Metro Atlanta household income grew during the pandemic
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Metro Atlanta grew richer during the pandemic, according to new data on household income released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Driving the news: Atlanta's median income rose 2.3% from $82,932 in 2019 to $84,876 in 2022, adjusted for inflation, according to 2022 American Community Survey one-year estimates, which was released on Thursday.
- Statewide, the median income increased by 1.7% from $71,648 to $72,837.
Why it matters: A flurry of businesses relocating to Atlanta, as well as the area's growing presence as a tech hub, is bringing higher-earning transplants to the city where income inequality remains stark and the rising cost of living continues to price out the area's lower-income residents.
Zoom in: The share of metro Atlanta residents making between $50,000 and $75,000 annually decreased from 18% to 16% between 2019 and 2022, as did the share of people making less than $49,000.
- Meanwhile, the share making between $75,000 to $99,000 slightly increased from 13% to 14% and the percentage of people making $100,000 or more jumped from 35% to 42%.
The big picture: Nationally, median household income fell 1.6% between 2019 and 2022, adjusted for inflation.
- That trend "explains why Americans have felt so meh about the strong economy over the past couple years," Axios Markets' Emily Peck writes based on similar data.
Context: The COVID-19 pandemic "changed the geography of where money is made in the United States," Axios Macro's Neil Irwin reports, as many higher-income Americans decamped from cities like New York and San Francisco to "rural and exurban places and popular vacation destinations."
Of note: The ACS is one of the best resources available for a regularly published quantified look at myriad facets of American life, down to a remarkably local level.
- Because the latest ACS release is based on 2022 data, it's capturing what some call the "late pandemic era," when many elements of normality returned but the pandemic still loomed in the background, affecting many aspects of life.
Go deeper: Where America stands