Atlanta made number 5 on the Forbes.com list of Best Places to do Business.

Atlanta, with a recorded population of 4,386,000, ranked – per 100,000 residence like this:

#35 in Advanced Degrees
#44 in Cost of Doing Business (cost of labor, energy, taxes, office space)
#105 in Cost of Living (cost of housing, utilities, transportation, etc)
#75 in Crime Rate (crimes per 100,000 residents)
#22 in Culture and Leisure (number of museums, theaters, golf courses, sports teams and other activities)
#16 in Educational Attainment (share of population over 25 with a bachelor’s degree or higher)
#53 in Income Growth (5-year annualized figures)
#50 in Job Growth (5-year annualized figures)
#14 in Net Migration (5-year annualized figures)

Therefore, an overall of 5 in doing business.

That’s not too bad. The winners over us were:
Washington DC at #4
Austin, TX at #3
Raleigh-Durham, NC at #2
and the winner, Madison, WI at #1.

Madison, WI?. Okay.

To me, Atlanta has an opportunity in these areas:

Telecommuting. I just know that with all the fiber cable we put down for the Olympics, we should be able to zip high speed Internet into every home. Telecommuting should be rampant in ATL.

Transportation. Where does MARTA run? Few places anyone wants to go. More rail services for inside and outside I-285.

Culture. We are lacking in community cultural centers and events. One would think that with all the “old money” in this town we could build more museums and cultural centers all over the city.

Just wanted to fill you in on the stats.