Analysis declares Atlanta No. 1 ‘smartest city’ in U.S. for 2025

Josh Green

Wed, 05/07/2025 – 16:14

That’s according to ProptechOS, a Stockholm-based real estate technology company that evaluates American and European cities annually to spot emerging market trends against the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation’s exacting standards for smart cities.

Atlanta has previously ranked in the study’s top five, but this year the Peach State’s capitol city took top honors over Boston (No. 2), San Francisco (3), and Washington D.C. (4), respectively. (Relatedly, perhaps, Forbes declared Atlanta the “most educated city in America” last year.)

The expanded 2025 analysis included comparable data across the 50 largest U.S. cities and 45 major cities in Europe.

ProptechOS’s methodology uses 17 equally weighted metrics across three categories: sustainability, connectivity and infrastructure, and the local tech job market for the 95 cities in question, all aligning with the OECD’s guidelines, per analysts.

Atlanta notched the highest overall index score (79.4 of 100) for all cities, also claiming the top spot in the infrastructure category.

So what’d we get right, specifically?

Courtesy of ProptechOS

Analysts described Atlanta’s score for smart city infrastructure and connectivity as “remarkable” and indicative of its status as a growing tech hub.

Atlanta logged the fourth-highest internet upload and download speeds among major U.S. cities, according to the study, while ranking third in IoT companies and fifth in AI companies per capita. “The city’s superior mobile 5G performance and technological density have propelled it past traditional tech powerhouses,” notes a Smart City Index 2025 summary.

Meanwhile, the ATL’s tech job market was described as “robust,” with 643 tech jobs advertised for every 10,000 people. That’s the seventh-highest rate in the U.S., per ProptechOS.

For 2025, San Francisco scored the highest for sustainability, while Oakland took the top spot for best tech job market.

Below is how Atlanta stacked up for smart city infrastructure and connectivity, according to 5G performance data from study partner Ookla:

Courtesy of ProptechOS