In a comparison of the Cost of Living Index for the 15 largest and fastest-growing metro areas in the nation, Atlanta is 3.4 percent less expensive than the average of these metro areas. Atlanta has the third-lowest cost of living among the 10 most populated metro areas and it has the fifth-lowest cost of living among the fastest growing metro areas (with a population larger than 1 million).

In the 20 county metro Atlanta area, the top two income quintiles are heavily concentrated north of I-20 in Cobb County, both east and west, north Fulton and Forsyth along Ga-400 and Gwinnett.

Forsyth and Gwinnett Counties had the highest earning households and income gains this decade.