Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2009 Atlanta had an estimated population of about 540,922 people. The Atlanta metropolitan area, with more than 5.5 million people, is the third largest in the Southeastern United States and the ninth largest in the country. Like many urban areas in the Sun Belt, the Atlanta region has seen increasing growth since the 1970s, and it added about 1.1 million residents between 2000 and 2008.

Atlanta is considered to be a top business city and is a primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States—via highway, railroad, and air. Atlanta contains the world headquarters of corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, Delta Air Lines, and Turner Broadcasting. Atlanta has the country's fourth-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have business operations in the metropolitan area, helping Atlanta realize a gross metropolitan product of US$270 billion, accounting for more than two-thirds of Georgia's economy. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been the world's busiest airport since 1998.