Whitfield County, GA

County Profile

103,598 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Whitfield 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.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 38% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 44% of 1,463 counties measured58
SchoolsTop 43% of 1,377 counties measured56
GrowthTop 38% of 1,453 counties measured57
Housing affordabilityTop 19% of 1,462 counties measured81
ClimateTop 33% of 1,463 counties measured73
Physical resilienceTop 46% of 1,463 counties measured62
Access1,355th of 1,463 counties measured46
Economic stability897th of 1,463 counties measured52
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $67,070, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 41% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.1 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most counties measured: rent takes 26% of renter income and the median home is 2.7 times what its owners earn.

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
103,598
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,070
Top 44% nationally
Density
357/sq mi
290.4 sq mi of land
Median age
36.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Whitfield County
Georgia
Metro area
Nearest major airport
ATL
86 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$218,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7%, lower than in 65% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 2.7% over the past year, to 45,199 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$50,35022nd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$56,04244th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,7312024 ACS 5-Year$67,070Top 44%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,2492024 ACS 5-Year$31,618Bottom 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$47,658Bottom 15%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year14.7%Bottom 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.7 minTop 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year20.2%Bottom 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year82.3%83rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202645,199Top 42%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−2.8%Bottom 17%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+2.7%Top 7%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202646,92358th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year77.3%Top 41%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%51st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−2.2%Top 1%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.7%Top 35%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year4.6%14th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.92.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.7% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202467k52k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,070 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 — Dalton, GA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders3,370$38,670
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand2,470$37,040
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators2,000$37,930
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers1,540$53,760
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,530$23,400
Retail Salespersons1,360$29,140

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.

41% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.1 students for every full-time teacher across 32 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
33
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.1
across 32 of them
Math proficiency
40.8%
Top 50% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
41.9%
Top 48% in Georgia
The 12 largest of 33 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Dalton High SchoolDalton Public Schools1,91917.034%44%
Southeast Whitfield County High SchoolWhitfield County1,45316.529%38%
Northwest Whitfield County High SchoolWhitfield County1,09815.044%44%
Hammond Creek Middle SchoolDalton Public Schools1,05712.1——
Coahulla Creek High SchoolWhitfield County1,04118.332%51%
North Whitfield Middle SchoolWhitfield County73113.352%44%
City Park Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools70711.625%23%
Brookwood Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools68813.055%57%
Blue Ridge Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools63211.128%26%
Eastbrook Middle SchoolWhitfield County62413.330%32%
Westwood Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools60512.948%48%
Park Creek Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools60411.640%40%

82.8% 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 about 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 90.4, 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 Dalton, GA Metro Area is up 53% over five years, and up 4.2% 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 $1,391 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.64% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,121, some 15% above the $971 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,121 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $44,800 a year, about 67% of the median household income here of $67,070.

The typical renter household here spends 26% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $971 a month.

A median home at $218,000 costs 2.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $80,237, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
90.4

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Dalton, 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
26.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,121
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$971
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$218,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Whitfield County’s median household income of $67,070, 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 Dalton, GA Metro Area’s figure202390.4Top 22%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Dalton, GA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.2%65th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Dalton, GA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+53.3%83rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Dalton, GA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+117.9%86th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year2.7Bottom 39%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year67.0%20th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±422024 ACS 5-Year39,80679th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$899Top 42%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,461Top 44%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,121Top 44%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$302024 ACS 5-Year$971Bottom 34%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,5982024 ACS 5-Year$218,00062nd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$772024 ACS 5-Year$1,39141st percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,8022024 ACS 5-Year$80,237Top 42%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year0.64%33rd percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year26.4%Top 36%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±632024 ACS 5-Year9018th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%4th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.2%35th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4762024 ACS 5-Year2,97266th percentileof 3,2222024 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

57/ 100
Top 38% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 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 grown 2% since 2020, reaching 105,070 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 424 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Whitfield County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $50,350, below the $56,042 of households that moved out.

At 4.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
424
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
4.1
Top 36% nationally
Year over year
+18%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024105k103k
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 rising for the last 3 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
40%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$50,350
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$56,042
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Murray County, GA 692 people · 18% of arrivals
  2. Catoosa County, GA 410 people · 11% of arrivals
  3. Gordon County, GA 271 people · 7.2% of arrivals
  4. Hamilton County, TN 265 people · 7.1% of arrivals
  5. Walker County, GA 171 people · 4.6% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Murray County, GA 918 people · 25% of departures
  2. Catoosa County, GA 332 people · 9.0% of departures
  3. Gordon County, GA 258 people · 7.0% of departures
  4. Hamilton County, TN 241 people · 6.5% of departures
  5. Walker County, GA 181 people · 4.9% 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. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025386357
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (+4%).

Weather & climate

6 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 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 55.0 inches, including 3.6 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHATTANOOGA LOVELL AP, 20.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals55.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals3.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

62 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 36% 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.

TornadoModerate
Cold waveModerate
EarthquakeHigh
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: hail, inland flooding, landslide, ice storm, hurricane, wildfire, heat wave, drought, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Whitfield County has a modeled homicide rate of about 6.0 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.5 per 100,000 residents in Whitfield County.

Homicide
6.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.3
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
12.5
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
19.3
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.

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 Whitfield County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read 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.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl at 86 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year88.3%Top 39%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle86 miBottom 6%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year8.8%Top 38%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL86 mi12,390 ft
Mc Ghee TysonTYS89 mi10,000 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV103 mi10,001 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
62
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
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
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
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
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.

Cities in Whitfield County, GA

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.