Vidalia, Georgia

Area Profile

10,752 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Vidalia, in Toombs County.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 30% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity3,012th of 4,199 cities measured46
Schools2,896th of 4,162 cities measured35
Growth2,619th of 4,224 cities measured45
Housing affordabilityTop 15% of 4,218 cities measured79
ClimateTop 39% of 4,225 cities measured72
Physical resilience2,284th of 4,226 cities measured53
Access3,984th of 4,226 cities measured58
Economic stability4,008th of 4,226 cities measured25
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 4.5% and the Opportunity signal places Vidalia in the bottom 28%. The unemployment rate is published for Toombs County, GA, which contains Vidalia, rather than for Vidalia alone.

In the public schools here, 33% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.9 students for every teacher.

31 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 11% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

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
10,752
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$49,370
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
601/sq mi
17.9 sq mi of land
Median age
40.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Georgia
Micro area
Nearest major airport
SAV
70 mi · Savannah/Hilton Head Intl
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Toombs County, GA, which contains Vidalia, is 4.5% — higher than in all but 43% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Toombs County, GA, which contains Vidalia, grew 2.7% over the past year, to 10,665 employed residents.

Median household income of $49,370 is lower than in 78% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsToombs County, GA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$40,8411st percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftToombs County, GA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$40,6411st percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$6,0912024 ACS 5-Year$49,370Bottom 22%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,3972024 ACS 5-Year$25,239Bottom 21%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year26.0%Bottom 14%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±3.2 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.9 minTop 35%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year23.1%Top 44%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year76.7%48th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentToombs County, GA’s figureJuly 202610,665Bottom 4%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Toombs County, GA’s figureJuly 2026−4.2%Bottom 6%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Toombs County, GA’s figureJuly 2026+2.7%Top 4%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceToombs County, GA’s figureJuly 202611,1634th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year70.0%Bottom 27%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Toombs County, GA’s figureJuly 2026−0.9%Top 14%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateToombs County, GA’s figureJuly 20264.5%Bottom 43%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year3.9%31st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202453k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $49,370 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Toombs County, GA, which contains this city.

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

There are 13.9 students for every full-time teacher across 4 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
33.1%
Bottom 26% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
33.0%
Bottom 23% in Georgia
All 4 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Vidalia Comprehensive High SchoolVidalia City70313.333%37%
Sally Dailey Meadows Elementary SchoolVidalia City62214.838%31%
J. R. Trippe Middle SchoolVidalia City49813.127%30%
J. D. Dickerson Primary SchoolVidalia City45614.7——

93.6% 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.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Georgia is up 57% over five years, and up 3.4% 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 $1,590 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.00% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $973, some 23% above the $794 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $973 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $38,900 a year, about 79% of the median household income here of $49,370.

The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $794 a month.

A median home at $158,500 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $60,124, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
27.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$973
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$794
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$158,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Vidalia’s median household income of $49,370, 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
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Georgia’s figure2026 Q2+3.4%54th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Georgia’s figure2026 Q2+56.5%91st percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Georgia’s figure2026 Q2+115.5%82nd percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 45%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year48.8%8th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3332024 ACS 5-Year4,73588th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$784Top 6%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,293Top 7%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$973Top 5%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$862024 ACS 5-Year$794Top 28%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,6702024 ACS 5-Year$158,50041st percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$2192024 ACS 5-Year$1,59045th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$7,8872024 ACS 5-Year$60,124Bottom 23%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.17%2024 ACS 5-Year1.00%52nd percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year27.1%Top 43%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±462024 ACS 5-Year2976th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.6%58th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year9.0%60th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2472024 ACS 5-Year45589th percentileof 32,3302024 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.

Development Momentum

45/ 100
Ranks 2,619 of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 3 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 1% since 2020, reaching 10,853 in 2024.

Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

Federal tax returns show Toombs County, which contains Vidalia, gained about 0.4% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $40,841, close to the $40,641 of households that moved out.

At 2.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
31
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.9
Top 46% nationally
Year over year
−11%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
32.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202411k11k
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
+0.4%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
23%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$40,841
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$40,641
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Montgomery County, GA 172 people · 14% of arrivals
  2. Tattnall County, GA 96 people · 7.8% of arrivals
  3. Emanuel County, GA 80 people · 6.5% of arrivals
  4. Jeff Davis County, GA 58 people · 4.7% of arrivals
  5. Chatham County, GA 52 people · 4.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Montgomery County, GA 183 people · 16% of departures
  2. Tattnall County, GA 62 people · 5.4% of departures
  3. Bulloch County, GA 52 people · 4.5% of departures
  4. Emanuel County, GA 52 people · 4.5% of departures
  5. Treutlen County, GA 51 people · 4.4% 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. This is the figure for Toombs County, GA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420253523
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+52%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.2 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station METTER, 23.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals47.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals33°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

53 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 35% of it. Inland flooding and tornado are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

HurricaneElevated
DroughtElevated
LightningModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, tornado, wildfire, inland flooding, hail, ice storm, strong wind, landslide, winter weather, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.

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.

Violent crime
459
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
3,536
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Vidalia's police department reported 459 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 3,536.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 15.0 per 100,000 residents in Toombs County.

Drug overdose
15.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
16.1
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Vidalia’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 the county around Vidalia (Toombs County) rather than Vidalia itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Death-certificate rates
The CDC publishes these rates by county, and no county figure could be attached to this page.
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. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Savannah/Hilton Head Intl at 70 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year83.7%Bottom 27%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle70 miBottom 5%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year10.8%Bottom 34%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV70 mi9,351 ft
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS84 mi8,001 ft
Brunswick Golden IslesBQK86 mi8,001 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
53
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
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.

ZIP codes in Vidalia

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Vidalia with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
3047417,315$55,295$154,40053