Whitesburg, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Whitesburg · Carroll County, Georgia
Population 439 (est. 2026: ~800)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 19.59% annual growth projection

Whitesburg, Georgia

Carroll County, Georgia · Population 596

Whitesburg sits in the eastern edge of Carroll County, about 35 miles southwest of Atlanta's outer suburbs. It is a small, quiet city — fewer than 600 residents — that functions as a distinct municipality while remaining firmly in the orbit of Carrollton, the county seat roughly 15 miles to the west. The surrounding landscape is rural Georgia piedmont: rolling terrain, modest residential streets, and the kind of town where the elementary school enrollment exceeds the city's total population. Whitesburg does not try to be more than it is. That is part of what defines it.

People & Demographics

Whitesburg's ACS 2022 count puts the population at 659, median age 34.8 — a relatively young community. Carroll County as a whole holds 119,148 residents, meaning Whitesburg accounts for less than one percent of county population.

The racial composition is predominantly white (563 residents), with 40 Black residents and 33 Hispanic or Latino residents. No Asian population was recorded in the ACS estimates. There are 256 occupied households across 275 total housing units, with an average household size of 2.57. Children under 18 number 142 — roughly 22 percent of the population — which tracks with that younger median age and the relatively large elementary school enrollment.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Whitesburg is $63,750, and per capita income sits at $29,197. Georgia's statewide median household income for the same period runs higher, which places Whitesburg in the moderate-income range for the state — not struggling, but not prosperous by metro standards.

Of 343 residents in the labor force, 26 are unemployed, an unemployment rate of roughly 7.6 percent. That figure runs above typical Carroll County and state averages and reflects the limited local employment base. Most workers commute out. With 142 residents below the poverty line — around 21 percent of the population — economic vulnerability is real here, concentrated especially in households with children.

Housing

Whitesburg's 275 housing units are nearly fully occupied; only 19 are vacant, a vacancy rate of about 6.9 percent. Of the 256 occupied units, 152 are owner-occupied and 104 are renter-occupied — a 59/41 split that leans toward ownership but with a meaningful renter presence.

The median home value is $150,000. Median rent is $788 per month. Both figures are well below metro Atlanta norms, which makes Whitesburg genuinely affordable housing-wise, though that affordability is paired with limited local employment and the income figures above. For someone willing to commute toward Carrollton or further toward the Atlanta suburbs, the cost-of-living equation can work.

Schools

Whitesburg Elementary School serves grades K–5 with 509 students enrolled — a notable figure for a city of under 660 people. The school draws from a broader attendance zone than Whitesburg's municipal limits suggest. Middle and high school students feed into Carroll County Schools, which operates district facilities elsewhere in the county. Carrollton City Schools operates separately and serves a different zone.

Getting Around

Whitesburg is car-dependent. Of 313 workers commuting out, 251 drive alone. Twenty-four carpool. Eight walk. Zero use public transit. Seventeen work from home. With aggregate travel time recorded at 10,560 minutes across those 313 workers, the average one-way commute works out to roughly 34 minutes — consistent with driving to Carrollton, Villa Rica, or toward the I-20 corridor and beyond toward Atlanta. No transit options serve this community.

Healthcare

The two nearest hospitals are both part of the Tanner Health System. Tanner Medical Center – Carrollton serves as the primary regional hospital, located approximately 15 miles west in the county seat. Tanner Medical Center Villa Rica provides an additional access point to the northeast along the I-20 corridor.

For a searchable directory of individual healthcare providers registered in Whitesburg, the NPI Registry lists licensed practitioners by city.

Library

The Whitesburg Public Library serves residents locally and is part of the Carroll County library system. Contact: 770-834-0713. For broader research access, the main Carroll County public library branch in Carrollton offers expanded collections and services.

Parks & Recreation

Three National Park Service sites are within reasonable driving distance of Whitesburg:

Closer to home, Carroll County maintains county parks and greenspace, and the Carrollton Greenbelt trail system is accessible from the county seat.

Natural Hazards

Carroll County has been included in 15 federal disaster declarations since 2000, and the pattern makes clear what this part of Georgia faces regularly:

Severe weather and storms have hit multiple times — severe storms and flooding in 2009 and 2016, severe storms and tornadoes in 2008. Winter storms have triggered declarations in 2000, 2014 (twice), and most recently January 2026. Tropical systems have touched this inland county more than once: Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Katrina evacuation support (2005), Hurricane Irma (twice in September 2017), Tropical Storm Zeta (2021), and Hurricane Helene (September 2024). The COVID-19 pandemic generated two separate declarations in March 2020.

Residents should understand that Georgia's inland counties are not insulated from hurricane impacts — remnant rain and wind regularly reach this far inland — and that ice storms are a recurring winter threat.

Government & Municipal Code

Whitesburg's municipal code is published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/whitesburg. No local building code is currently on file with Municode for Whitesburg, meaning building matters default to state and county standards.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Whitesburg are available through the National Weather Service:

The nearest weather observation station is WHITESBURG, located 0.2 miles from town center.

References

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