Grovetown, Georgia

Area Profile

17,014 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Grovetown, in Columbia County.

74out of 100
Area Score
Top 9% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 4% of 3,904 cities measured83
SchoolsTop 34% of 2,668 cities measured64
GrowthTop 18% of 2,973 cities measured69
Housing affordabilityTop 17% of 4,223 cities measured96
ClimateTop 46% of 4,223 cities measured71
Physical resilienceTop 50% of 4,182 cities measured58
AccessTop 44% of 4,226 cities measured94
Economic stability2139th of 4,226 cities measured60
The quick read

Grovetown ranks in the top 4% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $85,660.

Residential permitting has slowed: 119 units authorized over the past twelve months, 35% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 20% of median household income and the median home is 3.0 times it.

At a glance

Population
17,014
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$85,660
Top 28% nationally
Density
3,227/sq mi
5.3 sq mi of land
Median age
34.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Columbia County
Georgia
Metro area
Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
Nearest major airport
AGS
15 mi · Augusta Rgnl At Bush Fld
Median home value
$254,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 87% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.2% over the past year, to 74,073 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$16,611$85,660Top 28%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,154$37,553Top 39%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Top 49%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.2 minTop 42%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.2%Top 32%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment74,073Top 43%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)4.1%Top 9%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.2%Top 4%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force76,718Top 43%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation69.9%Top 18%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,020Bottom 14%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$45,990Bottom 9%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 41%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 13%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202486k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $85,660 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 — Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers8,710$26,620
Retail Salespersons6,930$29,350
Registered Nurses6,880$87,760
Cashiers6,040$28,310
General and Operations Managers4,230$102,360
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,920$28,730

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 Columbia County, GA, which contains this city.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
42.0%
Top 30% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
42.6%
Top 34% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Grovetown High SchoolColumbia County2,25618.5
Grovetown Middle SchoolColumbia County1,06716.224%36%
Cedar Ridge Elementary SchoolColumbia County1,06015.645%44%
Baker Place ElementaryColumbia County95815.557%57%
Grovetown Elementary SchoolColumbia County90814.039%32%
Columbia Middle SchoolColumbia County90315.632%47%
Euchee Creek Elementary SchoolColumbia County70514.755%41%
Brookwood Elementary SchoolColumbia County55912.750%40%

49.8% 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 $1,407 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
19.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,407
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$254,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.97Top 49%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate59.1%Bottom 19%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4776,310Top 9%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$119$1,407Top 23%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$22,240$254,300Top 35%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.7%Top 42%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.5%Top 48%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
69/ 100
Top 18% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 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 12% since 2020, reaching 17,843 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 17% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 7.0 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
7.0
Top 21% nationally
Year over year
−35%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
16.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202418k16k
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
20202022202320242025248111
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−21%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 94°F and January a low of 40°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.8 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station AUGUSTA DANIEL FLD AP, 9.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation44.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low40°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high94°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing35°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

58 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Ice stormModerate
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeElevated
HurricaneModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, heat wave, strong wind, hail, wildfire, cold wave, landslide, winter weather, drought.

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.

Columbia County records 6.1 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 13.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.6 per 100,000 residents in Columbia County.

Homicide
6.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.3
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 Columbia 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 Grovetown rather than Grovetown 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 15 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS15 mi8,001 ft
Columbia MetroCAE71 mi8,601 ft
Donaldson FldGYH91 mi8,000 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
74
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Other cities in Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Augusta-Richmond CountyRichmond County201,528vs Grovetown
EvansColumbia County36,998vs Grovetown
MartinezColumbia County33,750vs Grovetown
AikenAiken County32,52165vs Grovetown
North AugustaAiken County25,65375vs Grovetown

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 Grovetown side by side with a similar place.

Grovetown vs MauldinGrovetown vs GreenwoodGrovetown vs RogersGrovetown vs Greer

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)
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 Grovetown

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3081352,466$86,92374