Bainbridge, Georgia

Area Profile

14,404 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Bainbridge, in Decatur County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 36% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 36% of 3,904 cities measured63
SchoolsTop 49% of 2,668 cities measured52
GrowthTop 27% of 2,973 cities measured63
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 cities measured84
ClimateTop 21% of 4,223 cities measured78
Physical resilience3807th of 4,182 cities measured13
Access3254th of 4,226 cities measured81
Economic stability4162nd of 4,226 cities measured20
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $45,422, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 29% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.7 students for every teacher.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, hurricane and cold wave.

At a glance

Population
14,404
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$45,422
Bottom 16% nationally
Density
703/sq mi
20.5 sq mi of land
Median age
38.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Decatur County
Georgia
Metro area
Bainbridge, GA
Nearest major airport
TLH
38 mi · Tallahassee Intl
Median home value
$174,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 74% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 5.6% over the past year, to 11,740 employed residents.

Median household income of $45,422 is below 84% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$8,967$45,422Bottom 16%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,332$29,085Bottom 34%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate24.1%Top 17%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.0 minBottom 21%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.7%Bottom 45%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,740Bottom 6%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.4%Top 29%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)5.6%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force12,196Bottom 6%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation47.4%Bottom 18%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 26%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202445k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $45,422 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Decatur County, GA, which contains this city.

29% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
29.3%
Bottom 46% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
33.8%
Bottom 48% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Bainbridge High SchoolDecatur County1,19213.2
Bainbridge Middle SchoolDecatur County79312.423%36%
Hutto Elementary SchoolDecatur County79013.927%29%
Jones-Wheat Primary SchoolDecatur County66413.838%36%
West Bainbridge Primary SchoolDecatur County55615.035%39%
Spring Creek Charter Academy · charterState Specialty Schools II- Spring Creek Charter Academy47413.226%28%
New Beginning Learning CenterDecatur County18326.1

99.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Georgia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $791 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$791
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$174,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.85Top 29%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate55.7%Bottom 15%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3306,832Top 9%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$54$791Bottom 27%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$26,864$174,700Bottom 47%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.9%Top 35%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate18.3%Top 27%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
63/ 100
Top 27% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 14,586 in 2024.

At 8.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
119
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.3
Top 18% nationally
Year over year
+3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
58.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202415k14k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202220232024202511186
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+28%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 49.5 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NEWTON 11 SW, 21.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation49.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing31°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

13 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and cold wave.

HurricaneElevated
Inland floodingHigh
Cold waveElevated
DroughtModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, tornado, wildfire, hail, earthquake, strong wind, winter weather, landslide, ice storm.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Decatur County records 6.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.3 per 100,000 residents in Decatur County.

Homicide
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Decatur County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Bainbridge rather than Bainbridge itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 38 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Tallahassee IntlTLH38 mi8,000 ft
Dothan RgnlDHN59 mi8,500 ft
Valdosta RgnlVLD77 mi8,003 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
57
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Bainbridge

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3981912,140$55,42660
3981711,158$53,06558