Winder, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Winder · Barrow County, Georgia
Population 18,847 (est. 2026: ~20,900)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 3.13% annual growth projection

Winder, Georgia

Barrow County, Georgia · Population 18,338

Winder sits at the geographic and civic heart of Barrow County, roughly 50 miles northeast of Atlanta along the US-129/SR-11 corridor. It is the county seat, the largest city in Barrow, and the commercial anchor for a county that has grown steadily as metro Atlanta's exurban edge has pushed outward. Winder is not a suburb in any clean sense — it has its own industrial base, its own downtown square, and a population that identifies with the place rather than merely sleeping in it. The city's median age of 36.4 reflects a working-family community, neither particularly young nor retirement-skewed, with a substantial share of children under 18 (4,670) relative to total population.

People & Demographics

Winder's 18,414 residents make up roughly 22% of Barrow County's 83,505 people. The racial and ethnic composition reflects broader patterns across Georgia's growth-corridor counties: 11,171 white residents (roughly 60.7%), 3,786 Black residents (20.6%), 2,822 Hispanic or Latino residents (15.3%), and 385 Asian residents (2.1%). That Hispanic share is notably higher than Georgia's statewide average and reflects both agricultural and light-industrial employment ties in the region.

There are 6,762 occupied households across the city, 4,577 of them family households. The average household size of 2.68 is slightly above typical for a Georgia city of this size. Poverty touches 2,559 residents — a meaningful number in a city where the median household income sits at $57,365.

Economy & Employment

The median household income of $57,365 runs below Georgia's statewide median (roughly $65,000 by comparable ACS estimates), which is consistent with Winder's role as a working-class manufacturing and distribution hub rather than a professional-class commuter node. Per capita income stands at $28,458.

Of 9,184 residents in the labor force, 534 are unemployed — an unemployment rate of approximately 5.8%. Manufacturing, logistics, food processing, and construction employ a significant share of the workforce. The presence of NGMC Barrow (Northeast Georgia Medical Center's Barrow facility) adds healthcare employment to that mix. Proximity to Athens and the outer Atlanta metro gives residents access to a wider job market without requiring relocation.

Housing

Winder has 7,226 total housing units, of which 6,762 are occupied and 464 sit vacant — a vacancy rate of about 6.4%, reasonably tight for a city this size. Owner-occupied units number 4,534 (67% of occupied stock), with 2,228 renter-occupied.

Median home value is $229,000 — elevated compared to a decade ago but still approachable against Atlanta-area figures. Median gross rent runs $1,072 per month. For a household at the city's median income, that rent represents roughly 22% of gross monthly income, which is within conventional affordability thresholds, though lower-income renters face significantly more pressure.

Schools

All public schools serve Barrow County through the Barrow County School System, with most facilities located in or near Winder.

High Schools - Apalachee High School — Grades 9–12, 1,894 students - Winder-Barrow High School — Grades 9–12, 1,787 students - Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy — Grades 8–12, 1,064 students

Middle Schools - Russell Middle School — Grades 6–8, 931 students - Haymon-Morris Middle School — Grades 6–8, 809 students - Westside Middle School — Grades 6–8, 736 students

Elementary Schools - Kennedy Elementary School — Grades PK–5, 928 students - Yargo Elementary School — Grades PK–5, 896 students - Holsenbeck Elementary School — Grades PK–5, 823 students - Winder Elementary School — Grades PK–5, 654 students - County Line Elementary School — Grades PK–5, 588 students

The county runs a notably large school system for its population size, with two comprehensive high schools and a specialized academy serving students from eighth grade onward.

Getting Around

Winder is a car-required city. Of 8,348 workers, 6,549 drive alone, 1,293 carpool, and zero use public transit. Thirty workers walk to work. Only 403 — about 4.8% — work from home. The aggregate commute time of 260,050 minutes across all workers implies an average one-way commute of roughly 31 minutes, consistent with a city where many residents drive toward Athens or the Atlanta exurbs for work.

There is no local bus or rail service.

Healthcare

NGMC Barrow, LLC operates the local hospital facility in Winder, providing the county with in-town acute care access rather than requiring residents to drive to Athens (roughly 25 miles) or the Atlanta metro for most services. For a full directory of licensed healthcare providers in Winder, the CMS NPI Registry can be searched directly: NPI Provider Search — Winder, GA.

Library

The Winder Public Library serves the city and surrounding area and is reachable at (770) 867-2762. It is part of the Piedmont Regional Library System, which provides access to shared collections and interlibrary loan across the northeast Georgia region.

Parks & Recreation

Two National Park Service units are accessible from Winder within reasonable driving distance. The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area offers riverine trails, fishing, and paddling along a series of units stretching through the Atlanta metro. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta (approximately 39 miles, with a visitor center at that distance) preserves the birthplace and church of Dr. King in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood.

The Island Ford Visitor Center for the Chattahoochee River NRA lies approximately 33 miles from Winder and serves as a primary access point for that recreation area.

Natural Hazards

Barrow County's FEMA disaster declaration history covers a wide range of event types, and the list is long enough to warrant attention from anyone buying property or planning infrastructure here.

Winter storms have triggered federal declarations in 1993, 2000, 2014, 2015, and as recently as January 2026 — a pattern that reflects Georgia's recurring vulnerability to ice events rather than deep snowfall. The 2014 and 2015 events were particularly disruptive across north Georgia.

Hurricanes have reached the county despite its inland location. Hurricane Opal (1995), Hurricane Irma (2017), and Hurricane Helene (2024) all generated county-level federal declarations. Inland Georgia absorbs hurricane remnants as tropical storm-force wind and flooding events, and Helene's 2024 declaration confirms this remains an active risk.

Flooding produced a disaster declaration in 1998. The county also served as an emergency evacuation host during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, receiving an emergency declaration in that role. COVID-19 generated two declarations in March 2020.

The full declaration history across 14 events since 1977 indicates a county that deals with genuine weather and climate exposure, not hypothetical risk.

Government & Municipal Code

Winder's municipal code is published through Municode and is publicly available at library.municode.com/ga/winder. The city does not currently have a locally adopted building code on record in the available data — residents undertaking construction or renovation projects should confirm applicable standards directly with city or county offices.

Weather

Current forecasts and alerts for Winder are available through the National Weather Service:

The nearest reporting weather station is WINDER 3.9 NNE, approximately 2.0 miles from the city center.

References

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