4 percent in 2016. The national average is 8.7 percent in 2016. Atlanta averaged 1.31 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.^[440]

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) provides public transportation in the form of buses, heavy rail, and a downtown light rail loop.^[441] Notwithstanding heavy automotive usage in Atlanta, the city's subway system is the eighth busiest in the country.^[442] MARTA rail lines connect key destinations, such as the airport, Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, and Perimeter Center. However, significant destinations, such as Emory University and Cumberland, remain unserved. As a result, a 2011 Brookings Institution study placed Atlanta 91st of 100 metro areas for transit accessibility.^[443] Emory University operates its Cliff shuttle buses with 200,000 boardings per month, while private minibuses supply Buford Highway. Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides service to Atlanta via the Crescent train (New York–New Orleans), which stops at Peachtree Station. In 2014, the Atlanta Streetcar opened to the public. The streetcar's line, which is also known as the Downtown Loop, runs 2.7 miles (4.3 km) around the downtown tourist areas of Peachtree Center, Centennial Olympic Park, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, and Sweet Auburn.^[444] The Atlanta Streetcar line is also being expanded on in the coming years to include a wider range of Atlanta's neighborhoods and important places of interest, with a total of over 50 miles (80 km) of track in the plan.^[445]

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest airport as measured by passenger traffic and aircraft traffic.^[446] The facility offers air service to over 150 U.S. destinations and more than 75 international destinations in 50 countries, with over 2,500 arrivals and departures daily.^[447] Delta Air Lines maintains its largest hub at the airport.^[448] Situated 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown in Clayton and Fulton counties, the airport covers most of the land inside a wedge formed by Interstate 75, Interstate 85, and Interstate 285.^[449]

Cycling is a growing mode of transportation in Atlanta, more than doubling since 2009, when it comprised 1.1% of all commutes (up from 0.3% in 2000).^[450][451] Although Atlanta's lack of bike lanes and hilly topography may deter many residents from cycling,^[450][452] the city's transportation plan calls for the construction of 226 miles (364 km) of bike lanes by 2020, with the BeltLine helping to achieve this goal.^[453] In 2012, Atlanta's first "bike track" was constructed on 10th Street in Midtown. The two lane bike track runs from Monroe Drive west to Charles Allen Drive, with connections to the Beltline and Piedmont Park.^[454] Starting in June 2016, Atlanta received a bike sharing program, known as Relay Bike Share, with 100 bikes in Downtown and Midtown, which expanded to 500 bikes at 65 stations as of April 2017.^[455][456]

According to the 2016 American Community Survey (five-year average), 68.6% of working city of Atlanta residents commuted by driving alone, 7% carpooled, 10% used public transportation, and 4.6% walked. About 2.1% used all other forms of transportation, including taxi, bicycle, and motorcycle. About 7.6% worked at home.^[457]

The city has also become one of a handful of "scooter capitals", where companies like Lime^[458] and Bird^[459][460] have gained a major foothold by placing electric scooters on street corners and byways.

Atlanta's sister cities are:^[461]

• USS Atlanta, 5 ships

• Official website
• Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Atlanta entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia
• Atlanta History Photograph Collection from the Atlanta History Center
• Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
• Scientific American, "The Atlanta Exposition", October 22, 1881, pp. 257

 

Before settlement by European colonists, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures.

On February 12, 1733, a year after Georgia was established as a British colony, the Province of Georgia was established in Savannah by British General James Oglethorpe.^[14] It was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by (and named for) King George II. The Trustees implemented an elaborate plan for the colony's settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan, which envisioned an agrarian society of yeoman farmers and prohibited slavery. The colony was invaded by the Spanish in 1742, during the War of Jenkins' Ear. In 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a crown colony, with a governor appointed by the king of Great Britain.^[15]

The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. Its delegates to the Second Continental Congress, which convened in present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, joined other delegates in unanimously approving the Declaration of Independence, which declared the Thirteen Colonies free and independent from British colonial rule.

Georgia's first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24, 1778,^[16] and was the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution on January 2, 1788.^[17]

After the Creek War (1813–1814), General Andrew Jackson forced the Muscogee (Creek) tribes to surrender land to Georgia, including in the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814), surrendering 21 million acres in what is now southern Georgia and central Alabama, and the Treaty of Indian Springs (1825).^[18] In 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains leading to the Georgia Gold Rush and establishment of a federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued in operation until 1861. The resulting influx of American settlers put pressure on the federal U.S. government to take land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act, sending many eastern Indian nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgia's tribes. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia (1832) that U.S. states were not permitted to redraw Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched federal troops to gather the tribes and deport them west of the Mississippi. This forced relocation, known as the Trail of Tears, led to the death of more than four thousand Cherokees.

In early 1861, as the American Civil War commenced, Georgia chose to leave the Union to join the Confederacy. Support for secession from the Union enjoyed a slight majority among the state's delegates,^[19] and the state ultimately became one of several major military theaters during the Civil War.

Major battles took place at Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, and Atlanta. In December 1864, a large swath of the state from Atlanta to Savannah, was destroyed during General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea, during which 18,253 Georgian soldiers were killed, representing roughly one of every five then in service of the Confederacy.^[20] One of the most notorious Civil War sites in the state was the Andersonville Prison, where nearly 13,000 Union prisoners of war died because of inhumane conditions and ill treatment. Following the war, the camp's commander Henry Wirz was sentenced to death for war crimes and hanged, making him the highest-ranking Confederate official to be executed.^[21]

Georgia did not re-enter the Union until July 15, 1870, as the last of the former Confederate states to be re-admitted.^[22] Federal troops would continue to be stationed in the state until the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877.^[23] With white Democrats having regained power in the state legislature, they passed a poll tax that year which disenfranchised many poor black (and some white) people, preventing them from registering.^[24] In 1908, the state established a white primary; with the only competitive contests within the Democratic Party, it was another way to exclude black people from politics.^[25] They constituted 46.7% of the state's population in 1900, but the proportion of Georgia's population that was African American dropped thereafter to 28%, primarily due to tens of thousands leaving the state during the Great Migration.^[26] In 1910, a secret meeting was held on Jekyll Island, off Georgia's Atlantic coast, to plan for the creation of an American central banking system. The decisions made at the meeting resulted in the passing of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.^[27][28]

According to the Equal Justice Initiative's 2015 report on lynching in the United States (1877–1950), Georgia had 531 deaths, the second-highest total of these extralegal executions of any state in the South. The overwhelming number of victims were black and male.^[29] Many of the killings were committed by the white supremacist hate group the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), whose second iteration was formed at Georgia's Stone Mountain by William Joseph Simmons on November 25, 1915.^[30] The Klan's revival was spurned in part by the 1913 murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan and the lynching two years later of her convicted killer, Jewish pencil factory supervisor and B'nai B'rith Atlanta chapter president Leo Frank. The affair led to the creation of the Anti-Defamation League, which successfully lobbied for Frank to be posthumously pardoned in 1986.^[31] Political disfranchisement persisted through the mid-1960s, until after Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Martin Luther King Jr., an Atlanta-born Baptist minister who was part of the educated middle class that had developed in the city's African-American community, emerged as a national leader in the civil rights movement in the 1950s. King joined with others to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta in 1957 to provide political leadership for the civil rights movement across the South. In 1956, riots occurred at the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta following a clash between Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer and Governor Marvin Griffin.^[32]

On February 5, 1958, during a training mission flown by a B-47, a Mark 15 nuclear bomb, also known as the Tybee Bomb, was lost off the coast of Tybee Island near Savannah. The bomb was thought by the Department of Energy to lie buried in silt at the bottom of Wassaw Sound.^[33]

By the 1960s, the proportion of African Americans in Georgia had declined to 28% of the state's population, after waves of migration to the North and some immigration by whites.^[26] With their voting power diminished, it took some years for African Americans to win a state-wide office. Julian Bond, a civil rights leader, was elected to the Georgia's House of Representatives in 1965, and served multiple terms there and subsequently in Georgia's State Senate.

Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr. testified before Congress in support of the Civil Rights Act, and Governor Carl Sanders worked with the Kennedy administration charged with ensuring the state's compliance. Ralph McGill, editor and syndicated columnist at the Atlanta Constitution, wrote supportively of civil rights movement. In 1970, Jimmy Carter, who was recently elected the state's governor, declared in his inaugural address that the era of racial segregation had ended. In 1972, Georgians elected Andrew Young to Congress as the first African American Congressman since the Reconstruction era.

In 1980, construction was completed on an expansion of what is now named Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The busiest and most efficient airport in the world, it accommodates more than a hundred million passengers annually.^[34] Employing more than 60,000 people, the airport became a major engine for economic growth.^[34] With the advantages of cheap real estate, low taxes, right-to-work laws and a regulatory environment limiting government interference, the Atlanta metropolitan area became a national center of finance, insurance, technology, manufacturing, real estate, logistics, and transportation companies, as well as the film, convention, and trade show businesses. As a testament to the city's growing international profile, in 1990 the International Olympic Committee selected Atlanta as the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics. Taking advantage of Atlanta's status as a transportation hub, in 1991, UPS established its headquarters in the suburb of Sandy Springs. In 1992, construction finished on Bank of America Plaza, the tallest building in the U.S. outside of New York City or Chicago.

On February 19, 2003, Georgia adopted its current state flag, resembling the state's first official flag. In 2024, it was announced that Atlanta would host multiple games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which further substantiated the economic investment and growth in the city and state.

Beginning from the Atlantic Ocean, the state's eastern border with South Carolina runs up the Savannah River, northwest to its origin at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers. It then continues up the Tugaloo (originally Tugalo) and into the Chattooga River, its most significant tributary. These bounds were decided in the 1797 Treaty of Beaufort, and tested in the U.S. Supreme Court in the two Georgia v. South Carolina cases in 1923 and 1989.^[35]

The border then takes a sharp turn around the tip of Rabun County, at latitude 35°N, though from this point it diverges slightly south (due to inaccuracies in the original survey, conducted in 1818).^[36] This northern border was originally the Georgia and North Carolina border all the way to the Mississippi River, until Tennessee was divided from North Carolina, and the Yazoo companies induced the legislature of Georgia to pass an act, approved by the governor in 1795, to sell the greater part of Georgia's territory presently comprising Alabama and Mississippi.^[37]

The state's western border runs in a straight line south-southeastward from a point southwest of Chattanooga, to meet the Chattahoochee River near West Point. It continues downriver to the point where it joins the Flint River (the confluence of the two forming Florida's Apalachicola River); the southern border goes almost due east and very slightly south, in a straight line to the St. Mary's River, which then forms the remainder of the boundary back to the ocean.^[38]

The water boundaries are still set to be the original thalweg of the rivers. Since then, several have been inundated by lakes created by dams, including the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint point now under Lake Seminole.^{[citation needed]}

An 1818 survey erroneously placed Georgia's border with Tennessee one mile (1.6 km) south of the intended location of the 35th parallel north.^[36] State legislators still dispute this placement, as correction of this inaccuracy would allow Georgia access to water from the Tennessee River.^[39]

Georgia consists of five principal physiographic regions: The Cumberland Plateau, Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, and the Atlantic coastal plain.^[40] Each region has its own distinctive characteristics. For instance, the region, which lies in the northwest corner of the state, includes limestone, sandstone, shale, and other sedimentary rocks, which have yielded construction-grade limestone, barite, ocher, and small amounts of coal.

The state of Georgia has approximately 250 tree species and 58 protected plants. Georgia's native trees include red cedar, a variety of pines, oaks, hollies, cypress, sweetgum, scaly-bark and white hickories, and sabal palmetto. East Georgia is in the subtropical coniferous forest biome and conifer species as other broadleaf evergreen flora make up the majority of the southern and coastal regions. Yellow jasmine and mountain laurel make up just a few of the flowering shrubs in the state.

White-tailed deer are found in nearly all counties of Georgia. The northern mockingbird and brown thrasher are among the 160 bird species that live in the state.

Reptiles include the eastern diamondback, copperhead, and cottonmouth snakes as well as alligators; amphibians include salamanders, frogs and toads. There are about 79 species of reptile and 63 amphibians known to live in Georgia. The Argentine black and white tegu is currently an invasive species in Georgia. It poses a problem to local wildlife by chasing down and killing many native species and dominating habitats.^[41]

The most popular freshwater game fish are trout, bream, bass, and catfish, all but the last of which are produced in state hatcheries for restocking. Popular saltwater game fish include red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, and tarpon. Porpoises, whales, shrimp, oysters, and blue crabs are found inshore and offshore of the Georgia coast.

In 2008, a Georgia man was convicted for illegally killing a vagrant Florida panther that had walked 960km to Troup County from SW Florida.^[42][43]

The majority of the state is primarily a humid subtropical climate. Hot and humid summers are typical, except at the highest elevations. The entire state, including the North Georgia mountains, receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from 45 inches (1,100 mm) in central Georgia^[44] to approximately 75 inches (1,900 mm) around the northeast part of the state.^[45] The degree to which the weather of a certain region of Georgia is subtropical depends on the latitude, its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico, and the elevation. The latter factor is felt chiefly in the mountainous areas of the northern part of the state, which are farther away from the ocean and can be 4,500 feet (1,400 m) above sea level. The USDA plant hardiness zones for Georgia range from zone 6b (no colder than −5 °F (−21 °C)) in the Blue Ridge Mountains to zone 8b (no colder than 15 °F (−9 °C) ) along the Atlantic coast and Florida border.^[46]

The highest temperature ever recorded is 112 °F (44 °C) in Louisville on July 24, 1952,^[47] while the lowest is −17 °F (−27 °C) in northern Floyd County on January 27, 1940.^[48] Georgia is one of the leading states in frequency of tornadoes, though they are rarely stronger than EF1. Although tornadoes striking the city are very rare,^[49] an EF2 tornado^[49] hit down town Atlanta on March 14, 2008, causing moderate to severe damage to various buildings. With a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, Georgia is also vulnerable to hurricanes, although direct hurricane strikes were rare during the 20th century. Georgia often is affected by hurricanes that strike the Florida Panhandle, weaken over land, and bring strong tropical storm winds and heavy rain to the interior, a recent example being Hurricane Michael,^[50] as well as hurricanes that come close to the Georgia coastline, brushing the coast on their way north without ever making landfall. Hurricane Matthew of 2016 and Hurricane Dorian of 2019 did just that.

