How many people were living on the planet with Atlantis?

[Davey]

I understand the Athosians - Teyla's people - were among the residents on the mainland. But how many people lived either protected or unprotected on the whole planet, and how many lived and worked in Atlantis? What were the rest of the Atlantis staff doing beyond our heroes in the Stargate Command unit?

[hedwig]

We never got to know how many people live on the whole planet. Teyla's people were the only ones evacuated to the City of Atlantis during big storms or other events where they were safer there.

There was a question a long time ago of how many people were originally sent through to Atlantis on the first trip, and it was determined to be about 125 or 150, and that included scientists, technicians and military. Those numbers were increased from earth when communication was finally made with earth and more people were sent through or transported aboard the Daedelus when it arrived.

The City of Atlantis was determined to be about the size of Manhattan Island in New York and could hold hold maybe a million people, but those numbers were estimated given the size of the city and the empty rooms and living quarters that were available.

There would have eventually been needed cooks and other staff to feed the people on Atlantis and other chores.

[ReganX]

The City of Atlantis was determined to be about the size of Manhattan Island in New York and could hold hold maybe a million people, but those numbers were estimated given the size of the city and the empty rooms and living quarters that were available.

I'd need to rewatch to be sure, but in an early episode of Season One, they were exploring the city, and McKay was asking about living quarters. I think that most of the city was unpowered when they moved in, since the last ZPM powering the city gave out after bringing it to the surface. I can't recall which alternate power source they were using. Naquadah generators?

They did have some spare space, since McKay suggested bringing the kids from the under 25 planet to Atlantis.

Most likely, they didn't spread out as much as space allowed. That way, they wouldn't need to power as much of the city.

[hedwig]

I'd need to rewatch to be sure, but in an early episode of Season One, they were exploring the city, and McKay was asking about living quarters. I think that most of the city was unpowered when they moved in, since the last ZPM powering the city gave out after bringing it to the surface. I can't recall which alternate power source they were using. Naquadah generators?

They did have some spare space, since McKay suggested bringing the kids from the under 25 planet to Atlantis.

Most likely, they didn't spread out as much as space allowed. That way, they wouldn't need to power as much of the city.

The point was that the city was determined to be about the size of Manhattan, and that Atlantis could house about a million people ... even if there was not enough power to restore the full city to its full capacity. They simply were not using it to its full capacity.

[Davey]

Atlantis needed cleaning and maintenance services, food preparation, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, doctors besides Beckett, dentists, surgeons, but I suppose they could rely on getting what they needed through the gate.And of course everybody would have to be sworn to secrecy, even the cleaning staff.But how would a cleaning staff person explain they wouldn't be seen for a long time and couldn't divulge where they worked?!

[jelgate]

Atlantis was never said to be the size of Manhattan. That was just a metaphor to say searching the whole city would take time

[hedwig]

Atlantis needed cleaning and maintenance services, food preparation, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, doctors besides Beckett, dentists, surgeons, but I suppose they could rely on getting what they needed through the gate. And of course everybody would have to be sworn to secrecy, even the cleaning staff. But how would a cleaning staff person explain they wouldn't be seen for a long time and couldn't divulge where they worked?!

I thought about that too. They were likely to have been in the military, which might make it easier to tell people they were going to be unavailable for an undetermined amount of time, even though it would seem suspicious to those who heard it.

While not stated in the show, Atlantis was estimated to be 14763.7795 feet, which amounts to nearly 3 miles in width and many, many stories high. Just look at the towers to count how many levels there were. And there were some underwater as well.

[Xaeden]

Atlantis needed military personnel, scientists, and medical staff. Everything else could be covered via shift rotations.

[Mnikolic]

I agree with Davey, headway and Xaeden with a bit of something extra. Eventually, they had to come up with spare ZPMs. They wouldn't be able to relay on the Naquadah generators forever since those would have to be needed back in the Milky Way or by the teams that were on missions in both Milky Way and Pegasus. I wouldn't be surprised that if they show continued and if the expedition ended up bringing even more refugees to the city, the producers would have to think of a couple of more ZPM rooms. So McKay and the crew would probably have their hands full acquiring a dozen ZPMs, unless someone didn't come up with a better, easier and more economic power solution for the city's power necessities.

[Davey]

And were there teams investigating the city while the other teams were going offworld?? Who ran Atlantis when our team including Lorne and Sam was offworld? Surely things were going on at that time, so there must have been some leadership....