Businesses along the trail loop employ tens of thousands and have spent $14.2B on private projects, new analysis shows.
A cyclist pedals across the Atlanta Beltline North Avenue Bridge in December. (Natrice Miller/AJC)
What supports a workforce the size of a Fortune 500 company and attracts as much foot traffic each year as the Georgia Aquarium?
It isn’t a professional sports stadium or a towering landmark. Rather, the answer is effectively just a strip of concrete.
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Runners, walkers and bikers use the Beltline’s Eastside trail in 2014. (Ben Gray for the AJC)
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The Atlanta Beltline on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (Ben Gray for the AJC)
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The Atlanta Beltline on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (Ben Gray for the AJC)
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Beltline’s 2025 in review
- 1.9 miles of new main line trail installation.
- $5.2 billion in new private investment.
- 5,070 new full-time jobs.
- 299 affordable housing units preserved or created.
- 833 affordable housing units in planned development.
- 14.9 acres of new green space projects.
- $52 million spent by retail and dining customers.
- $31 million in income, sales and business tax revenue for the city of Atlanta.
- $101 million in tax revenues for the state of Georgia.
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He’s been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people’s lives.
