Neighborhood Change

This report analyzes key findings related to changes in the low-income and non-low-income populations’ distribution across Atlanta’s neighborhoods from 2010 to 2018. Different types of neighborhood change are identified by economic expansion, including Growth and Low-Income Displacement, and economic decline, including Low-Income Concentration and Population Decline. Change is further explored across Atlanta by sub-groups, land-use policy, and public investment to understand how neighborhood change may be impacting populations in the City of Atlanta.

Atlanta’s population growth over the past decade has been accompanied by demographic neighborhood change. This report seeks to quantify that change by measuring the change in the ratio of low-income (LI) residents to non-low-income (NLI) residents in city neighborhoods from 2010 to 2018, and using 4 categories to classify neighborhoods:   

• ”Growth” neighborhoods gained NLI and LI residents.  
• “Low-Income Displacement” neighborhoods gained NLI residents, but lost LI residents. 
• “Low-Income Concentration” neighborhoods lost NLI residents, and gained LI residents.
• “Population Decline” neighborhoods lost both NLI and LI residents. 

Across Atlanta, neighborhood change impacted population sub-groups disparately. Rent-burdened residents, residents in poverty, and Black residents were increasingly found in Low-Income Concentration neighborhoods associated with economic decline.  And residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher and households with high median incomes were increasingly located in Growth and Low-Income Displacement neighborhoods. 

Neighborhood change was also associated with land use policy and public investment in Atlanta.  Growth and Low-Income Displacement neighborhoods saw major public investment, while Low-Income Concentration and Population Decline neighborhoods saw little or no major public investment from 2010 to 2018.

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Some key findings this report highlights include:

• About 38% of the population in Atlanta lived in a neighborhood that experienced substantial change from 2010 to 2018.
• The most common type of substantial neighborhood change was Growth and Low-Income Displacement.
• In 2018, Black residents comprised the largest share of the population in Population Decline, Low-Income Concentration, and Growth neighborhoods, while white residents accounted for the largest share of residents in Low-Income Displacement neighborhoods.
• Low-Income Displacement neighborhoods saw a decline in residents in poverty, an increase in rent-burdened residents, a decline in Black residents accompanied by an increase in white residents, and an increase in residents with a high median income.
• Growth neighborhoods saw a steady poverty rate, alongside a large influx of residents with greater than a bachelor’s degree, and increases in both the white and Black population, although Black residents continued to be a majority in these neighborhoods where they accounted for approximately 70% of residents in 2018.
• In Low-Income Concentration and Population Decline neighborhoods there was an increase in vacant housing units, rising home sale prices, and a decline in owner-occupied housing units.
• Owner-occupied housing units increased in Growth and Low-Income Displacement neighborhoods but decreased in Population Decline and Low-Income Concentration neighborhoods. Renter-occupied housing increased across all neighborhood types.

In the context of the City of Atlanta, where rapid growth in the population and major public investments have spurred rising housing costs, one key to reducing displacement pressures is housing production of both market-rate and affordable housing. To ensure equitable growth in Atlanta, housing policies that increase the supply of housing at a range of prices across neighborhoods are needed. 

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