top 12 jobs and growing industries in atlanta, georgia.

One of the Southeast’s largest cities, Atlanta has a rich history encompassing everything from the Civil War to the 1996 Summer Olympics. Today, it’s known for the Atlanta Braves baseball team plus big-name attractions like the Georgia Aquarium and High Museum of Art. Beyond sports and tourist hotspots, though, is a thriving metropolitan area that spans 11 counties and is home to more than 5 million people.

Some 150,000 businesses — including more than two dozen Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies — also call the metropolitan area home. The city is perhaps most famous as the birthplace of Coca-Cola, an international corporation still operating out of Atlanta today. Other notable organizations headquartered in the city include The Home Depot, UPS, Georgia-Pacific and Cox Enterprises.

With all these major players, it’s no surprise transportation and material moving is one of Atlanta’s largest industries, employing more than 305,000 workers according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Air travel is big business, too: Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, and Delta Air Lines is based here.

Aside from transportation, the city has a large healthcare sector (over 220,000 workers), anchored by Emory Healthcare. Additional areas experiencing growth include finance and business services (240,000 workers) and IT (125,000 workers).

Here’s an overview of the top 12 jobs in Atlanta across these growing industries. Randstad research indicates that compensation in Atlanta trends just below the national average, so we’ve listed salaries from the mid range of our data.

With all the hospitals, clinics and provider locations (425 in the Emory Healthcare system alone), there’s also a sustained need for pharmacists. Whether working at a busy urban hospital or a neighborhood drugstore, these professionals are responsible for preparing medications accurately and safely, managing inventory and answering patient questions. Pharmacists can expect to earn between $125k and $136k.

When you think about information technology, you might not think about healthcare, but the two do go hand in hand. Atlanta is known as the nation’s health IT capital. Data scientists support the industry in fields like health informatics, where they help develop processes for obtaining and analyzing patient data. Salaries in the Atlanta area are typically between $89k and $112k.

Georgia is the top state in the nation for distribution and supply chain hubs, and Atlanta alone has a whopping 1.3 million square feet of cargo warehouse space. It’s no surprise, then, that material handlers are in high demand. In fact, the city employs nearly 74,000 workers in this field. In the Atlanta area, material handlers usually make between $15 and $17 per hour.

With 19 Fortune 500 companies and countless other mid-size corporations and startups, it makes sense that business and professional services roles are among the top jobs in Atlanta. Within the city, there are around 32,000 accountants, while nationwide, employment is expected to grow 4 percent in the decade to 2032. In Atlanta, accountants can expect to make between $69k and $89k.

Another crucial business support role, project managers coordinate deliverables, timelines and resources to ensure work is completed on time and on budget. The city of Atlanta has nearly 17,000 project management specialists, who typically earn a salary ranging from $79k to $125k.

An incredible 95 banks and 51 credit unions are headquartered in Atlanta, meaning there’s a strong demand for professionals who can sell loan products and process the necessary documentation. Salaries for processors range from $41k to $48k.