Atlanta (pronounced /?t'lænt?/ or /æt'lænt?/) is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, as well as the urban core of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States.^[3][4][5][6]

With a 2008 estimated population of 537,958,^[7] Atlanta is the thirty-third largest city in the United States, and the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Area is the eighth largest such region in the United States, and the second largest in the Southeastern U.S. with more than 5,376,285 residents.^[8][9] The Atlanta Combined Statistical Area, home to 5,729,304 people, is the tenth largest in the country.^[10][11]