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Atlanta   is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Georgia, and the core city of the ninth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. It is the county seat of Fulton County, although portions of the city extend into DeKalb County. As of July 2006, the city of Atlanta had a population of 486,411^[6] and a metropolitan population of 5,138,223,^[7] making it the nation's ninth-largest metro area. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.

Atlanta has in recent years undergone a transition from a city of regional commerce to a city of international influence.^[8] Between 2000 and 2006, the Atlanta metropolitan area grew 20.5%, making it the fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation.^[9] Atlanta is often considered a poster child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid growth and urban sprawl.^[10]

Along with St. Louis and Los Angeles, Atlanta is one of three cities in the United States to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games.

Economy

One of seven American cities classified as Gamma world cities, Atlanta ranks third in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind New York City and Houston.^[61] Several major national and international companies are headquartered in Atlanta or its nearby suburbs, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, and United Parcel Service in adjacent Sandy Springs. The headquarters of AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), the largest mobile phone service provider in the United States,^[62] can be found a short distance inside the Perimeter beside Georgia State Route 400.^[63] Newell Rubbermaid is one of the most recent companies to relocate to the metro area; in October 2006, it announced plans to move its headquarters to Sandy Springs.^[64] Other headquarters for some major companies in Atlanta and around the metro area include Arby's, Chick-Fil-A, Earthlink, Equifax, Georgia-Pacific, Oxford Industries, Southern Company, SunTrust Banks, and Waffle House. Over 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations.

Delta Air Lines is the city's largest employer and the metro area's third largest.^[65] Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and, together with the hub of competing carrier AirTran Airways, has helped make Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, both in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft operations. The airport, since its construction in the 1950s, has served as a key engine of Atlanta's economic growth.^[66]

Atlanta has a sizable financial sector. SunTrust Banks, the seventh largest bank by asset holdings in the United States,^[67] has its home office on Peachtree Street in downtown.^[68] The Federal Reserve System has a district headquarters in Atlanta; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which oversees much of the deep South, relocated from downtown to midtown in 2001.^[69] Wachovia announced plans in August 2006 to place its new credit-card division in Atlanta,^[70] and city, state and civic leaders harbor long-term hopes of having the city serve as the home of the secretariat of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas.^[71]

The auto manufacturing sector in metropolitan Atlanta has suffered setbacks recently, including the planned closure of the General Motors Doraville Assembly plant in 2008, and the shutdown of Ford Motor Company's Atlanta Assembly plant in Hapeville in 2006. Kia, however, has broken ground on a new assembly plant near West Point, Georgia.^[72]

The city is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System media empire in Atlanta, where he bought a UHF station that eventually became WTBS. Turner established the headquarters of the Cable News Network at CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels – the Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, Turner South, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Headline News, and CNN Airport Network – centered their operations in Atlanta as well (Turner South has since been sold). The Weather Channel, owned by Landmark Communications, has its offices in the nearby suburb of Marietta.

Cox Enterprises, a privately held company controlled by siblings Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta. Its Cox Communications division is the nation's third-largest cable television service provider;^[73] the company also publishes over a dozen daily newspapers in the United States, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . WSB – the flagship station of Cox Radio – was the first AM radio station in the South.

Atlanta is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adjacent to Emory University, with a staff of nearly 15,000 (including 6,000 contractors and 840 Commissioned Corps officers) in 170 occupations, including: engineers, entomologists, epidemiologists, biologists, physicians, veterinarians, behavioral scientists, nurses, medical technologists, economists, health communicators, toxicologists, chemists, computer scientists, and statisticians. Headquartered in DeKalb County, CDC has 10 other offices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In addition, CDC staff are located in local health agencies, quarantine/border health offices at ports of entry, and 45 countries around the world. Originally established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, its primary function was to combat malaria, the deep southeast being the heart of the U.S. malaria zone at the time.