Monthly average daily high and low temperatures for major Georgia cities

City	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Athens	51/11 33/1	56/13 35/2	65/18 42/6	73/23 49/9	80/27 58/14	87/31 65/18	90/32 69/21	88/31 68/20	82/28 63/17	73/23 51/11	63/17 42/6	54/12 35/2
Atlanta	52/11 34/1	57/14 36/2	65/18 44/7	73/23 50/10	80/27 60/16	86/30 67/19	89/32 71/22	88/31 70/21	82/28 64/18	73/23 53/12	63/17 44/7	55/13 36/2
Augusta	56/13 33/1	61/16 36/4	69/21 42/6	77/25 48/9	84/29 57/14	90/32 65/18	92/33 70/21	90/32 68/20	85/29 62/17	76/24 50/10	68/20 41/5	59/15 35/2
Columbus	57/14 37/3	62/17 39/4	69/21 46/8	76/24 52/11	83/28 61/16	90/32 69/21	92/33 72/22	91/32 72/22	86/30 66/19	77/25 54/12	68/20 46/8	59/15 39/4
Macon	57/14 34/1	61/16 37/3	68/20 44/7	76/24 50/10	83/28 59/15	90/32 67/19	92/33 70/21	90/32 70/21	85/29 64/18	77/25 51/11	68/20 42/6	59/15 36/2
Savannah	60/16 38/3	64/18 41/5	71/22 48/9	78/26 53/12	84/29 61/16	90/32 68/20	92/33 72/22	90/32 71/22	86/30 67/19	78/26 56/13	70/21 47/8	63/17 40/4
Temperatures are given in °F/°C format, with highs on top of lows.[51]

Due to anthropogenic climate change, the climate of Georgia is warming. This is already causing major disruption, for example, from sea level rise (Georgia is more vulnerable to it than many other states because its land is sinking) and further warming will increase it.^{[52][53][54][55]}

Atlanta, located in north-central Georgia at the Eastern Continental Divide, has been Georgia's capital city since 1868. It is the most populous city in Georgia, with a 2020 U.S. census population of just over 498,000.^[56] The state has seventeen cities with populations over 50,000, based on official 2020 U.S. census data.^[56]

Along with the rest of the Southeast, Georgia's population continues to grow rapidly, with primary gains concentrated in urban areas. The U.S. Census Bureau lists fourteen metropolitan areas in the state. The population of the Atlanta metropolitan area added 1.23 million people (24%) between 2000 and 2010, and Atlanta rose in rank from the eleventh-largest metropolitan area in the United States to the ninth-largest.^[57] The Atlanta metropolitan area is the cultural and economic center of the Southeast; its official population in 2020 was over 6 million, or 57% of Georgia's total population.^[58]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	82,548		—
1800	162,686		97.1%
1810	251,407		54.5%
1820	340,989		35.6%
1830	516,823		51.6%
1840	691,392		33.8%
1850	906,185		31.1%
1860	1,057,286		16.7%
1870	1,184,109		12.0%
1880	1,542,181		30.2%
1890	1,837,353		19.1%
1900	2,216,331		20.6%
1910	2,609,121		17.7%
1920	2,895,832		11.0%
1930	2,908,506		0.4%
1940	3,123,723		7.4%
1950	3,444,578		10.3%
1960	3,943,116		14.5%
1970	4,589,575		16.4%
1980	5,463,105		19.0%
1990	6,478,216		18.6%
2000	8,186,453		26.4%
2010	9,687,653		18.3%
2020	10,711,908		10.6%
2024 (est.)	11,180,878	[59]	4.4%
1910–2022[60][61]

The United States Census Bureau reported Georgia's official population to be 10,711,908 as of the 2020 United States census. This was an increase of 1,024,255, or 10.57% over the 2010 figure of 9,687,653 residents.^[62] The state made up 3.14% of the total US population in 2010 and 3.23% in 2020.

As of 2010^[update], the number of illegal immigrants living in Georgia more than doubled to 480,000 from January 2000 to January 2009, according to a federal report. That gave Georgia the greatest percentage increase among the 10 states with the biggest undocumented immigrant populations during those years.^[63] Georgia has banned sanctuary cities.^[64]

In 2018, the top countries of origin for Georgia's immigrants were Mexico, India, Jamaica, Korea, and Guatemala.^[65]

There were 743,000 veterans in 2009.^[66]

According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 10,689 homeless people in Georgia.^[67][68]

Ethnic composition as of the 2020 census

Race and ethnicity[69]	Alone		Total
White (non-Hispanic)	50.1%		53.2%
African American (non-Hispanic)	30.6%		32.3%
Hispanic or Latino[b]	—		10.5%
Asian	4.4%		5.2%
Native American	0.2%		1.5%
Pacific Islander	0.1%		0.1%
Other	0.5%		1.2%

In the 1980 census, 1,584,303 people from Georgia claimed English ancestry out of a total state population of 3,994,817, making them 40% of the state, and the largest ethnic group at the time.^[70] Today, many of these same people claim they are of "American" ancestry, as do many of Scots-Irish descent; however, their families have lived in the state for so long, in many cases since the colonial period, that they choose to identify simply as having "American" ancestry or do not in fact know their own ancestry.^{[71][72][73][74]}

Historically, about half of Georgia's population was composed of African Americans who, before the American Civil War, were almost exclusively enslaved. The Great Migration of hundreds of thousands of blacks from the rural South to the industrial North from 1914 to 1970 reduced the African American population.^[75] However, the proportion of Georgia's population that is Black has increased since 1990 and today the state is third in percent of the total population that is African American (after Mississippi and Louisiana) and third in numeric Black population after New York and Florida.

Georgia had the second-fastest-growing Asian population growth in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, more than doubling in size during the ten-year period.^[76] Indian people and Chinese people are the largest Asian groups in Georgia.^[77] Georgia also has a sizeable Hispanic population. Many are of Mexican descent.^[78]

Georgia is the state with the third-lowest percentage of older people (65 or older), at 12.8 percent (as of 2015^[update]).^[79] As of 2011^[update], 58.8% of Georgia's population younger than 1 were minorities (meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white) compared to other states like California with 75.1%, Texas with 69.8%, and New York with 55.6%.^[80]

The colonial settlement of large numbers of Scottish American, English American and Scotch-Irish Americans in the mountains and Piedmont, and coastal settlement by some English Americans and African Americans, have strongly influenced the state's culture in food, language and music. The concentration of African slaves repeatedly "imported" to coastal areas in the 18th century from rice-growing regions of West Africa led to the development of Gullah-Geechee language and culture in the Low Country among African Americans. They share a unique heritage in which many African traditions of food, religion and culture were retained. In the creolization of Southern culture, their foodways became an integral part of Low Country cooking.^[81][82] Sephardic Jews, French-speaking Swiss people, Moravians, Irish convicts, Piedmont Italians and Russian people immigrated to the state during the colonial era.^[83]

The largest European ancestry groups as of 2011 were: English 8.1%, Irish 8.1%,^[84] and German 7.2%.^[85]

Top 10 languages spoken in Georgia

Language	Speakers (as of 2021[update])[86]	% of total
English	8,711,102	85.62%
Spanish	795,646	7.82%
Vietnamese	57,795	0.57%
Chinese	55,024	0.54%
Korean	52,742	0.52%
French	33,248	0.33%
Hindi	31,531	0.31%
German	25,881	0.25%
Haitian	25,032	0.25%
Arabic	21,795	0.21%

As of 2021^[update], 85.62% (8,711,102) of Georgia residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 7.82% (795,646) spoke Spanish, and 6.55% (666,849) spoke languages other than English or Spanish at home, with the most common of which were Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean. In total, 14.38% (1,462,495) of Georgia's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.^[86]

According to the Pew Research Center, the composition of religious affiliation in Georgia was 67% Protestant, 9% Catholic, 1% Mormon, 1% Jewish, 0.5% Muslim, 0.5% Buddhist, and 0.5% Hindu. Atheists, deists, agnostics, and other unaffiliated people make up 18% of the population.^[88] Overall, Christianity was the dominant religion in the state, as part of the Bible Belt.

