Woodbine, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Woodbine · Camden County, Georgia
Population 1,006 (est. 2026: ~3,000)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 39.07% annual growth projection

Woodbine, Georgia

Camden County, Georgia · Population 1,062

Woodbine sits at the southern tip of Georgia's coast, serving as the county seat of Camden County — a stretch of barrier islands, salt marshes, and longleaf pine flatwoods that most of the country drives past on I-95 without stopping. The town itself is small by any measure, just over a thousand people tucked along the Satilla River, but its position matters: it holds the courthouse, the county government, and a quiet residential core that anchors a county of nearly 55,000 people. The Georgia-Florida line is minutes away. The Atlantic coast is just as close. Cumberland Island — one of the most remote and ecologically intact barrier islands on the Eastern Seaboard — is accessible from just offshore. Woodbine is not a suburb and not a resort town. It is a working county seat in coastal Georgia, with all the trade-offs that implies.

People & Demographics

The 2022 ACS counted 1,043 residents in Woodbine, organized into 369 households. The median age is 37.4. The racial makeup is nearly evenly split: 496 residents identify as white and 517 as Black, making Woodbine one of the more evenly integrated small towns in coastal Georgia by the raw numbers. One resident identifies as Asian, and 10 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Average household size is 2.64 people. Of the 369 occupied households, 207 are family households. There are 252 children under 18 living in town — roughly a quarter of the population — which reflects a community with significant family presence rather than a retiree-dominated profile.

Camden County as a whole holds 54,768 people, meaning Woodbine represents less than 2% of the county's population despite being its governmental center.

Economy & Employment

The labor force counts 438 residents, with 53 reported as unemployed — an unemployment rate of roughly 12%, which runs higher than Georgia's statewide average. Median household income is $42,788, and per capita income sits at $26,627. Both figures fall below Georgia's state median, reflecting the economic conditions common to small rural county seats across the Deep South coastal plain.

Poverty affects 157 residents, based on the ACS threshold counts. Employment in Camden County broadly leans on the military presence at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, retail and services in nearby Kingsland and St. Marys, and county government functions centered in Woodbine itself. Residents working in those sectors largely commute out of town.

Housing

The housing stock totals 560 units, of which only 369 are occupied. That leaves 191 vacant units — a vacancy rate of 34%, which is unusually high and suggests a combination of seasonal properties, deferred maintenance, and population stability rather than growth pressure.

Of occupied units, 222 are owner-occupied and 147 are renter-occupied, a split of roughly 60/40. Median home value is $142,700 — well below both Georgia's statewide median and coastal Georgia norms farther north near Savannah or Brunswick. Median gross rent is $661 per month, making Woodbine one of the more affordable rental markets on the Georgia coast. For buyers and renters priced out of the Golden Isles or the Brunswick metro, Woodbine's numbers represent genuine affordability, though the high vacancy rate warrants attention to housing condition.

Schools

Two elementary schools serve Woodbine and the surrounding area:

Both schools are part of Camden County Schools. Middle and high school students feed into the broader county system. The presence of two elementary schools in a town of just over 1,000 people reflects the district drawing students from the surrounding rural areas of the county rather than from Woodbine's population alone.

Getting Around

Cars are not optional here. Of 385 workers, 348 drove alone to work. Eighteen walked. Fourteen worked from home. No residents reported carpooling or using public transit — a pattern consistent with rural coastal Georgia, where public transportation infrastructure is essentially absent. Aggregate travel time for all workers totals 10,070 minutes, averaging roughly 26 minutes per worker each way. Most employment destinations — Kings Bay, Kingsland, St. Marys, or Brunswick — require at least that much drive time from Woodbine.

Healthcare

The closest hospital is Southeast Georgia Health System – Camden Campus, located in the county. Southeast Georgia Health System is the regional health network anchored in Brunswick, with the Camden Campus serving as the county's primary inpatient facility. For specialized care, residents travel to Brunswick or north to Savannah. Local provider listings can be searched through the CMS NPI Registry for Woodbine, GA.

Library

Woodbine Public Library serves the community and can be reached at (912) 559-2391. It is part of the regional public library system and represents one of the few dedicated civic institutions within the town limits.

Parks & Recreation

Woodbine's greatest asset may be its proximity to federal public land. Three National Park Service units are accessible from the area:

Visitor facilities include the Mainland Museum (15.3 miles), the Mainland Visitor Center (15.4 miles), and the Sea Camp Ranger Station (16.4 miles) on Cumberland Island.

Natural Hazards

Camden County's FEMA disaster declaration history is extensive and instructive. Since 2005, the county has received federal declarations for:

Fifteen federal declarations over roughly two decades. This county is one of the most federally disaster-declared jurisdictions in Georgia. Tropical cyclone risk is not theoretical here — it is recurring and documented. Anyone living in or moving to Woodbine should treat hurricane preparedness as a baseline residential requirement, not an edge case.

Government & Municipal Code

Woodbine's municipal code is published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/woodbine. The town does not have a locally adopted building code on file with Municode. Residents undertaking construction or renovation should confirm applicable county and state building standards directly with Camden County.

Weather

The National Weather Service forecast for Woodbine's coordinates is available at forecast.weather.gov. Active weather alerts are tracked at alerts.weather.gov. The nearest weather observation station is the Woodbine station, located 0.3 miles from the town center.

The climate is humid subtropical coastal Georgia — hot, wet summers, mild winters, and a hurricane season that runs June through November and, based on recent history, demands serious attention.

References

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