Atlanta, Georgia
| Atlanta, Georgia | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Atlanta
Andre Dickens | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2021 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2025 |
| Last city council election: | 2024 |
| Next city council election: | 2025 |
| City council seats: | 16 |
| City website | |
| Composition data (2019) | |
| Population: | 488,800 |
| Race: | White 40.9% African American 51.0% Asian 4.4% Native American 0.3% Pacific Islander 0.0% Two or more 2.4% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic 4.3% |
| Median household income: | $59,948 |
| High school graduation rate: | 90.9% |
| College graduation rate: | 51.8% |
| Related Atlanta offices | |
| Georgia Congressional Delegation Georgia State Legislature Georgia state executive offices | |
Atlanta is a city in Fulton County, Georgia. The city's population was 498,715 as of 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
- Mayor
- City council
- Other elected officials
- Elections
- Census information
- Budget
- Contact information
- Ballot measures
- County government
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Atlanta utilizes a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body while the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[1]
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive and is responsible for proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[2] The current Mayor of Atlanta is Andre Dickens (nonpartisan). Dickens assumed office in 2022.
City council
The Atlanta City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances. A council president, who is elected by the city at-large, presides over council meetings.[1]
The Atlanta City Council is made up of sixteen members, including a council president. Twelve members are elected by the city's twelve districts, while three other members and the council president are elected at large.[1]
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords that Voterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
Other elected officials
Ballotpedia does not cover any additional city officials in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mayoral partisanship
Atlanta has a Democratic mayor. As of April 2025, 65 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 25 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, two are independents, four identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and three mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2025
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, is holding general elections for mayor, city council, and municipal court judges on November 4, 2025. A runoff election is scheduled for December 2, 2025. The filing deadline for this election is August 21, 2025.
2024
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, held a special election for city council on November 5, 2024. A general runoff election was on December 3, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was June 27, 2024.
2021
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, held general elections for mayor and city council, as well as retention elections for municipal court judge, on November 2, 2021. A runoff election took place November 30, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was August 20, 2021.
2020
A sales tax for water and sewer projects was on the ballot for City of Atlanta voters in Fulton County, Georgia, on June 9, 2020.[3] It was approved.
2019
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, held general elections for city council on March 19, 2019. A runoff election was held on April 16, 2019. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was January 25, 2019.
2017
The city of Atlanta, Georgia, held a general election for mayor, city council president, three at-large council members, 12 by-district council members, and two city judges on November 7, 2017. Any race where no candidate received a majority (50 percent plus one) of the general election votes cast advanced to a runoff election on December 5, 2017. In order to run in this election, candidates had to file between August 21, 2017, and August 25, 2017, with the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections.[4]
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Atlanta | |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | |
| Population | 498,715 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 135 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 39.9% |
| Black/African American | 46.9% |
| Asian | 5% |
| Native American | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| Two or more | 5.8% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.3% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 93% |
| College graduation rate | 58.4% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $81,938 |
| Persons below poverty level | 17.9% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2018-2023). | |
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | |
Budget
The city's budget process operates by fiscal years running from July 1 to June 30 of the next year. The city must maintain a balanced budget in accordance with state law. The city is also required to have controls in place to maintain compliance with legal budgetary provisions. It is the responsibility of the mayor to present the annual budget to the city council and keep them apprised of the financial state of the city.[5]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[6]
| “ |
FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[7] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[8] | ||
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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Historical total revenue and expenditure
To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[6]
Atlanta, Georgia, salaries and pensions over $95,000
Below is a map of the nationwide salaries and pensions in this city over $95,000. To search a different ZIP code, enter it in the search bar within the map.
Contact information
Mayor's office
55 Trinity Ave, S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-330-6100
City Clerk's office
55 Trinity Ave, S.W.
Suite 2700
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-494-1752
Click here for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
- See also: Fulton County, Georgia ballot measures
The city of Atlanta is in Fulton County. A list of ballot measures in Fulton County is available here.
Noteworthy events
2020: Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including Atlanta, following the death of George Floyd. Events in Atlanta, Georgia, began on Friday, May 29, 2020, at Centennial Park.[9] That night, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) activated the Georgia National Guard at the request of Mayor Keisha Bottoms (D).[9] On May 30, Bottoms issued a curfew from 9:00 p.m. to sunrise that extended through the weekend.[10]
2018: Atlanta ends cooperation with ICE
- See also: Sanctuary jurisdictions
On September 6, 2018, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms signed an executive order directing the chief of the city Department of Corrections to stop accepting immigration and customs enforcement detainees. The order also instructed the corrections chief to formally request that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transfer detainees out of Atlanta as soon as possible.[11]
In a press release, Bottoms attributed the order to opposition to the separation of children from parents crossing the border illegally. She said, "As we work to achieve our vision of an Atlanta that is welcoming and inclusive, with equal opportunity for all, it is untenable for our City to be complicit in the inhumane immigration policies that have led to the separation of hundreds of families at the United States southern border."[11] Click here for more information.
Opponents of Bottoms' order said cooperating with ICE was a matter of public safety. They argued that noncooperation put officers and communities at risk.[12][13]
2015: Study on city's nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described Atlanta, Georgia, as a city or county that did not prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[14]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 City of Atlanta, "City Council," accessed October 22, 2014
- ↑ City of Atlanta, "Office of the Mayor," accessed October 22, 2014
- ↑ Fulton County Georgia, "Fulton County June 9, 2020 Sample Ballot," accessed May 12, 2020
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "2017 Elections and Voter Registration Calendar," accessed February 24, 2017
- ↑ City of Atlanta, "Office of Budget and Fiscal Policy," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 11 Alive, "'This is chaos': How a peaceful protest gave way to a night of fury, from start to finish," May 30, 2020
- ↑ AJC, "Atlanta curfew extended for a 4th consecutive night," June 2, 2020
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 City of Atlanta, GA, "Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Issues Executive Order to Permanently End City of Atlanta Receiving ICE Detainees," September 6, 2018
- ↑ WSB-TV 2, "Atlanta mayor orders jail to refuse new ICE detainees," June 21, 2018
- ↑ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "ICE chief pushes back against Georgia communities limiting cooperation," April 26, 2018
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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