Courtesy of RentCafe.

The number of affordable apartments built in the United States over the last five years surged, and Atlanta played a significant role in the increase, according to a new study. 

There were almost 310,000 new affordable rentals delivered across the country since 2020, and Atlanta contributed 10,486, placing the city at No. 5 among the 146 largest markets, RentCafe reported. Those additions represented a 153% increase over the previous five years in Atlanta, which ranked below Seattle; New York; Ausin, Texas; and Minneapolis-St. Paul and above Denver and Los Angeles. 

As a share of total apartments delivered over that five-year period, however, Atlanta’s new affordable inventory was near the bottom. Affordable units accounted for just 11% of the 94,471 rental homes delivered over that time frame, compared to top-ranked San Francisco, where 7,132 affordable homes accounted for 34% of the 20,938 units delivered. The U.S. average was about 14%. 

Nationally, the 73% jump in affordable housing development from 2020 to 2024 compared to 2015 to 2019, which saw 179,000 new affordable units built, was driven in large part by public funding, including the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Rentcafe said. 

Notably, 91,000 affordable units — almost one third of the five-year total — were delivered in 2024 alone. 

“That figure stands out not only for its scale, but also for how sharply it departs from previous years,” RentCafe said. “The surge made 2024 the single largest yearly contribution to affordable housing construction in 10 years, setting it apart as a defining moment in the recent building cycle.”