I currently reside in Atlanta, Ga and I’m looking to invest in a rental property. I’m just not exactly sure which market is doing better or on the rise in my area. Should I look for single family or multifamily (duplex). Just to add I’m also open to different cities within Georgia.

The single family market pricing is driven buy home buyers. You will pay more per door and with only one door/tenant your expenses will be higher and cash flow lower if not negative. You might have appreciation but you have higher risk while owning.

Multi units are more competitively priced per door, have lower expenses per tenant and will usually produce much higher cash flow. Much lower investment risk.

There are a variety of forum posts about this same topic. I would search those and browse through to see peoples thoughts on the matter in different areas. In the end it depends on the place you choose to invest (in state vs out of state). In the end it is what works best for your budget and life circumstances. 

I feel like MFH is is becoming less competitive in certain markets (KC for example). Rents/price are basically the same as SFH (1% or so) and if it's a duplex you're only saving tiny bit in maintenance (roof). But you limit your exit plan to investors where as SFH also captures regular home buyers.

If it was me seems like less potential of drama w/ tenants in having a 2 SFH vs 1 duplex if prices/rent were similar.

I agree with @Thomas S.  

Also, to find out what the trends are, I would suggest thinking like your target audience (renters). Join some FB groups tailored to people looking for housing/roommates in Atlanta (and surrounding areas). They will tell you exactly where they want to live and how much they are willing to pay :) It will alos give you a sense of whether are finding rentals with roommates or can afford to live alone- which may also impact which route you may go (e.g. rent rooms within a SFH or get 1 bedroom duplexes).

You can also read/listen to local news to get a sense of new commercial development/retail and economic trends. This will give you an indication not only the present, but where the opportunity (and people) will be 3-5 years from now. 

Happy investing! 

@Tyrone Adams -  There are a lot of caveats, and scenarios where folks have discussed this at length. I think a lot of personal preference and goals can play into this as well. But personally, one of the best decisions I made was switching from single family to investing in primarily multifamily.

I think part of this answer depends on the housing stock of your location or where you want to invest. Some cities have a lot of single family that a lot of people will easily live in for 3-4 years at a time.

If you can produce that in multfamily multifamily will be superior, but often it has more vacancy and more repairs. And also with multifamily the owner is responsible for water and sometimes heat or gas and snow removal.

If you have one or the other it can be a wash. The main appeal to multifamily is it allows you to scale more easily.

All depends on your goals, budget and strategy. What is your criteria? What is your end goal through investing in RE. I think this is more of a foundational question for you. We could all pontificate on which is better for what reason, but all those reasons will be personal to each individual responding. Buying a small multifamily and house hacking may be a great way to get started. It also really just depends on the individual deal analysis. There are some SFR I would buy and some MFH I would buy, but there are a lot of each that I wouldn't touch.