Clarkston, Georgia

Area Profile

14,557 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Clarkston, in DeKalb County.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
OpportunityTop 34% of 4,199 cities measured64
Schools3,556th of 4,162 cities measured22
Growth3,989th of 4,224 cities measured20
Housing affordability3,343rd of 4,218 cities measured50
ClimateTop 21% of 4,225 cities measured78
Physical resilienceTop 35% of 4,226 cities measured71
Access2,905th of 4,226 cities measured87
Economic stability4,119th of 4,226 cities measured20
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.4% and median household income $48,564, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for DeKalb County, GA, which contains Clarkston, rather than for Clarkston alone.

In the public schools here, 27% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.6 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 6 units authorized over the past twelve months, against 17 the year before.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
14,557
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$48,564
Bottom 21% nationally
Density
7,890/sq mi
1.8 sq mi of land
Median age
27.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Georgia
Nearest major airport
ATL
16 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$302,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across DeKalb County, GA, which contains Clarkston, is 3.4%, lower than in 84% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across DeKalb County, GA, which contains Clarkston, grew 1.0% over the past year, to 392,923 employed residents.

Median household income of $48,564 is lower than in 79% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsDeKalb County, GA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$68,59843rd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftDeKalb County, GA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$72,24950th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$4,3232024 ACS 5-Year$48,564Bottom 21%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,9152024 ACS 5-Year$19,779Bottom 8%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year34.4%Bottom 7%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.5 min2024 ACS 5-Year33.2 minBottom 22%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year24.6%Top 40%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year60.5%13th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentDeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 2026392,923Top 22%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)DeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 2026+0.6%Top 36%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)DeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 2026+1.0%Top 19%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceDeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 2026406,57278th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year75.1%Bottom 39%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$71,900Top 38%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$51,170Bottom 49%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year4.9%95th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)DeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 2026−0.1%Bottom 49%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateDeKalb County, GA’s figureJuly 20263.4%Top 16%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year9.8%59th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202451k46k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $48,564 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.

Largest occupations — Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons84,970$32,850
Fast Food and Counter Workers80,730$27,780
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand78,460$39,020
General and Operations Managers69,320$111,410
Customer Service Representatives59,990$42,710
Registered Nurses56,460$100,490

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 21% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher across 3 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across 3 of them
Math proficiency
27.3%
Bottom 14% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
21.0%
Bottom 1% in Georgia
All 4 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Clarkston High SchoolDeKalb County1,44113.525%22%
Indian Creek Elementary SchoolDeKalb County96712.936%22%
Jolly Elementary SchoolDeKalb County79014.921%18%
Atlanta Area School for the DeafState Schools1103.3——

97.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Georgia’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run at about the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 100.5, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Division is up 43% over five years, and up 1.0% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,229 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.07% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,577, some 11% above the $1,422 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,577 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $63,100 a year, about 130% of the median household income here of $48,564.

The typical renter household here spends 36% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,422 a month.

A median home at $302,600 costs 4.0 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $76,029, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
100.5

Prices here run at about the national average. Where places do differ, housing drives most of it — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
36.2%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.0×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,577
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,422
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$302,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Clarkston’s median household income of $48,564, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area’s figure2023100.5Top 44%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+1.0%20th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+42.7%50th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+109.2%74th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±22024 ACS 5-Year4.0Bottom 18%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year18.3%1st percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3382024 ACS 5-Year4,89288th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,438Bottom 47%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,887Top 37%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,577Top 45%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$612024 ACS 5-Year$1,422Bottom 22%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$29,7972024 ACS 5-Year$302,60072nd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$5232024 ACS 5-Year$3,22975th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$31,7922024 ACS 5-Year$76,029Bottom 46%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.20%2024 ACS 5-Year1.07%56th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year36.2%Bottom 17%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±232024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year19.3%87th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2242024 ACS 5-Year94594th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

20/ 100
Ranks 3,989 of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 fallen 2% since 2020, to 14,416 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 6 units authorized in 2025, against 13 the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 6 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show DeKalb County, which contains Clarkston, lost about 1.4% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $68,598, below the $72,249 of households that moved out.

At 0.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
6
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.4
Bottom 14% nationally
Year over year
−65%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
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. It has been falling for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−1.4%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
36%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$68,598
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$72,249
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Fulton County, GA 11,968 people · 24% of arrivals
  2. Gwinnett County, GA 7,162 people · 14% of arrivals
  3. Clayton County, GA 2,655 people · 5.2% of arrivals
  4. Cobb County, GA 2,488 people · 4.9% of arrivals
  5. Rockdale County, GA 1,261 people · 2.5% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Fulton County, GA 12,335 people · 21% of departures
  2. Gwinnett County, GA 9,843 people · 17% of departures
  3. Cobb County, GA 3,337 people · 5.7% of departures
  4. Clayton County, GA 3,085 people · 5.3% of departures
  5. Rockdale County, GA 1,957 people · 3.3% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for DeKalb County, GA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025192.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−68%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 33°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 51.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 51, in the Moderate band, and about 6 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ATLANTA PEACHTREE AP, 5.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year672024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals51.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals33°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year62024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year512024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals37°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
51
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
6
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

71 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 63% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

LightningModerate
HailModerate
TornadoModerate
Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, strong wind, cold wave, heat wave, hurricane, winter weather, wildfire, drought, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

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.

Violent crime
481
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,751
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Clarkston's police department reported 481 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,751.

DeKalb County records 12.6 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 17.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.9 per 100,000 residents in DeKalb County.

Homicide
12.6
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.3
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
14.9
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
9.4
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Clarkston’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Clarkston (DeKalb County) rather than Clarkston itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl at 16 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year89.8%Top 50%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle16 miTop 46%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 1%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%Bottom 47%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL16 mi12,390 ft
Donaldson FldGYH125 mi8,000 ft
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS135 mi8,001 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.

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Area Score
53
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Other cities in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AtlantaFulton County505,26870Atlanta vs Clarkston
South FultonFulton County110,47164South Fulton vs Clarkston
Sandy SpringsFulton County107,08777Sandy Springs vs Clarkston
RoswellFulton County92,62177
Johns CreekFulton County81,98872
MabletonCobb County77,67864
AlpharettaFulton County66,85582
MariettaCobb County62,26373
StonecrestDeKalb County60,50158
BrookhavenDeKalb County57,85574
SmyrnaCobb County56,63373
DunwoodyDeKalb County51,75872

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Clarkston side by side with a similar place.

Clarkston vs Bellefontaine NeighborsClarkston vs Ferguson

Moving to Clarkston from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Clarkston

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Clarkston with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Clarkston closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
3002127,781$52,278$275,400—