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More Reasons To Bet On Atlanta - 2010-03-28
MORE REASONS TO BET ON ATLANTA

Over the last twenty-five years, Atlanta has been consistently the fastest-growing major city in America. OK, I know that Las Vegas snuck in to the top spot a couple of times on a percentage basis, but there was no one there to begin with, so they don't count.

But the real estate meltdown, coupled with the persistent economic retraction, has been unkind to our metro. Most areas have seen prices drop, and demand is still only a fraction of what it was before the fall of 2007. A glut of bank-owned homes is clogging our market, and a seemingly endless inventory of high-end new construction is still not selling.

That's why I was pleased to read "Betting On Atlanta" in a recent edition of the New York Times Economix Blog.

Written by Harvard economist Edward L. Glaeser, the article paints Atlanta emerging as a "mighty metropolitan economy" and goes on to review our history, as non-natives are always inclined to do.

Explaining that a rich history of educational institutions, our proximity to cotton, and the rise of Coca-Cola all contributed to Atlanta's rise. He also cites low cost of land for development as a past factor. But he discounts those as major factors in the years ahead.

Instead, Glaeser points to three areas that will lead Atlanta back to the top of the economic hill:

* Atlanta is the dominant city in the southeast, and has no real rivals in the region. The fact that large cities are continuing to thrive is a "remarkable fact" of our age, and he believes we will benefit from it.

* The Atlanta metro area also benefits from a business-friendly political environment that continues to attract and encourage new corporate citizens.

* And finally, he points to Atlanta's highly skilled population. In the city itself, 43 percent of adults have college degrees. The author clearly sees the percentage of workers with college degrees as a "powerful predictor of urban growth."

He concludes by predicting that Atlanta will once again rise from its own ashes, as northerners are prone to say.

While I agree with all the reasons presented above, I might offer one powerful benefit of living in Atlanta that is often overlooked, and that is the "true cost of living."

It's called "cost efficiency," and it's the median income of a town divided by the cost of living there. In other words, how well can you live based on how much you are likely to get paid?

A study of these numbers in Kiplinger Magazine reveals an eye-opening statistic:

Of America's fifty largest cities, the Atlanta metro area ranks first in "cost effectiveness." In other words, it pays to live in Atlanta, where higher income and lower cost of living translate into a better quality of life.

Glaeser concludes with this gem:

"Smart money never bets against the ability of a huge concentration of smart people to weather an economic storm. Don’t count Atlanta out."
 
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