Kennesaw, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Kennesaw · Cobb County, Georgia
Population 33,627 (est. 2026: ~37,000)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 2.91% annual growth projection

Kennesaw, Georgia

Cobb County, Georgia · Population 33,036

Kennesaw sits in the northwestern corner of Cobb County, roughly 25 miles from downtown Atlanta, wedged between Marietta to the south and Acworth to the north. It is the kind of place that surprises people who assume northwest metro suburbs are interchangeable — Kennesaw has a battlefield in its backyard, a major university inside its city limits, and a legal oddity that made it briefly famous: a 1982 ordinance requiring heads of household to own a firearm. That law rarely comes up in daily life, but it reflects something real about Kennesaw's identity — a community that takes its own governance seriously and doesn't much care what outsiders think. What actually defines the place today is the combination of Kennesaw State University's 47,000-student presence, a steady pipeline of young families drawn by Cobb County's school reputation, and a historic downtown that has avoided the fate of being swallowed entirely by strip-mall sprawl.

People & Demographics

Kennesaw's population sits at 33,036, a small city by Georgia standards but dense enough to feel like a genuine community rather than an unincorporated patch of suburbs. The median age is 35.6, younger than most of Cobb County's 766,149 residents, a pattern driven by university students and young families settling near good schools. Of the 33,360 residents counted in the ACS estimate, roughly 19,594 identify as white, 7,018 as Black, and 2,072 as Asian. The Hispanic and Latino population stands at 4,614, reflecting the broader demographic shift that has reshaped northwest metro Atlanta over the past two decades.

The city holds 13,046 occupied households, with an average household size of 2.53. Family households — 8,700 of the total — slightly outnumber the non-family households, and 7,358 residents are children under 18. That concentration of families is not accidental; people move here specifically for the school system.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Kennesaw is $81,467, which comfortably exceeds Georgia's statewide median and reflects the county's position as one of the more prosperous suburban counties in the Southeast. Per capita income runs at $40,381. Of the 19,037 residents in the labor force, 1,024 are unemployed — a rate that tracks below most comparable Georgia cities. The poverty count stands at 4,174, representing roughly 12.5% of the population, a figure elevated somewhat by the student population that pulls incomes down on paper.

Kennesaw State University is the economic anchor nobody should underestimate. The university employs thousands directly and generates enormous retail, dining, and service demand throughout the corridor. Manufacturing and logistics also have a meaningful footprint — the area along Barrett Parkway and the I-75/I-575 interchange carries a mix of distribution centers and light industrial employers that are largely invisible to residents who commute north into Cherokee County or south into Atlanta.

Housing

The city's 13,871 total housing units carry an occupancy rate of just over 94%, with 825 vacant. Owner-occupied units number 8,543; renters occupy 4,503 — roughly a 65/35 split that leans more heavily toward ownership than many comparable university towns. The median home value of $262,000 reflects Cobb County's relative affordability compared to Fulton County to the east, though values have climbed substantially in recent years. Median rent at $1,673 per month is not cheap by Georgia standards and reflects proximity to Atlanta and the university.

Schools

Kennesaw is served by Cobb County School District, one of the largest districts in Georgia. The high schools serving families in this area are substantial institutions: North Cobb High School enrolls 2,555 students in grades 9–12, Harrison High School serves 2,121, and Kennesaw Mountain High School carries 1,809. At the middle level, Lost Mountain Middle (1,011), McClure Middle (991), Palmer Middle (828), Awtrey Middle (626), and Pine Mountain Middle (576) cover grades 6–8. Elementary options include Hayes Elementary (841), Bullard Elementary (801), Chalker Elementary (674), Kennesaw Elementary (575), Big Shanty Elementary (539), and Lewis Elementary (531). Northwest Classical Academy serves 640 students across grades K–8 as a charter option within the district.

At the post-secondary level, Kennesaw State University operates directly within the city and is among the largest universities in Georgia by enrollment. Empire Beauty School also maintains a Kennesaw campus.

Getting Around

Kennesaw is a car-required city. Of 17,806 total workers, 12,688 drive alone. Carpooling accounts for another 1,342. Only 121 use public transit — a figure that tells you everything about the practical realities of getting around northwest Cobb County without a vehicle. Walking to work is an option for 202 residents, almost certainly clustered near the university. A notable 3,119 workers — about 17.5% — work from home, a significant share that reflects the professional composition of the workforce post-2020.

Average aggregate commute time across the city runs to 432,455 minutes for all workers combined. For those commuting south toward Atlanta, I-75 and I-575 are the primary arteries, and they are reliably congested during peak hours.

Healthcare

Three hospital systems serve the greater Kennesaw area. WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center and WellStar Cobb Medical Center are both part of WellStar Health System, the dominant healthcare network in Cobb County. Ridgeview Institute provides behavioral health and psychiatric services. For a searchable directory of individual providers with active NPI registrations in Kennesaw, the CMS NPI Registry returns up to 50 local results: NPI Provider Search.

Library

West Cobb Regional Library serves the Kennesaw area and can be reached at (770) 528-4699. The library operates as part of the Cobb County Public Library System, which provides access to digital resources, research databases, and interlibrary loan services across the county network.

Parks & Recreation

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is the defining green space of this part of Cobb County — a 2,965-acre preserved Civil War battlefield with miles of hiking trails, earthworks, and one of the more intact 19th-century military landscapes in the eastern United States. The visitor center is 3.8 miles from the city center. Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area lies within reach to the south, offering river access, paddling, and trail networks along the Chattahoochee corridor. The Island Ford Visitor Center is roughly 17.8 miles out. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, while primarily an Atlanta landmark, is accessible at approximately 23.2 miles.

Natural Hazards

Cobb County's FEMA disaster declaration history spans more than three decades and covers a wide range of hazard types. Severe winter storms account for several declarations — 1993, 2000, 2014, and most recently January 2026. Hurricanes making landfall on the Gulf or Atlantic coast have repeatedly caused enough inland wind and rain damage to trigger federal declarations in Cobb: Opal (1995), Ivan (2004), Irma (2017, two declarations), and Helene (2024). Severe storms and flooding struck in 1998 and again in 2009. Tornadoes, high winds, and heavy rains hit in 1993. The county also received an emergency declaration in 2005 related to Hurricane Katrina evacuee support. The COVID-19 pandemic generated two separate federal actions in March 2020.

The practical takeaway: residents should expect occasional winter ice events that shut down Atlanta-area roads entirely, and they should understand that even landlocked northwest Georgia sits within the impact radius of Gulf Coast hurricane systems.

Government & Municipal Code

Kennesaw's municipal code is published through Municode and is publicly accessible at library.municode.com/ga/kennesaw. No separate local building code is recorded for Kennesaw in available data, meaning the state building code governs construction and renovation within city limits.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Kennesaw are available through the National Weather Service: NWS Forecast. Active weather alerts can be tracked at weather.gov alerts. The nearest weather observation station is KENNESAW 0.8 WSW, located approximately 1.0 mile from the city center.

References

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