the atlanta metropolitan area was first defined in 1950 as fulton, dekalb, gwinnett, cobb and clayton counties. walton, newton, douglas, fayette, forsyth, henry, cherokee, rockdale, and butts, counties were added after the 1970 census, with barrow and coweta counties joining in 1980 and bartow, carroll, paulding, pickens and spalding counties in 1990.