Where to plant
Every ZIP area in Georgia and Tennessee ranked by how much the population is moving in — the last five years and the official forecast — with a small weight for whether there are enough people to sustain a plant. How near a Church of God church is carries no weight; the church columns are context.
Showing growth ZIP areas only — ZIP areas that gained 2,500+ people between the 2018 and 2023 ACS windows, are forecast to, or grew 25%+ while adding 1,200+ people. Toggle off to search every ZIP area. Forecast to 2036 is the official projection (2026–2036) from Georgia’s Office of Planning and Budget (2026 series) and Tennessee’s Boyd Center at UT (2022 series). Both publish by county, so each county’s decade change is apportioned to its ZIP areas by population share. A ~ marks any ZIP area still on our modeled trend.
| Rank | ZIP area | county | State | Population | Growth 5 yr | % | Forecast to 2036 | % | Churches ≤12 mi | Nearest | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 69 | Lithonia 30058 | DeKalb County | GA | 63,421 | +5,763 | +10.0% | +3,806 | +5.8% | 14 | 2.6 mi | 79 | — |
| 82 | Stone Mountain 30083 | DeKalb County | GA | 62,941 | +4,618 | +7.9% | +3,778 | +5.8% | 18 | 2.7 mi | 78 | — |
| 108 | Atlanta 30319 | DeKalb County | GA | 45,382 | +3,543 | +8.5% | +2,935 | +6.3% | 18 | 5.0 mi | 76 | — |
| 113 | Lithonia 30038 | DeKalb County | GA | 42,744 | +3,640 | +9.3% | +2,566 | +5.8% | 15 | 4.8 mi | 75 | — |
| 120 | Atlanta 30338 | DeKalb County | GA | 39,042 | +3,607 | +10.2% | +2,373 | +5.9% | 23 | 3.0 mi | 75 | — |
| 146 | Atlanta 30340 | DeKalb County | GA | 30,646 | +2,618 | +9.3% | +2,083 | +6.6% | 18 | 0.2 mi | 73 | — |
| 220 | Scottdale 30079 | DeKalb County | GA | 4,850 | +2,026 | +71.7% | +291 | +5.8% | 17 | 5.3 mi | 70 | — |