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2010, the largest Christian denominations by number of adherents were the Southern Baptist Convention with 1,759,317; the United Methodist Church with 619,394; and the Roman Catholic Church with 596,384. Non-denominational Evangelical Protestant had 566,782 members, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) has 175,184 members, and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. has 172,982 members.^[89] The Presbyterian Church (USA) is the largest Presbyterian body in the state, with 300 congregations and 100,000 members. The other large body, Presbyterian Church in America, had at its founding date 14 congregations and 2,800 members; in 2010 it counted 139 congregations and 32,000 members.^[89][90] The Roman Catholic Church is noteworthy in Georgia's urban areas, and includes the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah. Georgia is home to the second-largest Hindu temple in the United States, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta, located in the Atlanta suburb Lilburn. The state also has a minority Sikh population and 4 gurudwaras. Georgia is home to several historic synagogues including The Temple (Atlanta), Congregation Beth Jacob (Atlanta), and Congregation Mickve Israel (Savannah). Chabad and the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute are also active in the state.^[91][92]

By the 2022 Public Religion Research Institute's study, 71% of the population were Christian; throughout its Christian population, 60% were Protestant and 8% were Catholic. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons collectively made up 3% of other Christians according to the study.^[93] Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism collectively formed 4% of the state's non-Christian population; New Age spirituality was 2% of the religious population. Approximately 23% of the state was irreligious.^[93]

Tribes which historically lived in what is now Georgia include the Muscogee (including the Hitchiti subgroup), the Cherokee, the Oconi, the Guale, the Yamasee and the Apalachee.^[94] Other tribes which at various times lived in or migrated through Georgia include the Apalachicola, the Chatot, the Yuchi, the Chiaha, the Chickasaw, the Okmulgee, the Shawnee and the Timucua.^[95] Today there are no federally recognized tribes in Georgia, but there are three state-recognized tribes. Many inhabitants of Georgia identify as being Native American alone (32,151 people in 2010 census and 50,618 in 2020) or Native American in combination with one or more other races (51,873 people in 2010 census and 163,423 in 2020).^[69] Many Georgians also reported belonging to various Native American tribes in 2010 census, the largest of which was the Cherokee (21,525 people). Other tribes reported in Georgia in 2010 included for example the Muscogee (2,370 people), the Choctaw (1,419), the Sioux (1,027), the Seminole (664) and more.^[96]

Georgia's 2018 total gross state product was $602 billion.^[97] For years Georgia as a state has had the highest credit rating by Standard & Poor's (AAA) and is one of only 15 states with a AAA rating.^[98] If Georgia were a stand-alone country, it would be the 28th-largest economy in the world, based on data from 2005.^[99] As of 2025, Georgia has been noted by Area Development Magazine as the Top State for Doing Business for 12 consecutive years.^[100]

• Total employment 2021

4,034,309

• Total employer establishments 2021

253,729^[5]

There are many Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Georgia, including Home Depot, UPS, Coca-Cola, TSYS, Delta Air Lines, Aflac, Southern Company, and Elevance Health.^[101] In addition, there are also many Fortune 1000 companies.

Atlanta boasts the world's busiest airport, as measured both by passenger traffic and by aircraft traffic.^[102][103] In addition, the Port of Savannah is the fourth-largest seaport and fastest-growing container seaport in North America, importing and exporting a total of 2.3 million TEUs per year.^[104]

Atlanta has a significant effect on the state of Georgia, the Southeastern United States, and beyond. It has been the site of growth in finance, insurance, technology, manufacturing, real estate, service, logistics, transportation, film, communications, convention and trade show businesses and industries, while tourism is important to the economy. Atlanta is a global city, also called world city or sometimes alpha city or world center, as a city generally considered to be an important node in the global economic system.

For the five years through November 2017, Georgia has been ranked the top state (number 1) in the nation to do business, and has been recognized as number 1 for business and labor climate in the nation, number 1 in business climate in the nation, number 1 in the nation in workforce training and as having a "Best in Class" state economic development agency.^[105][106]

In 2016, Georgia had a median annual income per person of between $50,000 and $59,999, which is in inflation-adjusted dollars for 2016. The U.S. median annual income for the entire nation is $57,617. This lies within the range of Georgia's median annual income.^[107]

A 2024 study listed Georgia in the top 20 of states for an affordable cost of living^[108]. However, studies for 2025 have shown Georgia is the leading state for personal loan searches, with nearly twice the volume of most other states.^[109]

While many textile jobs moved overseas, there is still a textile industry located around the cities of Rome, Columbus, Augusta, Macon and along the I-75 corridor between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Historically it started along the fall line in the Piedmont, where factories were powered by waterfalls and rivers. It includes the towns of Cartersville, Calhoun, Ringgold and Dalton.^[110]

In November 2009, the South Korean automaker Kia Corporation began production in Georgia. The first Kia plant built in the U.S., Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, is located in West Point. Rivian, an electric vehicle manufacturer, plans to begin production at a facility in Social Circle in 2024.^[111]

Industrial products include textiles and apparel, transportation equipment, food processing, paper products, chemicals and products, and electric equipment.

Widespread farms produce peanuts, corn, and soybeans across middle and south Georgia. The state is the number one producer of pecans in the world, thanks to Naomi Chapman Woodroof regarding peanut breeding, with the region around Albany in southwest Georgia being the center of Georgia's pecan production. Georgia produces the most chickens for poultry of any state;^[112] Gainesville, in northeast Georgia, touts itself as the "Poultry Capital of the World". Georgia is in the top five blueberry producers in the United States.^[113]

The Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office promotes filming in the state.^[114] Since 1972, over eight hundred films and 1,500 television shows have been filmed on location in Georgia.^[115] Georgia overtook California in 2016 as the state with the most feature films produced on location. In the fiscal year 2017, film and television production in Georgia had an economic impact of $9.5 billion.^[116] Atlanta has been called the "Hollywood of the South".^[117] Television shows like Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries are filmed in the state.^[118] Movies such as Passengers, Forrest Gump, Contagion, Hidden Figures, Sully, Baby Driver, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Birds of Prey, and many more, were filmed around Georgia.^[119][120]

Georgia's electricity generation and consumption are among the highest in the United States, with natural gas being the primary electrical generation fuel, followed by coal. The state also has two nuclear power facilities, Plant Hatch and Plant Vogtle, which contribute almost one fourth of Georgia's electricity generation, and two additional nuclear reactors are being built at Vogtle as of 2022.^{[citation needed]} In 2013, the generation mix was 39% gas, 35% coal, 23% nuclear, 3% hydro and other renewable sources. The leading area of energy consumption is the industrial sector because Georgia "is a leader in the energy-intensive wood and paper products industry".^[121] Solar generated energy is becoming more in use with solar energy generators currently installed ranking Georgia 15th in the country in installed solar capacity. In 2013, $189 million was invested in Georgia to install solar for home, business and utility use representing a 795% increase over the previous year.^[122]

Major products in the mineral industry include a variety of clays, stones, sands and the clay palygorskite, known as attapulgite.

