Surrency, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Surrency · Appling County, Georgia
Population 223 (est. 2026: ~100)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + -26.91% annual growth projection

Surrency, Georgia

Appling County, Georgia · Population 194

Surrency sits in the flatwoods of Appling County in southeast Georgia, roughly halfway between Baxley and Hazlehurst along the old Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad corridor. It is a small railroad town — incorporated in the early 20th century — and remains one of the smallest municipalities in the county. With fewer than 200 residents, Surrency is the kind of place where everyone knows the handful of streets by name and Fourth District Elementary is the center of community life. The nearest city of any size is Baxley, the Appling County seat, about ten miles north. The broader metro pull is Savannah or Jacksonville for anything major, both roughly two hours out.

People & Demographics

The ACS 2022 survey puts Surrency's population at 281, a figure that reflects the survey's margin of error around the incorporated-place estimate of 194. The town is genuinely diverse for its size: 169 residents identify as white, 106 as Black, and 40 as Hispanic or Latino. Median age is 35.3 — a relatively young community. There are 95 occupied households with an average household size of 2.96 people, and 82 children under 18 live in town. That's a meaningful share of the population concentrated in young families, which tracks with the elementary school being the town's primary civic institution.

Appling County overall holds 18,444 people, so Surrency accounts for roughly one percent of county population.

Economy & Employment

Median household income in Surrency is $32,250 — well below Georgia's statewide median, and below Appling County's own modest figures. Per capita income sits at $21,420. The poverty numbers are stark: 92 residents fall below the federal poverty line out of a surveyed population of 281, a poverty rate exceeding 30 percent.

The labor force counts 122 people, with 10 listed as unemployed — an unemployment rate around 8 percent. Work here means commuting out. Surrency itself has no commercial center to speak of; jobs are in Baxley, along US-341, or in the timber and agricultural operations scattered across Appling County. The county's economy has historically leaned on pine timber, poultry processing, and farming, and residents working those sectors typically drive to their shifts.

Housing

Surrency has 121 total housing units, of which 95 are occupied and 26 sit vacant — a vacancy rate of about 21 percent, which is high even by rural Georgia standards. Of occupied units, 70 are owner-occupied and 25 are renter-occupied, giving an ownership rate near 74 percent.

The median home value of $72,900 makes homeownership theoretically accessible — but median rent of $806 per month is notably high relative to incomes. A household at the median income of $32,250 spending $806 monthly on rent is committing nearly 30 percent of gross income to housing costs, right at the edge of what's considered cost-burdened.

Schools

Fourth District Elementary School serves grades pre-K through 5 with 121 enrolled students. For middle and high school, Surrency students travel to Appling County schools in Baxley. There is no local higher education; the nearest college options require a significant drive.

Getting Around

Surrency is car-dependent, full stop. Of 110 workers, 91 drove alone to work and 12 carpooled. Seven walked — likely to jobs within the town itself. Zero workers used public transit, and zero worked from home. Total aggregate commute time for all workers comes to 2,385 minutes, working out to an average one-way commute of roughly 21–22 minutes. That points to Baxley as the primary employment destination for most working residents.

Healthcare

Appling Healthcare serves as the county's main hospital system, based in Baxley. There is no hospital or urgent care facility in Surrency itself. For local provider listings in Surrency, the CMS NPI Registry can be searched directly: NPI Provider Search — Surrency, GA.

For anything beyond routine care, residents are looking at Baxley or, for specialty services, the drive to Brunswick, Savannah, or Valdosta.

Library

The Appling County Public Library is the nearest public library, located 13.9 miles from Surrency. Phone: (912) 367-8103. The library is part of the Okefenokee Regional Library System and provides the primary public library access for Surrency residents.

Natural Hazards

Appling County's FEMA disaster declaration history is one of the more extensive in southeast Georgia — 15 declarations going back to 2005. The county has been hit by Hurricanes Irma (2017), Michael (2018), Idalia (2023), Debby (2024), and Helene (2024) — four named storms in the span of seven years, with two declarations issued for both Debby and Helene in 2024 alone. Severe storms with tornadoes and straight-line winds produced a separate major disaster declaration in January 2017. The county was also part of the Hurricane Katrina evacuation emergency in 2005.

This is not hypothetical risk. Surrency and Appling County sit in a corridor that tropical systems routinely track through after making landfall on the Gulf or Atlantic coast. Residents should take storm preparedness seriously; the FEMA record shows the county gets hit, not just threatened.

Current weather alerts for Surrency's coordinates: NWS Active Alerts

Government & Municipal Code

Surrency operates as an incorporated town under Georgia law. The municipal code is published through Municode and available at library.municode.com/ga/surrency-town-georgia. The town does not have a locally adopted building code on file.

Weather

The nearest official weather observation station is Baxley 10.3 SSE, approximately 3.2 miles from town center. Current forecast for Surrency: NWS Forecast — 31.5988°N, 82.2352°W.

Southeast Georgia's climate means hot, humid summers with afternoon thunderstorms, mild winters, and meaningful tropical storm exposure from June through November.

References

The law belongs to the people. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 590 U.S. (2020)