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Metropolitan Atlanta
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Midtown Atlanta in April 2016
Map of Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County– Sandy Springs, GA–AL CSA   City of Atlanta Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell, GA MSA   Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell, GA   Marietta, GA Metropolitan Division Other Statistical Areas in the Atlanta CSA   Athens-Clarke County, GA MSA   Gainesville, GA MSA   LaGrange, GA–AL µSA   Rome, GA MSA   Jefferson, GA µSA   Calhoun, GA µSA   Cornelia, GA µSA   Cedartown, GA µSA   Thomaston, GA µSA
Country	United States
State	Georgia Alabama
Area
• Metro	8,376 sq mi (21,694 km2)
• CSA	10,494.03 sq mi (27,179.4 km2)
Elevation	606–3,288 ft (185–1,002 m)
Population  (2023 estimates)[1]
• Density	624/sq mi (243/km2)
• Urban  (2020)[2]	5,100,112 (9th)
• Metro [3]	6,307,261 (6th)
• CSA [3]	7,221,137 (10th)
GDP [4]
• MSA	$525.9 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	300xx to 303xx
Area codes	404/678/470/943 inside the perimeter 770/678/470/943 outside the perimeter

Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixth-largest in the United States, based on the July 1, 2023 metropolitan area population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Its economic, cultural, and demographic center is Atlanta, and its total population was 6,307,261 in the 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The core 5 counties of metropolitan Atlanta are Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton counties. The metro area forms the core of a broader trading area, the Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs combined statistical area. The combined statistical area spans up to 39 counties in North Georgia. The CSA recorded in the 2020 U.S. census a population of 6,930,423.^[5] Atlanta is the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Census Bureau's Southeast region. It surpassed the Greater Miami area in total population in 2021, and both the Washington metropolitan area, and the Philadelphia metropolitan area in 2023 (the latter of which is in the Northeast region).^[6]

Definitions

By U.S. Census Bureau standards, the population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of 8,376 square miles (21,694 km²),^[7] comparable to the size of Israel. Because Georgia contains more counties than any other state except Texas (explained in part by the now-defunct county-unit system of weighing votes in primary elections),^[8] area residents live under a heavily decentralized collection of governments. As of the 2000 census, fewer than one in ten residents of the metropolitan area lived inside Atlanta city limits.^[9]

A 2006 survey by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce counted 140 cities and towns in the 28‑county Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in mid-2005.^[7] Ten cities – Johns Creek (2006), Milton (2006), Chattahoochee Hills (2007), Dunwoody (2008), Peachtree Corners (2012), Brookhaven (2012), Tucker (2016), Stonecrest (2016), South Fulton (2017), and Mableton (2022) – have incorporated since then, following the lead of Sandy Springs in 2005.^[10][11][12]

The Atlanta metropolitan area was first defined in 1950 as Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton counties. Walton, Newton, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Henry, Cherokee, Rockdale, and Butts counties were added after the 1970 census, with Barrow and Coweta counties joining in 1980 and Bartow, Carroll, Paulding, Pickens and Spalding counties in 1990.

Atlanta's larger combined statistical area (CSA) adds the Gainesville and Athens metropolitan areas plus LaGrange, Thomaston, Jefferson, Calhoun, and Cedartown micropolitan areas, for a total 2012 population of 6,162,195. The CSA also abuts the Macon and Columbus MSAs. The region is one of the metropolises of the Southeastern United States, and is part of the emerging megalopolis known as Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion along the I-85 Corridor.

Metropolitan statistical area

The counties listed below are included in the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area.^[13] In 2023, the Office of Management and Budget split the MSA into two conurbated metropolitan divisions.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan division consists of the following 24 counties:

The Marietta metropolitan consists of the following five counties.

Some entities define a much smaller metropolitan area by including only the counties which have the densest suburban development. Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton were the five original counties when the Atlanta metropolitan area was first defined in 1950, and continue to be the core of the metro area. These five counties along with six more (Cherokee, Douglas, Fayette, Henry, Rockdale, and Forsyth) are members of the Atlanta Regional Commission, a weak metropolitan government organization which also is a regional planning agency. The eleven ARC counties, bolded, and four more (Bartow, Coweta, Hall, Paulding), with an asterisk (*), form part of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, created in 2001.

Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell MSA