Definitions
By U.S. Census Bureau standards, the population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of 8,376 square miles (21,694 km2) – a land area comparable to that of Massachusetts. Because Georgia contains more counties than any other state except Texas (explained in part by the now-defunct county-unit system of weighing votes in primary elections), area residents live under a heavily decentralized collection of governments. As of the 2000 census, fewer than one in ten residents of the metropolitan area lived inside Atlanta city limits.
A 2006 survey by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce counted 140 cities and towns in the 28‑county Metropolitan Statistical Area in mid-2005. Five cities – Johns Creek (2006), Milton (2006), Chattahoochee Hills (2007), Dunwoody (2008), and Peachtree Corners (2011) – have incorporated since then, following the lead of Sandy Springs in 2005.
Atlanta's larger combined statistical area (CSA) adds the Gainesville, Georgia MSA, and the LaGrange, Georgia, Thomaston Georgia, Cedartown, Georgia, and Valley, Alabama micropolitan areas, for a total 2012 population of 6,034,270. The CSA also abuts the Athens, Macon, and Columbus MSAs. The region is the central metropolis of the Southeastern United States, and is the largest metropolitan area in the emerging megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic MegaRegion along the I-85 Corridor.
Read more about this topic: Metro Atlanta
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