Powder Springs, Georgia

Area Profile

18,009 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Powder Springs, in Cobb County.

77out of 100
Area Score
Top 5% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 1% of 3,904 published cities88
SchoolsTop 36% of 2,668 published cities62
GrowthTop 14% of 2,973 published cities72
Housing affordabilityTop 13% of 4,223 published cities98
ClimateTop 32% of 4,223 published cities74
Physical resilienceTop 43% of 4,182 published cities65
Access3111th of 4,226 published cities83
Economic stability2568th of 4,226 published cities55
The quick read

Powder Springs ranks in the top 1% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $105,070.

Residential permitting has slowed: 438 units authorized over the past twelve months, 20% below the prior year.

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 3.2 times it.

At a glance

Population
18,009
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$105,070
Top 16% nationally
Density
2,264/sq mi
8.0 sq mi of land
Median age
41.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cobb County
Georgia
Metro area
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Nearest major airport
ATL
21 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$332,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 92% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.1% over the past year, to 417,218 employed residents.

41% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 82% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$11,072$105,070Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,771$40,998Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.6%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute36.6 minTop 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher41.0%Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment417,218Top 18%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.5%Top 18%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.1%Top 5%June 2026
Labor force431,186Top 18%June 2026
Labor force participation65.9%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,900Top 38%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,170Bottom 49%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 44%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 8%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024105k79k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $105,070 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 — 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

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 Cobb County, GA, which contains this city.

34% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 44% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
14
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
33.7%
Top 45% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
43.8%
Top 32% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Hillgrove High SchoolCobb County2,28218.3
McEachern High SchoolCobb County2,17517.4
Lovinggood Middle SchoolCobb County1,20917.037%57%
Kemp Elementary SchoolCobb County89414.055%62%
Tapp Middle SchoolCobb County80915.017%42%
Powder Springs Elementary SchoolCobb County80512.418%30%
Still Elementary SchoolCobb County75512.244%50%
Varner Elementary SchoolCobb County70512.630%40%
Vaughan Elementary SchoolCobb County60012.548%56%
Compton Elementary SchoolCobb County5939.920%19%
Bessie L. Baggett ElementaryPaulding County54911.951%37%
Hendricks Elementary SchoolCobb County53813.119%25%

55.4% 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 $1,583 takes 18% 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.

Rent as a share of income
18.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,583
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$332,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.17Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.4%Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4616,965Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$259$1,583Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,477$332,900Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.1%Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.8%Bottom 37%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 →
Development Momentum
72/ 100
Top 14% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 16% since 2020, reaching 19,632 in 2024.

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

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

62% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 24.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
438
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
24.3
Top 2% nationally
Year over year
−20%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
62.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202420k17k
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
20202022202320242025612111
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+218%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 48, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ATLANTA FULTON CO AP, 10.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index64.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation48.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index48.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
48
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

65 / 100
Physical resilience

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

TornadoElevated
LightningModerate
HailModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, ice storm, heat wave, strong wind, winter weather, hurricane, wildfire, 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.

Cobb County records 3.6 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 10.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.3 per 100,000 residents in Cobb County.

Homicide
3.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.4
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 Cobb 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 Powder Springs rather than Powder Springs 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

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL21 mi12,390 ft
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth IntlBHM121 mi12,007 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV131 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
77
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Other cities in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AtlantaFulton County505,26871vs Powder Springs
South FultonFulton County110,47168vs Powder Springs
Sandy SpringsFulton County107,08778vs Powder Springs
RoswellFulton County92,62180vs Powder Springs
Johns CreekFulton County81,98876vs Powder Springs
MabletonCobb County77,678vs Powder Springs
AlpharettaFulton County66,85584vs Powder Springs
MariettaCobb County62,26372vs Powder Springs
StonecrestDeKalb County60,50160vs Powder Springs
BrookhavenDeKalb County57,85573vs Powder Springs
SmyrnaCobb County56,63374vs Powder Springs
DunwoodyDeKalb County51,75874vs Powder Springs

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.

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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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 Powder Springs

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3012771,626$110,90477