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Metro Atlanta Has Third Highest Eviction Rate in U.S., Report Finds

October 26th, 2017

A new study from Apartment List finds metro Atlanta renters face one of the highest eviction rates in the country.

The service, which people use to search for rentals, asked its 8 million users whether they’d previously been evicted. It then broke that information down by metro area.

According to the results, Atlanta had the third highest rate of renters experiencing evictions — 5.7 percent compared to the national average of 3.3 percent.

“The magnitude of this issue is a bit bigger than people tend to realize,” said Chris Salviati, a housing economist with Apartment List.

He said, when the site surveyed renters further, it also learned the issue affects certain populations more than others.

A study of 40,000 responses nationally showed those with less education or with children were more likely to have been evicted. The survey also discovered that black households dealt with evictions at twice the rate of white households. Salviati said this holds true regardless of education.

The report is limited to those who use Apartment List. It also may not account for informal evictions — instances where a family moves before an eviction notice is filed.

Earlier this year, a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta report described an eviction “crisis” in Fulton County. According to that study, 20 percent of renters in Fulton County received eviction notices in 2015.