MARIETTA, Georgia
Population: 60,014
Unemployment: 6.1 percent
Residents 25 years or Older with at least Bachelor’s Degrees: 37.7 percent
As that last stat attests, Marietta’s population/workforce is a smart one, able to compete in the fast rising Atlanta metro-area that now dominates the Southeast. In fact, that 37.7 is nearly 10 percent higher than the state average. Still, what might be more significant for Marietta in the future is that its six percent population growth since 2010 gives the town an unmistakable youthful energy with more than a third—36.5 percent—of its residents under the age of 25.