Winder, Georgia

Area Profile

19,437 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Winder, in Barrow County.

71out of 100
Area Score
Top 16% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 11% of 3,904 published cities77
SchoolsTop 47% of 2,668 published cities54
GrowthTop 5% of 2,973 published cities81
Housing affordability2687th of 4,223 published cities72
ClimateTop 17% of 4,223 published cities80
Physical resilienceTop 44% of 4,182 published cities64
Access3679th of 4,226 published cities71
Economic stability2255th of 4,226 published cities59
The quick read

Winder ranks in the top 11% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $63,779.

In the public schools here, 30% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.8 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 242 units authorized over the past twelve months, 19% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
19,437
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$63,779
Bottom 45% nationally
Density
1,302/sq mi
14.9 sq mi of land
Median age
35.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Barrow County
Georgia
Metro area
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Nearest major airport
ATL
47 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$288,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0% is lower than 96% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.3% over the past year, to 48,473 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,468$63,779Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,377$31,546Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.2%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute35.9 minTop 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.3%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment48,473Top 50%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)4.6%Top 8%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.3%Top 10%June 2026
Labor force49,997Bottom 49%June 2026
Labor force participation66.2%Top 30%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 41%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.0%Bottom 4%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202464k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $63,779 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 Barrow County, GA, which contains this city.

30% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 34% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
30.2%
Bottom 49% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
34.3%
Top 50% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Apalachee High SchoolBarrow County1,94914.9
Winder-Barrow High SchoolBarrow County1,86915.0
Haymon-Morris Middle SchoolBarrow County97314.732%37%
Russell Middle SchoolBarrow County97315.027%37%
Barrow Arts and Sciences AcademyBarrow County96716.422%37%
Holsenbeck Elementary SchoolBarrow County81313.135%38%
Westside Middle SchoolBarrow County79313.722%32%
Yargo Elementary SchoolBarrow County78212.634%34%
Kennedy Elementary SchoolBarrow County76412.740%32%
Austin Road Elementary SchoolBarrow County70013.0
Winder Elementary SchoolBarrow County65610.123%26%
County Line Elementary SchoolBarrow County57311.042%32%

60.0% 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 $1,209 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,209
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$288,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.52Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.8%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3527,789Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$130$1,209Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,662$288,500Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.7%Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.3%Bottom 30%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
81/ 100
Top 5% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, 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 20,628 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 12.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
242
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.5
Top 9% nationally
Year over year
−19%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202421k18k
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
2020202220232024202532180
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+37%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 52.4 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GAINESVILLE GILMER AP, 20.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation52.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing36°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

64 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Overall hazard risk is lower than 75% of measured US cities.

LightningElevated
Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeModerate
TornadoModerate
HailModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, inland flooding, heat wave, hurricane, cold wave, landslide, wildfire, 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.

Barrow County records 3.8 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 10.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.3 per 100,000 residents in Barrow County.

Homicide
3.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.9
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 Barrow 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 Winder rather than Winder 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 47 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL47 mi12,390 ft
Donaldson FldGYH93 mi8,000 ft
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS110 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
71
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Other cities in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

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

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 Winder side by side with a similar place.

Winder vs Fort HoodWinder vs GainesvilleWinder vs SpringfieldWinder vs Auburn

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 Winder

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3068048,388$80,95675