In 2017, Georgia ranked second among all states for infrastructure and global access by Area Development magazine.^[123]

The Georgia Ports Authority owns and operates four ports in the state: Port of Savannah, Port of Brunswick, Port Bainbridge, and Port Columbus. The Port of Savannah is the third-busiest seaport in the United States,^[124] importing and exporting a total of 4.9 million^[125] TEUs for 2023.^[104] The Port of Savannah's Garden City Terminal is the largest single container terminal in North America.^[106] Several major companies including Target, IKEA, and Heineken operate distribution centers in close proximity to the Port of Savannah.

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport moves over 650,000 tons of cargo annually through three cargo complexes (2 million square feet or 200,000 square meters of floor space). It has nearby cold storage for perishables; it is the only airport in the Southeast with USDA-approved cold-treatment capabilities. Delta Air Lines also offers an on-airport refrigeration facility for perishable cargo, and a 250-acre Foreign Trade Zone is located at the airport.^[123]

Georgia is a major railway hub, has the most extensive rail system in the Southeast, and has the service of two Class I railroads, CSX and Norfolk Southern, plus 24 short-line railroads. Georgia is ranked the No. 3 state in the nation for rail accessibility. Rail shipments include intermodal, bulk, automotive and every other type of shipment.^[123]

Georgia has an extensive interstate highway system including 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) of interstate highway and 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of federal and state highways that facilitate the efficient movement of more than $620 billion of cargo by truck each year. Georgia's six interstates connect to 80 percent of the U.S. population within a two-day truck drive. More than $14 billion in funding has been approved^[when?] for new roadway infrastructure.^[123]

Southern Congressmen have attracted major investment by the U.S. military in the state. The several installations include Moody Air Force Base, Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Fort Benning, Robins Air Force Base, Fort Gordon, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Coast Guard Air Station Savannah and Coast Guard Station Brunswick. These installations command numerous jobs and business for related contractors.

In the Atlanta area, World of Coke, Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta and Stone Mountain are important tourist attractions.^[126][127] Stone Mountain is Georgia's "most popular attraction"; receiving more than four million tourists per year.^[128][129] The Georgia Aquarium, in Atlanta, was the largest aquarium in the world in 2010 according to Guinness World Records.^[130]

Callaway Gardens, in western Georgia, is a family resort.^[131] The area is also popular with golfers.

The Savannah Historic District attracts more than eleven million tourists each year.^[132]

The Golden Isles is a string of barrier islands off the Atlantic coast of Georgia near Brunswick that includes beaches, golf courses and the Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Several sites honor the lives and careers of noted American leaders: the Little White House in Warm Springs, which served as the summer residence of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt while he was being treated for polio; President Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains and the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta; the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta, which is the final resting place of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King; and Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached.

Georgia has a progressive income tax structure with six brackets of state income tax rates that range from 1% to 6%. In 2009, Georgians paid 9% of their income in state and local taxes, compared to the U.S. average of 9.8% of income.^[133] This ranks Georgia 25th among the states for total state and local tax burden.^[133] The state sales tax in Georgia is 4%^[134] with additional percentages added through local options (e.g. special-purpose local-option sales tax or SPLOST), but there is no sales tax on prescription drugs, certain medical devices, or food items for home consumption.^[135]

The state legislature may allow municipalities to institute local sales taxes and special local taxes, such as the 2% SPLOST tax and the 1% sales tax for MARTA serviced counties. Excise taxes are levied on alcohol, tobacco, and motor fuel. Owners of real property in Georgia pay property tax to their county. All taxes are collected by the Georgia Department of Revenue and then properly distributed according to any agreements that each county has with its cities.

In 2025, all states were ranked on housing affordability and future housing construction. Out of 50 states, Georgia was in the top 10 for housing purchase affordability and was in the top seven that accounted for more than 50% of all 2024 construction permits to build homes. Georgia is one of the top ten states that are "striking a balance between both affordability and robust homebuilding efforts", Realtor.com reported.^[136]

Georgia's major fine art museums include the High Museum of Art and the Michael C. Carlos Museum, both in Atlanta; the Georgia Museum of Art on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens; Telfair Museum of Art and the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah; and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta.^[137]

The state theatre of Georgia is the Springer Opera House located in Columbus.

The Atlanta Opera brings opera to Georgia stages.^[138] The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is the most widely recognized orchestra and largest arts organization in the southeastern United States.^[139]

There are a number of performing arts venues in the state, among the largest are the Fox Theatre, and the Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center, both on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta as well as the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, located in Northwest Atlanta.

Two movies, both set in Atlanta, won Oscars for Best Picture: Gone with the Wind (1939) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Other films set in Georgia include Deliverance (1972), Parental Guidance (2012), and Vacation (2015).

Authors have grappled with Georgia's complex history. Popular novels related to this include Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Olive Ann Burns' Cold Sassy Tree, and Alice Walker's The Color Purple. A number of noted authors, poets and playwrights have lived in Georgia, such as James Dickey, Flannery O'Connor, Sidney Lanier, Frank Yerby and Lewis Grizzard.^[140]

A number of notable musicians in various genres of popular music are from Georgia. Among them are Ray Charles (whose many hits include "Georgia on My Mind", now the official state song), and Gladys Knight (known for her Georgia-themed song, "Midnight Train to Georgia").

Rock groups from Georgia include the Atlanta Rhythm Section, The Black Crowes, and The Allman Brothers.

The city of Athens sparked an influential rock music scene in the 1980s and 1990s. Among the groups achieving their initial prominence there were R.E.M., Widespread Panic, and the B-52's.

Since the 1990s, various hip-hop and R&B musicians have included top-selling artists such as Outkast, Usher, Ludacris, TLC, B.o.B., and Ciara. Atlanta is mentioned in a number of these artists' tracks, such as Usher's "A-Town Down" reference in his 2004 hit "Yeah!" (which also features Atlanta artists Lil Jon and Ludacris), Ludacris' "Welcome to Atlanta", Outkast's album "ATLiens", and B.o.B.'s multiple references to Decatur, Georgia, as in his hit song "Strange Clouds".

Well-known television shows set in Atlanta include, from Tyler Perry Studios, House of Payne and Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, the CBS sitcom Designing Women, Matlock, the popular AMC series The Walking Dead, FX comedy drama Atlanta, Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva, Rectify and numerous HGTV original productions.

