In 2025, Georgia became a majority-minority state for the first time. That means the population of the state is now more diverse than ever before, and it's only going to continue, according to a new state report.
The Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, in collaboration with the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government, releases updated population projections each year from now until 2065 which can be used for infrastructure, service and community planning.
According to the data, there are about 5.2 million people living in the Atlanta metro area as of 2026. This includes Fulton, Cherokee, Cobb, Forsyth, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Douglas, Rockdale, Fayette, Clayton and Henry Counties.
By 2065, that number will be over 6.5 million.
Here's a look at how Atlanta, and the state, is expected to change over the next four decades.
Atlanta will be a minority city
The white population in Atlanta has been slowly shrinking for the past decade, but that trend is going to continue.
According to the data, about 1.9 million Atlantans are white in 2026. That number will stay about the same, or even increase a few hundred thousand between now and the middle of the century. But, starting in the late 2040s, that number is going to start to decline and continue to drop.
By 2065, that number will be less than 1.8 million despite the population of Atlanta growing during that period.
The Black population will grow from just shy of 2 million in 2026 to 2.6 million by 2065, followed by the Hispanic population which is expected to grow from 750,000 or so to more than a million in the same time period.
Minorities will then make up more than 4.8 million of the residents of Atlanta, more than three times the white population.
And the same can be said across the state. The population of Georgia in 2026 sits around 11.4 million people. That number will rise to nearly 14 million people by 2065, but the white population doesn't account for that growth, according to the projections.
White residents are expected to stay relatively stagnant over the next half century, rising from about 5.4 million in 2026 to 5.6 million in 2065. Black residents will increase from 3.6 million to 4.6 million, while Hispanic residents will increase from 1.3 million to 2.2 million.
Georgia sees major racial, age shift in midterms
This change is also being reflected in the elected leaders of the state.
During the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats won all statewide seats, and all but one seat was won by a person of color. The winners were also younger than many who already held the seats.
Josh McLaurin, the lieutenant governor-elect, now remains one of the only men and only white person in a statewide office. The governorship, secretary of state, attorney general, state school superintendent, agricultural, insurance and labor commissioners are all women of color. Keisha Lance Bottoms, as governor-elect, becomes not only the first Black governor of Georgia, but the first Black woman to ever become governor in the United States.
Peter Hubbard, the other white man who won statewide office, will serve on the Public Service Commission with fellow winner Sheila Edwards, a Black woman.
Bottoms is 56 years old, a bit younger than current Gov. Brian Kemp at 63. McLaurin is 38 years old, about a decade younger than current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones who is 47.
If Republicans had won the governor and lieutenant governor seats, they would have been held by 72-year-old Rick Jackson, a white man, and 48-year-old Greg Dolezal, also a white man.
Georgia's population is getting older, with fewer children
At the same time that the state is becoming more diverse, it's population is also aging and having fewer children, the projections show.
In 2026, there are 2.5 million Georgians who are 60 years old or older. That number will rise to 4.3 million by 2065.
At the same time, the population of those under the age of 25 is going down. There are 3.6 million Georgians under the age of 25 this year, and while that number will increase a little bit in the next decade or so, the group will then start to decrease in the next few decades. By 2065, there will be 1 million fewer young people.
This could cause a future issue in funding for schools, shortages of doctors and other professions dominated by young people, as well as an issue in providing adequate senior care.
At the end of the day, the data is based on projections which could shift one way or the other over the next four decades, but lawmakers should prepare for what their future population could look like, the data shows.
Irene Wright is the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia will continue to get more diverse — and older, report shows
