Where UGA Students Come From

Fresh data for Fall 2015 is out, so it's time for my annual set of posts about where UGA students (where I teach) come from. Today we'll keep it simple ant look at the Top 10 from Fall 2000 and Fall 2015. Table below, then my comments follow.

Rank	In 2000	In 2015
1	Gwinnett	Gwinnett
2	Cobb	Fulton
3	Fulton	Cobb
4	DeKalb	DeKalb
5	Clarke	Forsyth
6	Fayette	Clarke
7	Chatham	Cherokee
8	Columbia	Fayette
9	Oconee	Oconee
10	Bibb	Columbia

So as you can see, the usual suspects show up in the top four slots (Gwinnett, Fulton, Cobb, and DeKalb). Some movement, but basically what you'd expect to see, that UGA is really the University of Atlanta.

Starting at #5, though, it gets interesting. Clarke dropped a spot, but look at 2015 and Forsyth County. It was ranked #19 in 2000, but shot to #5 in 2015. In raw numbers, this translates into 200 total undergraduates in 2000 but, get this, 1,120 in 2015. That's a fivefold increase. That's a 460 percent increase. The same is seen for Cherokee County (#7 in 2015, up from #16 in 2000). Bibb drops out by 2015, from 10th in the earlier year to 18th in Fall 2015.

I'll crank the data more, but I can tell you from running these analyses over the years a few explanatory factors stand out. First, population growth. Second, poverty. Fast-growing burbs and exurbs drive the growth.

When I have more time I'll map this for you and break it down by gender and race.

Oh, one last item. I've played with these data for years, and rarely does Echols County have a single undergraduate at UGA. It does this Fall.