The Dukes of Hazzard, a 1980s TV show, was set in the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia. The first five episodes were shot on location in Conyers and Covington, Georgia as well as some locations in Atlanta. Production was then moved to Burbank, California.^{[citation needed]}

Also filmed in Georgia was The Vampire Diaries, using Covington as the setting for the fictional Mystic Falls.

Sports in Georgia include professional teams in nearly all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports. The state of Georgia has teams in four major professional leagues—the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association, and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer.

The Georgia Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference), Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference), Georgia State Panthers and Georgia Southern Eagles (Sun Belt Conference) are Georgia's NCAA Division I FBS football teams, having won multiple national championships between them. The Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have a historical rivalry in college football known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, and the Georgia State Panthers and the Georgia Southern Eagles have recently developed their own rivalry.

The 1996 Summer Olympics took place in Atlanta. The stadium that was built to host various Olympic events was converted to Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves through 2016. Atlanta will serve as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.^[141]

The Masters golf tournament, the first of the PGA Tour's four "majors", is held annually the second weekend of April at the Augusta National Golf Club.

The RSM Classic is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the autumn in Saint Simons Island, Georgia.^[142]

The Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts the Dixie 500 NASCAR Cup Series stock car race and Road Atlanta the Petit Le Mans endurance sports car race.

Atlanta's Georgia Dome hosted Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994 and Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. The dome has hosted the NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball National Championship in 2002, 2007, and 2013.^[143] It hosted WWE's WrestleMania XXVII in 2011, an event which set an attendance record of 71,617. The venue was also the site of the annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl post-season college football games. Since 2017, they have been held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium along with the FIRST World Championships.

Professional baseball's Ty Cobb was the first player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was from Narrows, Georgia and was nicknamed the "Georgia Peach".^[144]

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted Super Bowl LIII in 2018 and the CFP National Championship in the same year, the SEC Championship Game in 2017, the MLS All-Star Game in 2018, the MLS Cup in 2018, and the record-setting friendly fixture between Mexico Men's National Football Team and Honduras Men's National Football Team.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan is from Augusta, Georgia, and State Farm Arena is to host RAW on January 27, 2025. Atlanta has also hosted WrestleMania XXVII and the 2002 and 2010 Royal Rumble. State Farm Arena also hosted Bad Blood (2024).^[145]

Georgia county and city public school systems are administered by school boards with members elected at the local level. As of 2013^[update], all but 19 of 181 boards are elected from single-member districts. Residents and activist groups in Fayette County sued the board of commissioners and school board for maintaining an election system based on at-large voting, which tended to increase the power of the majority and effectively prevented minority participation on elected local boards for nearly 200 years.^[146] A change to single-member districts has resulted in the African-American minority being able to elect representatives of its choice.

Georgia high schools (grades nine through twelve) are required to administer a standardized, multiple choice End of Course Test, or EOCT, in each of eight core subjects: algebra, geometry, U.S. history, economics, biology, physical science, ninth-grade literature and composition, and American literature. The official purpose of the tests is to assess "specific content knowledge and skills". Although a minimum test score is not required for the student to receive credit in the course, completion of the test is mandatory. The EOCT score accounts for 15% of a student's grade in the course.^[147] The Georgia Milestone evaluation is taken by public school students in the state.^[148] In 2020, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia State BOE agreed to state superintendent Richard Woods' proposal to change the weight of the EOCT test to only count for 0.01% of the Student's course grade. This change is currently only in effect for the 2020–21 school year.^[149]

Georgia has 85 public colleges, universities, and technical colleges in addition to more than 45 private institutes of higher learning. Among Georgia's public universities is the flagship research university, the University of Georgia, founded in 1785 as the country's oldest state-chartered university and the birthplace of the American system of public higher education.^[150] The University System of Georgia is the presiding body over public post-secondary education in the state. The System includes 26 institutions of higher learning and is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. Georgia's workforce of more than 6.3 million is constantly refreshed by the growing number of people who move there along with the 90,000 graduates from the universities, colleges and technical colleges across the state, including the highly ranked University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Spelman College, and Emory University.^[106]

The HOPE Scholarship, funded by the state lottery, is available to all Georgia residents who have graduated from high school or earned a General Educational Development certificate. The student must maintain a 3.0 or higher grade point average and attend a public college or university in the state.^[151]

The Georgia Historical Society, an independent educational and research institution, has a research center located in Savannah. The research center's library and archives hold the oldest collection of materials related to Georgia history in the nation.

The Atlanta metropolitan area is the ninth largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research. The state's other top markets are Savannah (95th largest), Augusta (115th largest), and Columbus (127th largest).^[152]

There are 48 television broadcast stations in Georgia including TBS, TNT, TCM, Cartoon Network, CNN and Headline News, all founded by notable Georgia resident Ted Turner. The Weather Channel also has its headquarters in Atlanta.

By far, the largest daily newspaper in Georgia is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a daily readership of 195,592 and a Sunday readership of 397,925.^[153][154] Other large dailies include The Augusta Chronicle, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, The Telegraph (formerly The Macon Telegraph) and the Savannah Morning News.

WSB-AM in Atlanta was the first licensed radio station in the southeastern United States, signing on in 1922. Georgia Public Broadcasting has been in service since 1984^[155][156] and broadcasts daily on several FM stations across the state. The Atlanta area is additionally served by WABE public radio.

WSB-TV in Atlanta is the state's oldest television station, having begun operations in 1948. WSB the first television service in Georgia, and the South.^[157]

As with all other U.S. states and the federal government, Georgia's government is based on the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial power.^[158] Executive authority in the state rests with the governor, currently Brian Kemp (Republican). Both the Governor of Georgia and lieutenant governor are elected on separate ballots to four-year terms of office. Unlike the federal government, but like many other U.S. States, most of the executive officials who comprise the governor's cabinet are elected by the citizens of Georgia rather than appointed by the governor.

Legislative authority resides in the General Assembly, composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, while members of the House of Representatives select their own Speaker. The Georgia Constitution mandates a maximum of 56 senators, elected from single-member districts, and a minimum of 180 representatives, apportioned among representative districts (which sometimes results in more than one representative per district); there are currently 56 senators and 180 representatives. The term of office for senators and representatives is two years.^[159] The laws enacted by the General Assembly are codified in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

State judicial authority rests with the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, which have statewide authority.^[160] In addition, there are smaller courts which have more limited geographical jurisdiction, including Superior Courts, State Courts, Juvenile Courts, Magistrate Courts and Probate Courts. Justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the Court of Appeals are elected statewide by the citizens in non-partisan elections to six-year terms. Judges for the smaller courts are elected to four-year terms by the state's citizens who live within that court's jurisdiction.

Georgia consists of 159 counties, second only to Texas, with 254.^[161] Georgia had 161 counties until the end of 1931, when Milton and Campbell were merged into the existing Fulton. Some counties have been named for prominent figures in both American and Georgian history, and many bear names with Native American origin. Counties in Georgia have their own elected legislative branch, usually called the Board of Commissioners, which usually also has executive authority in the county.^[162] Several counties have a sole commissioner form of government, with legislative and executive authority vested in a single person. Georgia is the only state with current Sole Commissioner counties. Georgia's Constitution provides all counties and cities with "home rule" authority. The county commissions have considerable power to pass legislation within their county, as a municipality would.

