Atlanta beat out coastal tech havens like San Jose, California, and Boston to rank as the top U.S. city for a “smart city future” in ProptechOS’ 2025 Smart City Index.
The annual ranking is based on metrics related to each city’s tech infrastructure and connectivity, sustainability and tech job market.
“Some of the benefits of scoring highly on these metrics for local citizens are that they can enjoy better public services, transport, security, economic opportunities and less air pollution,” according to ProptechOS, a software company based in Stockholm.
Atlanta climbed from 10th place in last year’s index, where Seattle took the top spot.
In the latest ranking, Atlanta scored 88 out of 100 for tech infrastructure and 82 for its tech job market, with 643 tech jobs advertised per 10,000 people, according to the study.
“Atlanta has the fourth-highest internet download and upload speeds of any major U.S. city,” ProptechOS stated. “Relative to its population size, Atlanta also boasts the third-highest number of companies dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the fifth-highest number of artificial intelligence companies.”
Atlanta has long been on a path toward strengthening its smart city status, joining the White House’s Smart Cities Initiative in 2015 and partnering with the Georgia Institute of Technology on smart city initiatives to ease traffic congestion, promote public safety and improve the city’s environmental sustainability. The city’s North Avenue Smart Corridor Project was recognized by the International Smart City Expo as a “living lab for active, multi-modal traffic management through technology deployment and data analytics.”
Atlanta also met its Better Buildings Challenge goal two years ahead of schedule, reducing the city’s energy consumption by 20% in 2019 and saving 1.3 billion gallons of water.
In May 2024 the city began enhancing its customer-facing digital products, including station screens and the mobile app for its Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, a project expected to wrap up this June.
While Atlanta dominated overall in the 2025 Smart City Index, San Francisco topped the list of cities with the best environmental metrics, in part due to its number and density of EV charging stations and LEED-certified green buildings. Oakland, California, scored highest on the index (98 out of 100) for its number of tech jobs, with 889 tech jobs per 10,000 people — enough tech jobs for approximately 10% of the city’s population, according to the study.
The index also ranked European smart cities in 2025, awarding Paris top billing, followed by Stockholm; Amsterdam; Munich; and Lisbon, Portugal.
Ryan Kushner is an editor of American City & County, which is also under Smart Cities Dive’s parent company, Informa TechTarget.
