Fulton County, Georgia

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

Undisclosed Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

Microsoft

Resi rate Δ (Georgia Power)

+8.0%

Home price Δ (3y)

+7.9%

Property tax Δ (3y)

+11.6%

Population (2024 ACS)

1.08M

Median HH income (2024 ACS)

$95,292

Key takeaways

Microsoft's Fairwater Atlanta sits in Palmetto, a town of 5,071 residents that mostly lies in south Fulton County. The county itself has 1,068,507 residents, so the campus drops on a population gradient that runs from rural-southern Fulton to downtown Atlanta within 30 miles.Source: sources[0] (Wikipedia: Palmetto, Georgia) + Census ACS 2023 B01003
Fulton County's median household income is $91,490 and 58.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, the highest education share of any AI county in this batch. The county absorbs the campus with by far the deepest local talent base.Source: Census ACS 2023 B19013, B15003 (Fulton County, GA)
Home prices rose 7.9% over three years on a median home value of $431,200. Property tax assessments rose 11.6% over the same window, consistent with the steady Atlanta-metro reassessment rhythm rather than a campus-driven shock.Source: data/cache/realestate_yoy.csv + data/cache/property_tax_yoy.csv (FIPS 13121) + Census ACS 2023 B25077
Georgia Power's 8.0% residential rate move (14.3 to 15.5 cents per kWh) is the same 2.45-million-customer pool that absorbed the Plant Vogtle nuclear cost recovery. The Microsoft Fairwater build joins that cost stack.Source: data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (Georgia Power Co, GA)

Only 54.1% of Fulton County housing units are owner-occupied, the lowest owner share of any AI host county in this batch. Microsoft Fairwater drops on a 45.9% renter base that absorbs the Georgia Power rate pass-through inside the monthly rent cycle, not the annual property-tax cycle.Source: Census ACS 2023 B25003_001E, B25003_002E (Fulton County, GA)
43.1% of Fulton County residents are Black alone, 7.6% are Asian, and 13.7% are foreign-born. The Fairwater campus has the most demographically complex customer-and-grievance base of any AI host in this batch.Source: Census ACS 2023 B02001_001E, B02001_003E, B02001_005E, B05002_001E, B05002_013E (Fulton County, GA)
12.9% of Fulton residents live in poverty against a $1,635 median gross rent, the highest rent in this batch. The 9-point gap between high incomes downtown and entrenched poverty in south Fulton is the social geography Palmetto sits inside.Source: Census ACS 2023 B17001_001E, B17001_002E, B25064_001E (Fulton County, GA)
Only 4.7% of Fulton adults are veterans, the lowest veteran share in this batch. The county has none of the federal-payroll floor that stabilizes Montgomery Alabama, so the Microsoft campus is not buffered against a service-sector slowdown.Source: Census ACS 2023 B21001_001E, B21001_002E (Fulton County, GA)