30721Dalton, Georgia

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 30721.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3852nd of 6,210 ZIP areas measured49
SchoolsTop 42% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured57
Housing affordabilityTop 13% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured98
ClimateTop 39% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured73
Physical resilienceTop 47% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured61
Access6597th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured47
Economic stability4299th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured52
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $62,094, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

In the public schools here, 33% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.6 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 18% of median household income and the median home is 3.1 times it.

At a glance

Population
53,060
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,094
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
419/sq mi
126.8 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Dalton
Georgia
Metro area
Dalton, GA
Nearest major airport
ATL
84 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$191,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0% is lower than 68% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.7% over the past year, to 15,208 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,852$62,094Bottom 34%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,714$27,806Bottom 20%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.0%Top 25%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.6 minBottom 27%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher13.3%Bottom 20%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,208Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.5%Bottom 15%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.7%Top 16%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force15,837Bottom 11%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation64.2%Top 36%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$53,820Bottom 3%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$42,210Bottom 3%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 36%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.0%Bottom 32%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202462k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,094 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

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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Dalton, GA, the city containing this ZIP code.

33% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 30% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
21
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
32.6%
Top 42% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
29.5%
Bottom 40% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Southeast Whitfield County High SchoolWhitfield County1,45316.5
Hammond Creek Middle SchoolDalton Public Schools1,05712.1
Coahulla Creek High SchoolWhitfield County1,04118.3
North Whitfield Middle SchoolWhitfield County73113.352%42%
Blue Ridge Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools63211.117%22%
Eastbrook Middle SchoolWhitfield County62413.327%32%
Park Creek Elementary SchoolDalton Public Schools60411.633%30%
Eastside Elementary SchoolWhitfield County57911.829%22%
Dalton Jr. High SchoolDalton Public Schools5179.9
Beaverdale Elementary SchoolWhitfield County48811.936%30%
The Dalton AcademyDalton Public Schools4699.4
Valley Point Elementary SchoolWhitfield County46912.725%26%

89.0% 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 $948 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$948
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$191,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.08Bottom 49%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.3%Bottom 22%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±71919,930Top 3%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$35$948Bottom 43%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,352$191,100Bottom 42%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.3%Top 45%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.0%Bottom 23%of 33,0282024 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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

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, 23.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation55.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall3.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°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

61 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, cold wave and earthquake.

TornadoModerate
Cold waveModerate
EarthquakeHigh
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: hail, inland flooding, landslide, ice storm, hurricane, wildfire, heat wave, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Whitfield County records 4.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.6 per 100,000 residents in Whitfield County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.5
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 Whitfield 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 30721 rather than 30721 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 84 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL84 mi12,390 ft
Mc Ghee TysonTYS87 mi10,000 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV107 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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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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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.

30721 vs Dalton

How this ZIP area compares with Dalton as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

30721
Dalton
Median household income
$62,094
vs
$63,577
Per capita income
$27,806
vs
$33,115
Population density
419/sq mi
vs
1,621/sq mi
Median home value
$191,100
vs
$222,400
Median gross rent
$948
vs
$996
Homeownership rate
65.3%
vs
52.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher
13.3%
vs
24.3%
Poverty rate
17.0%
vs
18.6%
Median age
35.7
vs
33.7

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.