Georgia recognizes all local units of government as cities, so every incorporated town is legally a city. Georgia does not provide for townships or independent cities, though there have been bills proposed in the Legislature to provide for townships;^[163] it does allow consolidated city-county governments by local referendum. All of Georgia's second-tier cities except Savannah have now formed consolidated city-county governments by referendum: Columbus (in 1970), Athens (1990), Augusta (1995), and Macon (2012). (Augusta and Athens have excluded one or more small, incorporated towns within their consolidated boundaries; Columbus and Macon eventually absorbed all smaller incorporated entities within their consolidated boundaries.) The small town of Cusseta adopted a consolidated city-county government after it merged with unincorporated Chattahoochee County in 2003. Three years later, in 2006, the town of Georgetown consolidated with the rest of Quitman County.

There is no true metropolitan government in Georgia, though the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and Georgia Regional Transportation Authority do provide some services, and the ARC must review all major land development projects in the Atlanta metropolitan area.^{[citation needed][164]}

Georgia voted Republican in six consecutive presidential elections from 1996 to 2016, a streak that was broken when the state went for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in 2020.^[165]

Until 1964, Georgia's state government had the longest unbroken record of single-party dominance, by the Democratic Party, of any state in the Union. This record was established largely due to the disenfranchisement of most blacks and many poor whites by the state in its constitution and laws in the early 20th century. Some elements, such as requiring payment of poll taxes and passing literacy tests, prevented blacks from registering to vote; their exclusion from the political system lasted into the 1960s and reduced the Republican Party to a non-competitive status in the early 20th century.^[166]

White Democrats regained power after Reconstruction due in part to the efforts of some using intimidation and violence, but this method came into disrepute.^[167] In 1900, shortly before Georgia adopted a disfranchising constitutional amendment in 1908, blacks comprised 47% of the state's population.^[26]

The whites dealt with this problem of potential political power by the 1908 amendment, which in practice disenfranchised blacks and poor whites, nearly half of the state population. It required that any male at least 21 years of age wanting to register to vote must also be of good character and able to pass a test on citizenship, be able to read and write provisions of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions, or own at least forty acres of land or $500 in property. Any Georgian who had fought in any war from the American Revolution through the Spanish–American War was exempted from these additional qualifications. More importantly, any Georgian descended from a veteran of any of these wars also was exempted. Because, by 1908, many white Georgia males were grandsons of veterans or owned the required property, the exemption and the property requirement basically allowed only well-to-do whites to vote. The qualifications of good character, citizenship knowledge, literacy (all determined subjectively by white registrars), and property ownership were used to disqualify most blacks and poor whites, preventing them from registering to vote. The voter rolls dropped dramatically.^[167][168] In the early 20th century, Progressives promoted electoral reform and reducing the power of ward bosses to clean up politics. Their additional rules, such as the eight box law, continued to effectively close out people who were illiterate.^[25] White one-party rule was solidified.

For more than 130 years, from 1872 to 2003, Georgians nominated and elected only white Democratic governors, and white Democrats held the majority of seats in the General Assembly.^[169] Most of the Democrats elected throughout these years were Southern Democrats, who were fiscally and socially conservative by national standards.^[170][171] This voting pattern continued after the segregationist period.^[172]

Legal segregation was ended by passage of federal legislation in the 1960s. According to the 1960 census, the proportion of Georgia's population that was African American was 28%; hundreds of thousands of blacks had left the state in the Great Migration to the North and Midwest. New white residents arrived through migration and immigration. Following support from the national Democratic Party for the civil rights movement and especially civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965, most African-American voters, as well as other minority voters, have largely supported the Democratic Party in Georgia.^[173]

In 2002, incumbent moderate Democratic Governor Roy Barnes was defeated by Republican Sonny Perdue, a state legislator and former Democrat. While Democrats retained control of the State House, they lost their majority in the Senate when four Democrats switched parties. They lost the House in the 2004 election. Republicans then controlled all three partisan elements of the state government.

Even before 2002, the state had become increasingly supportive of Republicans in Presidential elections. It has supported a Democrat for president only four times since 1960. In 1976 and 1980, native son Jimmy Carter carried the state; in 1992, the former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton narrowly won the state; and in 2020, Joe Biden narrowly carried the state. Generally, Republicans were strongest in the predominantly white suburban (especially the Atlanta suburbs) and rural portions of the state.^[174] Many of these areas were represented by conservative Democrats in the state legislature well into the 21st century. One of the most conservative of these was U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald, former head of the John Birch Society, who died when the Soviet Union shot down KAL 007 near Sakhalin Island. Democratic candidates have tended to win a higher percentage of the vote in the areas where black voters are most numerous,^[174] as well as in the cities among liberal urban populations (especially Atlanta and Athens), and the central and southwestern portion of the state.

The ascendancy of the Republican Party in Georgia and in the South in general resulted in Georgia U.S. House of Representatives member Newt Gingrich being elected as Speaker of the House following the election of a Republican majority in the House in 1994. Gingrich served as Speaker until 1999, when he resigned in the aftermath of the loss of House seats held by members of the GOP. Gingrich mounted an unsuccessful bid for president in the 2012 election, but withdrew after winning only the South Carolina and Georgia primaries.

In 2008, Democrat Jim Martin ran against incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss failed to acquire the necessary 50 percent of votes due to a Libertarian Party candidate receiving the remainder of votes. In the runoff election held on December 2, 2008, Chambliss became the second Georgia Republican to be reelected to the U.S. Senate.

In the 2018 elections, the governorship remained under control by a Republican (by 54,723 votes against a Democrat, Stacey Abrams), Republicans lost eight seats in the Georgia House of Representatives (winning 106), while Democrats gained ten (winning 74), Republicans lost two seats in the Georgia Senate (winning 35 seats), while Democrats gained two seats (winning 21), and five Democrat U.S. Representatives were elected with Republicans winning nine seats (one winning with just 419 votes over the Democratic challenger, and one seat being lost).^{[175][176][177]}

In the three presidential elections up to and including 2016, the Republican candidate has won Georgia by approximately five to eight points over the Democratic nominee, at least once for each election being narrower than margins recorded in some states that have flipped within that timeframe, such as Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. This trend led to the state narrowly electing Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020, and it coming to be regarded as a swing state.^[178][179]

In a 2020 study, Georgia was ranked as 49th on the "Cost of Voting Index" with only Texas ranking higher.^[180] In 2022, Georgia swung substantially back to the right towards Republicans with incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp winning reelection by 7.5% over Democrat Stacey Abrams with a raw vote margin of over 300,000 votes in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election; the largest amount since the early 2000s, and every other Republican statewide getting elected by a 5–10% margin of victory.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1960s and 1970s, Georgia made significant changes in civil rights and governance. As in many other states, its legislature had not reapportioned congressional districts according to population from 1931 to after the 1960 census. Problems of malapportionment in the state legislature, where rural districts had outsize power in relation to urban districts, such as Atlanta's, were corrected after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Wesberry v. Sanders (1964). The court ruled that congressional districts had to be reapportioned to have essentially equal populations.

