Cumberland CID Achieves $20B Economic Impact on State of Georgia

Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO

Friday, December 13th, 2019

The Cumberland Community Improvement District (CID) and its Board of Directors released a new Cumberland CID Economic Impact Analysis. The analysis showed tremendous growth within the CID revealing that an additional 14,450 primary jobs were added in the past decade, a 27% increase. This now brings the total number of primary jobs in the district to 68,840. The analysis also showed that the Cumberland CID is now home to nearly 29,000 residents representing 3.8% of Cobb County’s population.

“This study confirms that the Cumberland Market has a healthy, vibrant, and growing economy,” said Executive Director Kim Menefee. “By leveraging our investments and key partnerships the Cumberland CID has contributed an economic impact of $15.3 billion to Cobb County and $20 billion to the state. This success could not be possible without our investors, stakeholders, and local, state, and federal partners.”

“Today’s news is a validation that the Cumberland CID is delivering on the goals and investments it has put forward,” said John Shern, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Cumberland CID. “As the trend lines illustrate, we are experiencing new growth in all sectors. We will continue to be innovative and take a bold approach to the future.”

Key Economic Impact Analysis Findings:

The Cumberland CID Economic Impact Analysis was conducted by the Bleakly Advisory Group. Some of the key findings include:

·            The Cumberland CID currently has an estimated 3,396 businesses with 68,840 employees. The 68,840 jobs represents 19% of Cobb County’s 396,000 jobs.

·            The Cumberland CID is strong in the competitive and high-wage professional sectors, representing 33% of Cobb County’s jobs. These categories include the information, finance & insurance, real estate, professional scientific and technical services, and management of companies.

·            The Cumberland CID has a direct impact of $9.2 billion and total impact of $15.3 billion on goods and services produced in Cobb County. Overall, the Cumberland CID has a total impact of $20 billion on the state.

·            Retail is the top employment sector, representing over 15,000 jobs or 22% of the Cumberland CID’s primary jobs.

·            The Cumberland CID’s population is growing at 2% annually, 1.6 times the rate of Cobb County and faster than the Atlanta region as a whole.

·            68% of the Cumberland CID’s residents are Millennials or Generation X.

·            Since 2013, the CID has added over 7.8 million square feet of office, hotel, and multifamily space.

·            The Cumberland CID has 4.6 million square feet of new commercial space in the real estate pipeline. Over the next 1-5 years, that construction and development will have a $2.6 billion economic impact to Cobb County.

·            Properties within the Cumberland CID boundary paid an estimated $105 million in taxes in 2019 – approximately 13% of All Cobb County’s property tax revenue. 

·            Properties and economic activity within the Cumberland CID generate $70 million for Cobb County Schools from a combination of real estate taxes and E-SPLOST sales taxes.