Eleven of the nation’s 100 fastest-growing counties are in Georgia, the latest Census estimate shows. Seven of them are in Atlanta’s distant suburbs or the mountains, and two are close to Athens – which the AARP has cited as one of the best retirement cities for three consecutive years.
The latest population estimates from the Census show that metro Atlanta absorbed 81 percent of the state’s population growth through the first seven years of the current decade. This means an estimated 598,000 newcomers landed in the region, while the rest of the entire state absorbed just 144,000 new residents.
The typical one-way commute time between home and work in metro Atlanta has grown by 30 seconds in the seven-year period ending in 2016, according to the latest report from the U.S Census Bureau. The proportion of workers who commuted by public transit declined during the period in Fulton and DeKalb counties, the core of MARTA’s service district, the report showed.
The average “mom and pop” shop in metro Atlanta is bringing in a lot less money than before the recession, according to a SaportaReport.com analysis of statistics newly released by the Census Bureau.
In 2007, the average receipts for a “mom and pop” in metro Atlanta were $44,708. In 2012, the average receipts were $38,873, the analysis showed.
The numbers come as no surprise to Bob Gemmell, a serial tech entrepreneur from Georgia Tech who now directs the Herman J. Russell Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University: “A good bit of this is because of the recession.”
By Michelle Hiskey
In the 1880s, a dreamy question created the east Atlanta neighborhood of Inman Park: “What if… the streetcar connected downtown with a posh suburb?”
Today, a funky obsession has connected neighbors there: “What if all the squirrels came down from the trees and attacked us in an apocalyptic nightmare?”
From the imagination of local writer Jamie Allen came the acorn that grew into the Inman Park Squirrel Census. From this nutty (to some) idea unfolded a modern fable, a tale of harnessing curiosity and technology to transform how we see our surroundings.
Grounding their wildlife watch is some hard cash: through the social media incubator Kickstarter, the squirrel census recently raised $9,000 to form an LLC and print and sell vintage-style posters of where the squirrels are.
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