Unemployment rate
3.5%
+0.1 pp vs Aug
+0.1 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Atlanta metro economy by the numbers
The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area is shown here through Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Cobb County, DeKalb County and Clayton County: Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Marietta, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville and Decatur. These are the official monthly and quarterly numbers for the metro's jobs, housing, wages and prices, each one dated and linked to its source, updated the day the agency publishes.
Unemployment rate
3.5%
Sep 2026 · +0.1 pp from a year earlier
Next metro jobs releaseDec 2, 202610:00 ETFull calendar →
Unemployment
3.5%
Sep 2026 · +0.1 pp y/y
Payrolls y/y
-0.3%
Sep 2026 · -0.6 pp y/y
House prices y/y
0.5%
Aug 2026 · +0.3 pp y/y
Listing price
$415,000
Sep 2026 · unchanged y/y
Weekly wages
$1,587
Q1 2026 · +3.2% y/y
CPI y/y
3.7%
Sep 2026 · +1.0 pp y/y
Jobs
Civilian labor force
3,387,001
+0.8% vs Aug
+2.1% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro)
Nonfarm payroll employment
3,108.6K
-0.1% vs Aug
-0.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Payroll employment, year over year
-0.3%
-0.0 pp vs Aug
-0.6 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro)
Housing
Housing units authorized by building permits
2,874
+5.7% vs Aug
-12.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro)
S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price index
249.2
-0.0% vs Jul
+0.5% vs Aug 2025
Aug 2026 · seasonally adjusted · S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro, Jan 2000 = 100)
House prices, year over year
0.5%
+0.2 pp vs Jul
+0.3 pp vs Aug 2025
Aug 2026 · seasonally adjusted · S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro)
Median listing price
$415,000
-1.2% vs Aug
unchanged vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Active listings
29,735
+0.5% vs Aug
+4.3% vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Median days on market
60
+1.7% vs Aug
unchanged vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro)
Wages
Average weekly wages, all covered employment
$1,587
+0.7% vs Q4
+3.2% vs Q1 2025
Q1 2026 · seasonally adjusted · BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro)
Prices
Consumer prices, South region, year over year
3.7%
+0.3 pp vs Aug
+1.0 pp vs Sep 2025
Sep 2026 · not seasonally adjusted · BLS Consumer Price Index, South region, all items
Unemployment by county
| County | Rate | Year ago | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulton County | 3.6% | 3.6% | unchanged |
| Gwinnett County | 3.3% | 3.2% | +0.1 pp |
| Cobb County | 3.3% | 3.1% | +0.2 pp |
| DeKalb County | 3.6% | 3.6% | unchanged |
| Clayton County | 4.4% | 4.5% | -0.1 pp |
Sep 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Why Atlanta
Atlanta is the Southeast's logistics, film and corporate hub, with payroll growth driven by transportation, professional services and a large airport economy. The county table splits the urban core (Fulton, DeKalb) from the suburban growth counties (Gwinnett, Cobb). The South region CPI stands in for prices.
Questions readers ask
- What is the unemployment rate in Atlanta?
- The Atlanta metro unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics figure for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan statistical area, not seasonally adjusted, published about six weeks after the month ends. The headline at the top of this page is the latest print; the county table shows how Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Cobb County, DeKalb County and Clayton County compare.
- How many jobs does the Atlanta metro have?
- Nonfarm payroll employment counts jobs on employer payrolls in the metro, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics survey. The year-over-year line shows whether hiring is accelerating or slowing; it is the cleanest single read on the local labor market.
- Are Atlanta home prices going up or down?
- Two measures are shown. The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index tracks repeat sales of the same homes each month, so it measures price change rather than the mix of what sold; FRED's quarterly FHFA series for this metro stopped in 2024, so the Case-Shiller metro index is used instead. The Realtor.com median listing price is the monthly asking price of homes on the market; with active listings and days on market it shows how the market feels to a buyer today.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Every series is a public federal statistic (BLS, Census Bureau), the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price index or Realtor.com's monthly housing inventory, retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database. Each figure links to its source series. MarketIntelLabs computes the year-over-year changes and writes the fact sheet; nothing on this page is estimated or modelled.
Fact sheet
Every figure above, as one dated sentence each. This is the text our desk writes from; a local newsroom may quote it with attribution to the source named in each line.
- Atlanta metro unemployment rate: 3.5% in September 2026, up 0.1 percentage points from 3.4% in September 2025; prior reading 3.4% (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro civilian labor force: 3,387,001 in September 2026, up 2.1% from 3,317,861 in September 2025; prior reading 3,360,132 (August 2026). Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro nonfarm payroll employment: 3,108.6 thousand in September 2026, down 0.3% from 3,118.5 thousand in September 2025; prior reading 3,110.9 thousand (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro payroll employment, year over year: -0.3% in September 2026, down 0.6 percentage points from 0.3% in September 2025; prior reading -0.3% (August 2026). Source: BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro housing units authorized by building permits: 2,874 in September 2026, down 12.4% from 3,279 in September 2025; prior reading 2,719 (August 2026). Source: Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro s&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price index: 249.2 in August 2026, up 0.5% from 248.0 in August 2025; prior reading 249.2 (July 2026). Source: S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro, Jan 2000 = 100), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro house prices, year over year: 0.5% in August 2026, up 0.3 percentage points from 0.2% in August 2025; prior reading 0.3% (July 2026). Source: S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro), via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro median listing price: $415,000 in September 2026, unchanged from $415,000 in September 2025; prior reading $419,900 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro active listings: 29,735 in September 2026, up 4.3% from 28,511 in September 2025; prior reading 29,580 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro median days on market: 60 in September 2026, unchanged from 60 in September 2025; prior reading 59 (August 2026). Source: Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro), via FRED; not seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro average weekly wages, all covered employment: $1,587 in Q1 2026, up 3.2% from $1,537 in Q1 2025; prior reading $1,576 (Q4 2025). Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro), via FRED; seasonally adjusted.
- Atlanta metro consumer prices, South region, year over year: 3.7% in September 2026, up 1.0 percentage point from 2.7% in September 2025; prior reading 3.4% (August 2026). Source: BLS Consumer Price Index, South region, all items, via FRED; year-over-year change computed by MarketIntelLabs; not seasonally adjusted.
- Fulton County unemployment rate: 3.6% in September 2026, unchanged from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Gwinnett County unemployment rate: 3.3% in September 2026, up 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Cobb County unemployment rate: 3.3% in September 2026, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- DeKalb County unemployment rate: 3.6% in September 2026, unchanged from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
- Clayton County unemployment rate: 4.4% in September 2026, down 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Source: BLS LAUS (county), not seasonally adjusted.
Fact sheet id 241e43db52be · data through Sep 2026
Sources: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (metro); BLS Current Employment Statistics (metro); Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (metro); S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro, Jan 2000 = 100); S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index (metro); Realtor.com Housing Inventory (metro); BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (metro); BLS Consumer Price Index, South region, all items. Official statistics retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database; MarketIntelLabs computes the changes shown. Nothing on this page is estimated.
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