Conley, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Conley · Clayton County, Georgia
Population 5,404 (est. 2026: ~6,900)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 7.74% annual growth projection

Conley, Georgia

Clayton County, Georgia · Population 6,680

Conley is an unincorporated community and census-designated place tucked into the northern edge of Clayton County, sitting roughly seven miles south of downtown Atlanta. It occupies a strip of older suburban landscape between Forest Park to the south and the city limits of Atlanta and College Park to the north — close enough to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that flight paths are a daily backdrop. Conley is not a city; it has no mayor, no city hall, and no incorporated government. What it has is a tight-knit residential core that has quietly persisted through decades of suburban change, holding a notably older and more established population than the surrounding county.

People & Demographics

The Census ACS 2022 estimates record 5,892 residents in Conley, organized into 2,690 households. The median age of 45.7 is strikingly high — well above the typical suburban Atlanta community — suggesting a long-settled population that has aged in place. Average household size sits at 2.19.

The community is majority Black, with 3,332 residents identifying as Black, representing the largest share of the population. Hispanic and Latino residents number 1,408, making up a significant and visible portion of community life. White residents number 953, and Asian residents 176. Clayton County as a whole, at 297,595 people, is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse counties in Georgia, and Conley reflects that pattern at the neighborhood scale. There are 983 children under 18 in the community — modest relative to total population, consistent with the older median age.

Economy & Employment

Median household income in Conley is $47,429, and per capita income is $24,096. Both figures trail Georgia's statewide medians, placing Conley among the more economically modest communities in the metro Atlanta orbit. Of the 5,892 counted residents, 1,057 fall below the federal poverty line — roughly 18 percent, a meaningful share.

The labor force counts 2,830 residents, with 129 unemployed at the time of the survey. The proximity to Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson, and the industrial and logistics corridors of Clayton County along I-285 and I-75 gives working residents a wide range of employment options within a short drive — warehousing, transportation, healthcare, and airport-related jobs dominate the regional economy in this part of the county.

Housing

Conley's 2,785 total housing units carry a vacancy rate of just 3.4 percent — 95 vacant units — suggesting steady demand. Of the 2,690 occupied units, 1,877 are owner-occupied and 813 are renter-occupied, an ownership rate of approximately 70 percent. That is a notably high ownership share for a community this close to a major metro core.

Median home value is $98,100 — well below the Atlanta metro average and significantly below Georgia's statewide median, making Conley one of the more affordable homeownership markets in the region. Median rent is $1,020 per month. The combination of low home values and reasonably high ownership rates reflects a community where working-class families were able to buy in decades ago and have stayed.

Schools

Anderson Elementary School serves Conley's youngest residents, covering grades pre-K through 5 with an enrollment of 504 students. It is the only NCES-listed school within the CDP. Middle and high school students feed into Clayton County Public Schools, one of the larger school districts in Georgia, headquartered in Jonesboro.

Getting Around

Conley is a car-dependent community. Of 2,701 counted workers, 1,904 drove alone to work and 604 carpooled — together accounting for about 93 percent of commuters. Only 30 used public transit, and 130 worked from home. Nobody reported walking to work. Aggregate commute time across all workers totals 81,245 minutes, which works out to roughly 30 minutes per worker each way — consistent with typical Atlanta metro commute patterns. MARTA rail does not directly serve Conley; bus connections to the broader transit network exist but require effort.

Healthcare

Southern Regional Medical Center and Riverwoods Behavioral Health System are the two hospitals serving this area of Clayton County. The nearest library branch — the Forest Park Branch Library — sits 2.3 miles away and can be reached at (770) 347-0160. For local healthcare provider searches, the CMS NPI Registry lists providers active in Conley: NPI Registry — Conley, GA.

Library

The Forest Park Branch Library, part of the Clayton County Library System, is the nearest public library at 2.3 miles from Conley. Phone: (770) 347-0160.

Parks & Recreation

Three National Park Service units are within reasonable reach:

Natural Hazards

Clayton County has a long FEMA disaster declaration history, going back to 1973. The county has been touched by tropical storms, hurricanes, severe winter storms, flooding, and drought. Notable events include Hurricane Opal (1995), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Katrina evacuation support (2005), Hurricane Irma (2017), and Hurricane Helene (2024). Winter storms produced declarations in 1993, 2014, and as recently as January 2026. The COVID-19 pandemic generated both an emergency declaration (March 13, 2020) and a major disaster declaration (March 29, 2020). Residents in this part of Georgia face meaningful exposure to both tropical weather systems tracking inland from the Gulf and Atlantic, and periodic hard-freeze events that can immobilize the metro area.

Government & Municipal Code

Conley is a CDP — a Census-Designated Place — with no incorporated municipal government. Clayton County governs land use, zoning, and services. Conley does have a municipal code published through Municode: library.municode.com/ga/conley-cdp-georgia. No local building code is listed for Conley; building standards default to county and state requirements.

Weather

Current forecasts and alerts for Conley:

The nearest weather observation station is Morrow 1.3 N, approximately 3.0 miles from Conley.

References

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