Fairmount, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Fairmount · Gordon County, Georgia
Population 1,218 (est. 2026: ~1,400)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 5.01% annual growth projection

Fairmount, Georgia

Gordon County, Georgia · Population 772

Fairmount sits in the valley folds of northwest Georgia, tucked inside Gordon County about 65 miles north of Atlanta. It is a small incorporated city — fewer than 800 residents — surrounded by the Ridge and Valley terrain that defines this stretch of the state. Calhoun, the Gordon County seat, lies roughly 10 miles to the south and is where most residents go for groceries, courts, and county services. Chatsworth and Dalton are within regional reach. Fairmount is not a suburb and does not function like one. It is a freestanding small town with its own elementary school, its own municipal code, and a housing market that remains genuinely affordable by any Georgia standard.

People & Demographics

Fairmount's ACS-estimated population of 1,213 is larger than the city's official count of 772, a common gap between decennial and survey estimates for small municipalities. The median age is 37.9. The town is majority white (811 residents), with a significant Black population (326) and a small Hispanic or Latino community (20). There are 437 occupied households, with 293 of those being family households. The average household size of 2.78 is modestly above typical Georgia averages, reflecting a community that skews toward families rather than single-person households. There are 253 children under 18 — about one in five residents.

Gordon County as a whole holds 57,544 people, meaning Fairmount accounts for a small slice of a county that is itself mid-sized by Georgia standards.

Economy & Employment

The labor force stands at 516, with 19 people counted as unemployed — an unemployment rate of roughly 3.7%. The median household income is $61,042. Per capita income sits at $23,858, which runs below Georgia's statewide per capita figure, reflecting the small-town wage structure common across rural northwest Georgia. 202 residents fall below the federal poverty line, representing a meaningful share of the population that underscores the economic pressure many households here manage.

There is no large employer headquartered in Fairmount itself. Like much of rural Gordon County, the working population commutes — primarily to Calhoun and the broader Dalton corridor, where carpet manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare anchor the regional job market.

Housing

With a median home value of $101,000, Fairmount is genuinely affordable in a way that most Georgia communities are not. The state median home value is well above this figure, making Fairmount notable for buyers priced out elsewhere. There are 517 total housing units; 437 are occupied, leaving 80 vacant — a vacancy rate of about 15.5%, elevated compared to tight suburban markets but not unusual for a small rural town.

Owner-occupied units number 271; renter-occupied units number 166. That owner-to-renter split (roughly 62/38) is fairly typical for a town of this size. Median rent of $1,081 is the one figure that stands out — higher than one might expect given the home value baseline, suggesting that the rental stock is limited and not proportionally cheap relative to ownership costs.

Schools

Fairmount Elementary School serves grades pre-K through 5 with an enrollment of 395 students — a substantial school for a town this size, suggesting it draws from the surrounding rural area beyond the city limits. For middle and high school, students feed into Gordon County Schools, with facilities in and around Calhoun.

Getting Around

Fairmount is a car-required town. Of 477 workers, 327 drive alone and 142 carpool — together accounting for nearly all commuters. Zero workers use public transit, and zero walk to work. Only 8 people work from home. The aggregate commute travel time across all workers is 13,910 minutes, averaging out to roughly 29 minutes per worker per trip. That puts the typical Fairmount resident's commute in line with the rural northwest Georgia norm of a daily drive to Calhoun or beyond.

Healthcare

AdventHealth Gordon serves as the regional hospital for Gordon County, located in Calhoun. No independent rating or emergency service classification data is available for this facility in the current dataset. For a searchable list of licensed healthcare providers registered in Fairmount, the CMS NPI Registry can be queried directly: NPI Registry — Fairmount, GA.

Library

The nearest public library is the Adairsville Public Library, approximately 14.3 miles from Fairmount. It can be reached at (770) 769-9200. Fairmount itself does not have a branch library within city limits.

Parks & Recreation

Three National Park Service units sit within regional distance of Fairmount:

Closer to town, several day-use shelter areas — Rereg Dam Day Use Area, Damsite Day Use Area, and Northbank Day Use Area — provide accessible outdoor recreation.

Natural Hazards

Gordon County has a long and varied FEMA disaster declaration history going back to 1990. The county has been touched by nearly every hazard category relevant to northwest Georgia:

Severe weather and tornadoes hit in 1990, 2011, and 2021. The April 2011 event was part of the historic multi-state tornado outbreak. Winter storms struck in 1993, 2000, 2014, and again in January 2026. Flooding has accompanied multiple storm events. Hurricanes — despite the inland location — have registered federal declarations twice: Hurricane Opal in 1995, Hurricane Irma in 2017 (two separate declarations), and Hurricane Helene in September 2024. The county also supported Hurricane Katrina evacuee operations in 2005 and received COVID-19 emergency and disaster declarations in March 2020.

Residents living here should treat ice storms, severe thunderstorms, and tornado watches as routine seasonal risks — the record shows they are not rare occurrences.

Government & Municipal Code

Fairmount's municipal code is published and maintained through Municode: library.municode.com/ga/fairmount

The city does not have a locally adopted building code on record.

Weather

The National Weather Service forecast for Fairmount is available at: NWS Forecast — Fairmount, GA

Active weather alerts for the area: NWS Alerts — Fairmount, GA

The nearest official weather observation station is the Fairmount station, located 0.3 miles from the town center.

References

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