Thomas County, GA
County Profile
45,777 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Thomas County, GA.
Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.
Unemployment is 3.6% and median household income $60,736, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.
In the public schools here, 29% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.5 students for every teacher.
Residential permitting has slowed: 123 units authorized over the past twelve months, 43% below the prior year.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 75% of the 1,255 measured US locations.
Employment fell 0.7% over the past year, to 19,968 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$4,491 | $60,736 | Bottom 37%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,017 | $33,700 | Bottom 44%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 17.9% | Top 24%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 21.7 min | Bottom 23%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 22.7% | Top 48%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 19,968 | Bottom 24%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -3.6% | Bottom 11%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.7% | Bottom 48%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 20,715 | Bottom 23%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 62.4% | Top 30%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.0% | Bottom 45%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.6% | Bottom 25%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
Schools
How it’s calculated →29% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 35% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 13.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas County Middle School | Thomas County | 1,665 | 13.2 | 22% | 33% |
| Thomas County Central High School | Thomas County | 1,633 | 14.6 | — | — |
| Garrison-Pilcher Elementary School | Thomas County | 811 | 12.9 | — | — |
| Cross Creek Elementary School | Thomas County | 809 | 13.5 | 37% | 30% |
| Thomasville High School | Thomasville City | 742 | 15.1 | — | — |
| Hand In Hand Primary | Thomas County | 712 | 14.2 | — | — |
| Jerger Elementary School | Thomasville City | 708 | 14.8 | 55% | 57% |
| MacIntyre Park Middle School | Thomasville City | 530 | 11.3 | 27% | 42% |
| Scott Elementary School | Thomasville City | 379 | 13.5 | 18% | 14% |
| Harper Elementary School | Thomasville City | 263 | 12.0 | 5% | 5% |
| Bishop Hall | Thomas County | 143 | 11.9 | 10% | 50% |
| The Renaissance Center for Academic and Career Development | Thomas County | 45 | 9.0 | — | — |
92.0% 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 $1,018 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.24 | Top 39%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 63.8% | Bottom 13%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±33 | 21,130 | Top 34%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$53 | $1,018 | Top 29%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$14,621 | $196,700 | Top 45%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 20.1% | Top 21%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 11.6% | Bottom 37%of 3,222 | 2024 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 →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 46,054 in 2024.
Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 2.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.
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.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 49.5" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 39°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 91°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 31°F | 1991-2020 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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, cold wave and tornado.
Low or minimal exposure: wildfire, heat wave, inland flooding, drought, earthquake, strong wind, hail, winter weather, landslide, ice storm.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
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 39 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valdosta Rgnl | VLD | 39 mi | 8,003 ft |
| Tallahassee Intl | TLH | 41 mi | 8,000 ft |
| Lake City Gateway | LCQ | 93 mi | 8,003 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.
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory 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.