Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta generated $6.12 billion in economic impact across Georgia in 2024 alone, according to a study published in July 2026 that shows the reach of the nonprofit health care system extends beyond treating children and young people.
The study, conducted by the Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, found the system’s economic impact had grown 65% from the last time it was measured a decade earlier.
Children’s is a nonprofit health care system dedicated to caring for children and young people ages 0-21 throughout Georgia. In 2024, it cared for more than 453,400 unique children.
Researchers used the nationally recognized IMPLAN model to track the direct, indirect and induced economic activity generated by Children’s operations, payroll and capital investments, including the recently completed $2 billion North Druid Hills campus, home to the Arthur M. Blank Hospital.
The study found that for every dollar Children’s spends or earns, another $1.18 in economic activity moves through Georgia’s economy through suppliers, contractors and the households of its employees.
Children’s supports more than 30,000 jobs across Georgia, including more than 12,000 full-time positions within its own system, making it one of Metro Atlanta’s largest employers.
But Children’s impact is not limited to its hospitals.
The system is a statewide network of specialty centers, urgent care locations and neighborhood clinics serving children throughout Georgia. It also has a $200 million fund established to support rural health care.
According to the study, Children’s provided more than $45 million in unreimbursed Medicaid and charity care to patients from rural Georgia. It also supports the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center and Mercer University School of Medicine, including full-tuition scholarships for students who commit to practicing in rural communities.
The system’s statewide reach also includes behavioral and mental health care. Children’s opened the Zalik Behavioral and Mental Health Center in 2024, dedicated solely to pediatric behavioral and mental health. It also invests more than $10 million a year in child advocacy work, including suicide prevention, injury prevention and efforts to reduce childhood obesity.
Running the system costs about $7.5 million a day. Of the more than 3,000 children who visit Children’s each day, more than half need financial assistance. Nearly 60% of Children’s patients are covered by Medicaid, PeachCare for Kids or are otherwise unable to cover the full cost of their care, making Children’s one of the largest Medicaid providers in Georgia.
Georgia Tech’s research puts that spending into a larger economic context.
A similar study using 2014 data found Children’s gross economic impact was $3.72 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. By 2024, that figure had grown to $6.12 billion. Researchers said the growth reflects Children’s statewide expansion and the rising need for pediatric medical and behavioral care across Georgia.
Children’s was officially formed as a unified system in 1998 through the merger of Egleston Children’s Health Care System and Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center, according to the information provided by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Its roots go back further, with the Scottish Rite Convalescent Home for Crippled Children founded in 1915 and Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children founded in 1928.
Today, Children’s statewide presence means its role in Georgia goes beyond the care provided inside its hospitals. The newly released study shows how the system’s operations, payroll, investments and services contribute to economic activity throughout the state while the nonprofit system cares for hundreds of thousands of children and young people.
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