A related case, Reynolds v. Sims (1964), required state legislatures to end their use of geographical districts or counties in favor of "one man, one vote"; that is, districts based upon approximately equal populations, to be reviewed and changed as necessary after each census. These changes resulted in residents of Atlanta and other urban areas gaining political power in Georgia in proportion to their populations.^[181] From the mid-1960s, the voting electorate increased after African Americans' rights to vote were enforced under civil rights law.

Economic growth through this period was dominated by Atlanta and its region. It was a bedrock of the emerging "New South". From the late 20th century, Atlanta attracted headquarters and relocated workers of national companies, becoming more diverse, liberal and cosmopolitan than many areas of the state.

In the 21st century, many conservative Democrats, including former U.S. Senator and governor Zell Miller, decided to support Republicans. The state's then-socially conservative bent resulted in wide support for measures such as restrictions on abortion. In 2004, a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages was approved by 76% of voters.^[182] However, after the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, all Georgia counties came into full compliance, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state.^[183]

In presidential elections, Georgia voted solely Democratic in every election from 1900 to 1960. In 1964, it was one of only a handful of states to vote for Republican Barry Goldwater over Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, it did not vote for either of the two parties, but rather the American Independent Party and its nominee, Alabama Governor George Wallace. In 1972, the state returned to Republicans as part of a landslide victory for Richard Nixon. In 1976 and 1980, it voted for Democrat and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter. The state returned to Republicans in 1984 and 1988, before going Democratic once again in 1992. For every election between that year and 2020, Georgia voted heavily Republican, in line with many of its neighbors in the Deep South. In 2020, it voted Democratic for the first time in 28 years, carried by Joe Biden by 11,779 votes in his national defeat of incumbent Republican Donald Trump.

Though Republicans had continued to regularly win state and federal elections, in the years prior to 2020, their margins of victory tended to decrease, and that year, many election forecasts ranked Georgia as a swing state.^[184] Concurrent with the 2020 presidential election were elections for both of Georgia's United States Senate seats; when no candidate in either race received a majority of the vote, both went to run-offs, which Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won. Ossoff is the state's first Jewish senator, and Warnock is the state's first Black senator. The Democratic wins were attributed to the rapid diversification of the suburbs of Atlanta^[185] and increased turnout of younger African-American voters, particularly around the suburbs of Atlanta and in Savannah.^{[186][187][188]}

However, Republicans rebounded as Governor Brian Kemp won re-election in 2022 by a comfortable margin, and Donald Trump carried the state by 115,000 votes as part of his victory in the 2024 presidential election.

There are 48 state parks, 15 historic sites, and numerous wildlife preserves under supervision of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.^[189] Other historic sites and parks are supervised by the National Park Service and include the Andersonville National Historic Site in Andersonville; Appalachian National Scenic Trail; Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area near Atlanta; Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park at Fort Oglethorpe; Cumberland Island National Seashore near St. Marys; Fort Frederica National Monument on St. Simons Island; Fort Pulaski National Monument in Savannah; Jimmy Carter National Historic Site near Plains; Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park near Kennesaw; Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta; Ocmulgee National Monument at Macon; Trail of Tears National Historic Trail; and the Okefenokee Swamp in Waycross, Georgia.^[190]

Outdoor recreational activities include hiking along the Appalachian Trail; Civil War Heritage Trails; rock climbing and whitewater kayaking.^{[191][192][193][194]} Other outdoor activities include hunting and fishing.

Transportation in Georgia is overseen by the Georgia Department of Transportation, a part of the executive branch of the state government. Georgia's major Interstate Highways are I-20, I-75, I-85, and I-95. On March 18, 1998, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution naming the portion of Interstate 75, which runs from the Chattahoochee River northward to the Tennessee state line the Larry McDonald Memorial Highway. Larry McDonald, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, had been on Korean Air Lines Flight 007 when it was shot down by the Soviets on September 1, 1983.

Georgia's primary commercial airport is Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the world's busiest airport.^[195] In addition to Hartsfield–Jackson, there are eight other airports serving major commercial traffic in Georgia. Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is the second-busiest airport in the state as measured by passengers served, and is the only additional international airport. Other commercial airports (ranked in order of passengers served) are located in Augusta, Columbus, Albany, Macon, Brunswick, Valdosta, and Athens.^[196]

The Georgia Ports Authority manages two deepwater seaports, at Savannah and Brunswick, and two river ports, at Bainbridge and Columbus. The Port of Savannah is a major U.S. seaport on the Atlantic coast.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the principal rapid transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting of 48 miles (77 km) of rail track with 38 train stations. MARTA operates almost exclusively in Fulton and DeKalb counties, with bus service to two destinations in Cobb county and the Cumberland Transfer Center next to the Cumberland Mall, and a single rail station in Clayton County at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. MARTA also operates a separate paratransit service for disabled customers. As of 2009^[update], the average total daily ridership for the system (bus and rail) was 482,500 passengers.^[197]

The state has 151 general hospitals, more than 15,000 doctors and almost 6,000 dentists.^[198] The state is ranked forty-first in the percentage of residents who engage in regular exercise.^[199]

Jimmy Carter, from Plains, Georgia, was President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta in 1929. He was a civil rights movement leader who protested for equal rights and against racial discrimination. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.^[200] Blake R. Van Leer played an important role in the civil rights movement, Georgia's economy and was president of Georgia Tech.^[201] Mordecai Sheftall, the highest ranking Jewish officer in the American Revolution, was born and lived his life in Georgia.^[202] Naomi Chapman Woodruff, originally from Idaho, was responsible for developing a peanut breeding program in Georgia which led to a harvest of nearly five times the typical amount.^[203]

• Amphibian: American green tree frog
• Bird: brown thrasher
• Crop: peanut
• Fish: largemouth bass
• Flower: Cherokee rose
• Fruit: peach
• Gem: quartz
• Insect: honey bee
• Mammal: white-tailed deer^[204]
• Marine mammal: right whale
• Mineral: staurolite
• Nicknames:
  • "Peach State"
  • "Empire State of the South"^[205]
• Reptile: gopher tortoise
• Song: "Georgia on My Mind"
• Tree: live oak
• Vegetable: Vidalia onion

Reference: Georgia Symbols^[206]

• Index of Georgia (U.S. state)-related articles
• Outline of Georgia (U.S. state)
• USS Georgia, 2 ships

• Bartley, Numan V. The Creation of Modern Georgia (1990). Covers 1865–1990 period. ISBN 0-8203-1183-9.
• Coleman, Kenneth. ed. A History of Georgia (1991). ISBN 0-8203-1269-X.
• London, Bonnie Bullard. (2005) Georgia and the American Experience Atlanta, Georgia: Clairmont Press ISBN 1-56733-100-9. A middle school textbook.
• Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974). Information on politics and economics 1960–72. ISBN 0-393-05496-9.
• Williams, David and Christopher C. Meyers. Georgia: A Brief History Macon: Mercer University Press, 2012.

• Georgia state government website
• Georgia State Guide, from the Library of Congress
• Geographic data related to Georgia (U.S. state) at OpenStreetMap

Preceded by New Jersey

List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union Ratified Constitution on January 2, 1788 (4th)

Succeeded by Connecticut

33°N 83°W / 33°N 83°W / 33; -83 (State of Georgia)