Nashville, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Nashville · Berrien County, Georgia
Population 4,918 (est. 2026: ~5,000)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 0.2% annual growth projection

Nashville, Georgia

Berrien County, Georgia · Population 4,947

Nashville sits in the flatlands of south-central Georgia, roughly 50 miles north of the Florida state line and about 45 miles east of Valdosta. It serves as the county seat of Berrien County, a largely rural stretch of the Coastal Plain where timber, agriculture, and small-scale manufacturing have historically anchored the economy. The town is not large — under 5,000 people — but it carries the full weight of county services, including the courthouse, the county school system, and the regional hospital campus. For residents of the surrounding unincorporated county, Nashville is where things get done.

People & Demographics

Nashville's population of 4,907 (ACS 2022) represents roughly 27% of Berrien County's 18,160 residents, making it by far the county's largest concentration of people. The median age is 36.4 years. The racial makeup breaks down to approximately 3,200 white residents, 1,233 Black residents, 181 Asian residents, and 182 Hispanic or Latino residents of any race.

The town holds 1,808 occupied households with an average household size of 2.61 people. Family households account for 1,119 of those, and 1,193 residents are children under 18 — a meaningful share of the population that reflects the importance of the local school system.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Nashville is $45,500, and per capita income sits at $19,216 — both figures that trail the Georgia state medians considerably, consistent with the broader pattern across rural south Georgia counties. About 1,050 residents fall below the federal poverty line, representing roughly 21% of the population, a poverty rate that reflects the structural economic challenges common to this region.

The labor force numbers 1,916 workers, with 138 counted as unemployed — an unemployment rate of approximately 7.2% within the labor force. The public sector, healthcare, agriculture, and light manufacturing are the primary employment drivers for the area. Residents who need specialized employment or higher wages often commute toward Valdosta to the west or look toward the larger labor markets in the Tifton area to the north.

Housing

Nashville's housing stock consists of 2,303 total units, with 1,808 occupied and 495 vacant — a vacancy rate of about 21.5%, which is high by most urban standards but not unusual for small rural county seats in Georgia. Of occupied units, 957 are owner-occupied and 851 are renter-occupied, a split that leans toward ownership but only modestly so.

The median home value of $87,600 makes Nashville genuinely affordable compared to the Georgia median, which consistently runs well above $200,000. Median gross rent of $613 per month reinforces that affordability picture. For buyers relocating from Atlanta or coastal Georgia markets, these prices represent a dramatic shift in what a housing dollar buys.

Schools

All public K–12 students in Nashville attend schools operated by Berrien County Schools. The full pipeline runs through four main campuses:

An additional campus, Berrien Academy Performance Learning Center, serves 73 high school students in an alternative setting. Total K–12 enrollment across the system runs just over 3,000 students, a significant presence in a town of under 5,000.

Getting Around

Nashville is a car-required community. Of 1,754 workers, 1,618 drove alone to work and 101 carpooled. Zero workers used public transit, and zero walked to work. Only 35 people worked from home. The aggregate commute time across all workers totals 30,585 minutes, which works out to an average one-way commute of roughly 17.5 minutes — short by suburban standards, but that figure likely blends short in-town trips with longer hauls to Valdosta, Tifton, and other regional centers.

There is no local public transit system serving Nashville.

Healthcare

The local hospital is SGMC Berrien Campus, part of the South Georgia Medical Center network headquartered in Valdosta. The campus provides access to healthcare within Nashville itself, which is a meaningful advantage for a rural community — many comparable Georgia towns of this size have no inpatient facility at all. For complex or specialized care, the full SGMC system in Valdosta, roughly 45 miles southwest, is the primary referral destination.

Local provider listings can be searched through the CMS NPI Registry: Nashville, GA providers

Library

The Carrie Dorsey Perry Memorial Library serves Nashville and the surrounding county. The library can be reached at (229) 686-2782. It is part of the public library infrastructure anchoring downtown Nashville.

Natural Hazards

Berrien County's FEMA disaster declaration history makes one thing unmistakably clear: this part of Georgia sits directly in the path of Atlantic and Gulf storm systems. The county has received 15 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 2004:

The pattern here is not occasional bad luck — it's a consistent vulnerability to named storms, tornadoes, and flooding. Anyone moving to Nashville should take emergency preparedness seriously and carry appropriate insurance.

Government & Municipal Code

Nashville's municipal code is published through Municode and available at library.municode.com/ga/nashville. The available data does not indicate a locally adopted building code, which prospective builders and contractors should verify directly with the city.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Nashville are available through the National Weather Service: NWS Forecast for Nashville, GA

Active weather alerts for the area: NWS Alerts

The nearest weather observation station is Nashville 4N, located 3.2 miles from town.

References

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