The population growth trends in the Atlanta are quite surprising.

From 2010 to 2013, population growth in the city of Atlanta was 53 percent greater than the surrounding suburbs, according to a recent analysis by New Geography.

In that three-year time span, the city of Atlanta saw its population increase by 6.6 percentage points, compared to the suburbs’ 4.3 percentage points. According to the author of the analysis, former geography professor Richard Morrill, that’s on-par with a much larger national trend: “The period of review is short, but does show continuing growth of both core cities and their suburbs, but with the growth edge going to cities, unlike the dominant pattern of earlier decade.”

And indeed, we’ve heard from numerous agents around Atlanta about greater interest in city amenities. Marc Nicholson, the lead agent for the Remarcable Real Estate Team, told us that he’s seen considerable demand from younger families for property in Atlanta’s Intown market, and that new restaurants and businesses have popped up in response to that demand. It’s all connected, Nicholson said, to an overall investment by the city, especially in the belt-line parkway.

“Those old train tracks that have now been connected, and link they to different neighborhoods,” Nicholson explained. “Now, you can walk from the Intown neighborhoods – areas that had gone into great decay – to Piedmont Park, and you have the city investing in construction projects to build on that belt-line. You have skate parks, walkways – many other cool, inner-city projects.”

Take a look at our graph below for an idea on how Atlanta’s growth patterns compare with other large metro areas.