Atlanta makes list of top 5 capital cities in the United States

ATLANTA — A new study of all 50 state capitals through almost as many indicators officially ranked Atlanta in the top five capitals of the United States.

The study by WalletHub looked at each state capital city with a focus on things like affordability, how residents are doing economically, what the quality of life is, what the overall education level is and how much access there is to healthcare. The study also examined crime rates, K-12 school quality and costs of living.

As put by WalletHub, “not all state capitals are created equal.”

Among the 50 states and their capitals, Atlanta was ranked fifth, closing out the top five rankings.

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The study mainly aggregated factors into categories of affordability, economic well-being, quality of education and health and quality of life.

With those categories, Atlanta ranked highest in quality of life, where it was No. 6 in the country for capital cities.

However, it ranked only 15th for affordability, 13th for economic well-being and 11th for the quality of education and health in the city.

In terms of education, Atlanta was ranked third highest for the portion of adults with a college degree, while it ranked far down in terms of how much people have to work to afford living there.

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While cities like Tallahassee, Fla. or Albany, N.Y. ranked well for low work hours on average, Atlanta ranked 47th, tied with Juneau, Alaska.

For the restaurant scene, Atlanta was ranked highest at No. 1 for most restaurants per capita, or number of restaurants for every 100,000 people.

When it comes to entertainment, Atlanta ranked in a five-way tie with Honolulu, Austin, Texas, Boston and Denver for attractions.

Moving is always a factor for residential fluctuations and Atlanta is no exception. WalletHub ranked Atlanta fourth for the percent of millennial newcomers.

Here’s the full set of the top five state capitals, according to WalletHub:

1. Austin, Texas
2. Madison, Wis.
3. Raleigh, N.C.
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Atlanta, Ga.

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