What distinguishes Atlanta from other large US cities?

One thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of different counties here. As Matt Blind says, there are 39 counties in the metro area. I'm sure the majority of people who say they're from Atlanta are actually from a suburb. It's much more acceptable to say you're from Atlanta if you live in the suburbs than in most major cities. read more

While other cities have a decent amount of well off black people, for whatever reason Atlanta is considered the "Black Mecca". Atlanta has more HBCU's than any other city (Spelman, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta). A lot of succesful black musicians are from here. The only other city I can think of that is viewed similarly is New York and maybe DC. read more