By Mark Woolsey

It’s indicative of a maturing county, say observers.

Population estimates released by the Atlanta Regional Commission this week show that Cobb County is growing more slowly, adding 3,700 people from 2024 to this year for a total estimated population of 795,749. That equates to an annual growth rate of 0.47 percent from one year to the next. Only DeKalb County grew at a slower percentage rate, said researchers.

By comparison, Cobb gained some 6.700 people between 2023 and 2024.

The growth rate has slowed notably over time. Demographers say that between 2010 and 2022, the annual Cobb population growth rate was 0.9 percent.  Stretching further back, annual increases reached 3 percent and 4 percent during the 1980s and 1990s.

The estimates rely in part on the number of building permits issued each year in a county. The ARC says 1,625 building permits were issued in Cobb during 2024. In sharp contrast, building permits for 25 years before that,1999, reached 8,008. 

Paul Donsky, spokesman for the ARC, was asked by the Cobb Courier if that placed Cobb into the category of more mature “first ring” suburbs, defined as the older and more densely populated portions of a metropolitan area.

“I think that’s a fair way to put it,” he said. “Counties like Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett are more mature areas of our region, without the undeveloped land available for new homes in places like Cherokee and Forsyth, which are growing at a faster rate.”

At the same time, he says their reports don’t delve specifically into the whys, and he cautions about taking too much stock in a one-year data set.

A 2004 study by the Brookings Institute looked at such “first suburbs” and said those areas face a different set of challenges than the more far-flung communities, contending with such factors as significant elderly and immigration populations, aging infrastructure and outmoded commercial buildings. The study recommended that such areas be brought more to the forefront of policy decisions.

Growth this past year was more impressive in some of those farther-out areas. Cobb’s northern neighbor of Cherokee was estimated to have added 7,100 residents for a 2.43 percent growth rate. And Forsyth County tacked on some 6,700 people, also posting a  2.43 percent hike. Fulton’s population grew by 18,800, a 1.67% increase.  A healthy percentage of that growth occurred in the city of Atlanta.

The ARC says that in all,  the 11-county metro area added 64,400 people between 2024 and 2025 and reached a population of 5,285, 474. That was a slight uptick from the year before, where numbers crunchers recorded 62,700 additional in the metro.

In a news release, ARC Board Chair and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens credited the higher numbers to a diverse and dynamic economy and a great quality of life.

“But we can’t take our growth for granted,” he added. “As a region, we must continue to address challenges like housing affordability and transportation.

The agency says one clear sign of that economic health is the area’s job employment base, which has increased by 8 percent since early 2020.

The ARC is the official planning agency for metro Atlanta and is legally required to publish an annual report detailing population estimates.