ARC’s 2026 State of the Region: Housing Costs Top Residents’ Concerns Despite Growth

Atlanta’s “Opportunity Rising” Faces a Hard Truth: Housing Costs Are Blocking the Region’s Future

About 1,500 metro Atlanta leaders gathered on Nov. 3 for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s 2026 State of the Region event, expecting to celebrate a booming economy. Instead, they confronted uncomfortable data: for the second year in a row, housing affordability ranks as the region’s top concern, with more than half of residents calling it a major barrier to getting ahead. The Atlanta Regional Commission reported that 30% of survey respondents named housing costs as the biggest problem facing metro Atlanta, ahead of traffic at 22% and the economy at 16%.

The numbers tell a story of a region pulling in two directions. While metro Atlanta added nearly 54,000 people in the last year and all 11 counties grew, 51% of residents rated housing costs as a major impediment to economic mobility. That tension between growth and access defined the day’s theme, “Opportunity Rising,” as ARC Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach launched a new regional coalition aimed at expanding economic mobility in a region where too many still face barriers.

A Coalition Built on Four Pillars

Roach unveiled Opportunity Rising, a new coalition spearheaded by United Way of Greater Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and ARC. The effort focuses on four shared priorities where working together can make a difference: using data to understand what drives economic mobility and set long-term goals, identifying systemic policy barriers so the region can speak with one voice, aligning public, private, and philanthropic investment around best practices, and making the experience of people facing barriers central to the work from the start.

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“Let’s imagine for a moment a region where prosperity is shared across every community in metro Atlanta. Where every child has a fair shot at a good school, a good job, and a good life,” Roach said. “Now imagine this isn’t a dream we leave to the next generation, but a future that we choose together, starting today.”

The 2026 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey released at the event shows why this coordination matters. Beyond housing costs, 35% cited lack of job opportunities as a major barrier, 28% pointed to transportation costs, 26% mentioned care for an aging parent, and another 26% cited public assistance eligibility. This divide is just as pronounced: roughly 40% of those surveyed reported having fewer than two friends—or none at all—with household incomes very different from their own, despite research indicating that individuals with fewer financial resources are more likely to advance economically when they maintain more ties to people with higher incomes.

Worse Off Now, but Less Pessimistic About Tomorrow

The financial strain is mounting for many households. More than a third of respondents—35%—said they feel worse off than a year ago, up from 29% in 2025, while only 27% feel better off, essentially unchanged from 28% last year. When asked about good jobs within a reasonable commute, about one in three (32%) said “very few” or “none” exist that match their skills, compared to 15% who said “a lot” and 29% who said “some.” Yet residents are less pessimistic about the near future: 27% expect conditions to improve in the next three to four years, up from 16% in 2025, while 37% expect things to worsen, down from 46%.

“Metro Atlanta is a major global economic center, with a strong economy and a high quality of life. Yet, too many residents face barriers that make it harder to get ahead,” Roach said. “Opportunity Rising is about agreeing on what success looks like for children, families and communities, and finding ways of working together to achieve it.”

“Metro Atlanta residents are telling us what stands in the way of getting ahead: housing they can afford, jobs they can reach, and connections across income lines,” said ARC Board Chair Andre Dickens, who also serves as Mayor of the City of Atlanta. “We must act now to improve economic mobility in this region, so everyone has a fair shot at success.”

Business Leaders Join the Call for a Bigger Table

Southern Company President and CEO Chris Womack delivered the keynote address and announced his company would serve as a Corporate Champion for Opportunity Rising, arguing that the region’s traditional “Atlanta Way” of cooperation must evolve to include more voices.

“Metro Atlanta has a proud history of bringing business, government and civic leadership together to move forward and solve critical problems. But the region has changed,” Womack said. “Our responsibility is to carry that spirit of cooperation into a new era, making room for more people and more voices.” He added: “The question for us is whether the institutions making decisions about the region’s future reflect that same breadth of experience. A 21st-century Atlanta Way cannot simply invite more people into an old conversation. It has to create a bigger table. We make better decisions when those most affected are not simply informed at the end but included from the beginning.”

Morgan Shaw Parker, President and COO of the Atlanta Dream, and Jay Bailey, President and CEO of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, delivered “What’s Next ATL” talks challenging leaders to leverage their influence beyond traditional roles. Parker described how the Dream built community impact into every department and eliminated $10 million in debt for 3,500 Atlanta families through a debt relief partnership.

“The greater dream for Atlanta isn’t simply that our region rises. It’s that more people have the opportunity to rise with it,” Parker said.

Bailey, who started RICE in 2018 in the former Westside headquarters of entrepreneur Herman Russell, noted that metro Atlanta’s growth will only become opportunity if the region connects the talent and resources it already has.

“Atlanta doesn’t have a talent problem. We have a connectivity problem,” Bailey said. “We’ve spent decades building this region. Now we’ve got to make sure more people can build with us, own with us, and benefit with us.”

Recognizing Innovation While Acknowledging Gaps

The event also honored five Regional Excellence Award winners showing how bold ideas can transform communities. The winners included the Henry Helps Mobile Health Unit in Henry County, which brings primary care to neighborhoods where transportation and cost create barriers; Azalea Fresh Market, Atlanta’s first municipal grocery store housed in the historic Olympia building; the North Avondale Road Complete Street Project in Avondale Estates; the F.I.R.S.T. Housing Center in Lawrenceville, which redeveloped a 70-year-old apartment building into eight units for men experiencing homelessness; and Georgia Power’s Smart Commute program connecting downtown campuses to MARTA.

Michael Paris, President and CEO of the Council for Quality Growth, received the 2026 Harry West Visionary Leadership Award. Paris started out in commercial real estate in 1978, contributing to major projects such as the 1,500-acre Gwinnett Progress Center and the 1,000-acre Barrett mixed-use development, and has dedicated almost five decades to working where development, planning, and public policy converge.

Still, despite the praise for these advancements, the survey results show the region has far to go before reaching its goals. While the F.I.R.S.T. Housing Center provides a pathway for eight men experiencing homelessness, 51% of all metro Atlanta residents say housing costs block their path to getting ahead. The question Bailey posed to the room remains unanswered: who gets to help write the region’s next chapter?

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