The Best of 33N in 2021

Our annual survey gauging perceptions of life in Metro Atlanta brought us fresh understanding of how residents are feeling about Atlanta today and what their outlook is for the coming years. The big story from this year’s survey is that respondents’ say crime is the biggest problem in the metro, the first time this issue has ever taken top position.

At a time when people across the metro were starving for help, there were also many organizations starving for information on where to channel their resources. This interactive tool helped connect the gap and remains one of the few sources for regularly updated data about evictions in the five-county area.

After the Georgia Department of Public Health released a full slate of 2020 data, we pored over COVID-19 death data to see just how well it compares to the other virus commonly cited for taking lives: The flu. Turns out, there is no comparison. In fact, you have to turn to the state’s most common number one killer — heart disease — to come even close to how many lives were taken by COVID.