Plainville, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Plainville · Gordon County, Georgia
Population 339 (est. 2026: ~400)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 6.19% annual growth projection

Plainville, Georgia

Gordon County, Georgia · Population 356

Plainville sits in the ridge-and-valley terrain of northwest Georgia, tucked into Gordon County about five miles southwest of Calhoun. It is a small, tight-knit incorporated city — 356 residents spread across a modest grid of streets — that functions less as a self-contained hub and more as a residential pocket within the larger Calhoun orbit. Calhoun provides the jobs, the hospital, the county library, and most commercial activity. Plainville provides the address. For people who want a rural footprint with reasonable access to a functional small city, that arrangement works.

People & Demographics

The ACS 2022 survey counted 314 residents, with a median age of 43.3 — noticeably older than many comparable small Georgia towns. Households average 3.53 people, which is high for a place this size, suggesting multigenerational or extended-family arrangements are common. There are 89 total households, 68 of which are family households, and 45 children under 18 live in the city.

The racial makeup is predominantly white (236 residents), with a notable Asian population of 47 — an unusually high share for a community this small in Gordon County. The Black population is 4. No Hispanic or Latino residents were counted in this survey period.

Economy & Employment

Median household income in Plainville is $40,125, and per capita income sits at $19,646. Both figures run well below Georgia's statewide medians, which reflect a broader pattern across rural Gordon County. Of 314 residents counted, 82 fall below the poverty line — a poverty rate approaching 26%, which is high even by rural Georgia standards.

The labor force numbers 148 people, and only 3 were counted as unemployed at the time of the survey — a very low unemployment figure, though the overall labor force participation rate is modest given the population. Most workers are employed outside Plainville itself, commuting primarily to Calhoun and surrounding Gordon County employers. The county's economy leans on manufacturing, particularly carpet and flooring production, which has anchored the Calhoun-Dalton corridor for decades.

Housing

Plainville has 110 total housing units, of which 89 are occupied and 21 sit vacant — a vacancy rate of about 19%, which signals limited housing market pressure. Of occupied units, 54 are owner-occupied and 35 are renter-occupied.

Median home value is $123,200, which is affordable in absolute terms and significantly below Georgia's statewide median. Median rent runs $833 per month. For households earning $40,125 annually, that rent-to-income ratio is workable but not comfortable. The housing stock is modest and the market is thin — 110 units total means turnover is infrequent and options are limited at any given time.

Schools

Children in Plainville are served by Swain Elementary School, which covers grades pre-K through 5 and enrolls 402 students — a student body significantly larger than the number of school-age children in Plainville proper, meaning it draws from a broader attendance zone across the surrounding area. Middle and high school students feed into the Gordon County Schools system, with Calhoun serving as the county seat and home to those grade levels.

Getting Around

Plainville is a car-dependent community with no meaningful alternatives. Of 145 workers, 141 drove alone to work. Two carpooled. One walked. One worked from home. Zero used public transit. Aggregate travel time across all workers totals 2,640 minutes, averaging roughly 18 minutes per worker each way — consistent with a short commute into Calhoun or nearby industrial sites.

There is no local bus service, and the road network connects primarily to U.S. 41 and the Calhoun corridor.

Healthcare

The nearest hospital is AdventHealth Gordon, located in Calhoun. Local provider listings for Plainville can be searched through the CMS NPI Registry.

Library

The Calhoun-Gordon County Library is the nearest public library, approximately 5.3 miles away in Calhoun. Phone: (706) 624-1456. It serves as the primary public library resource for Plainville residents and the surrounding Gordon County area.

Parks & Recreation

Several significant federal recreation areas sit within reasonable driving distance of Plainville:

Visitor centers for all three parks are accessible as day trips. The Jacksonville State University Little River Canyon Center (36.1 miles) serves as a gateway facility for the canyon preserve.

Natural Hazards

Gordon County has a substantial FEMA disaster declaration history spanning more than three decades, covering virtually every category of natural hazard relevant to northwest Georgia:

Severe weather and tornadoes have produced multiple declarations — most significantly in April 2011 (severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding) and again in May 2021. Tornado risk is real in this part of the state.

Winter storms have triggered emergency declarations in 1993, 2000, 2014, and as recently as January 2026. The 1993 event was the historic "Storm of the Century." Ice and snow events in the southern Appalachian foothills can be severe and rapid.

Hurricanes and tropical systems have reached Gordon County more than once. Hurricane Opal struck in 1995, Hurricane Irma generated both an emergency and a major disaster declaration in September 2017, and Hurricane Helene prompted an emergency declaration in September 2024. Inland flooding from tropical remnants is a documented hazard.

Flooding has also appeared on its own in 1998 and in combination with other events. The county additionally served as a Hurricane Katrina evacuation destination in 2005.

COVID-19 produced two separate federal declarations in March 2020.

Government & Municipal Code

Plainville is an incorporated city with a published municipal code maintained through Municode: https://library.municode.com/ga/plainville-city-georgia

The city does not have a locally adopted building code on file in this dataset. Residents and contractors should confirm current code requirements directly with city or county offices.

Weather

Current forecasts for Plainville are available through the National Weather Service: NWS Forecast — Plainville, GA Active Weather Alerts

The nearest weather observation station is Calhoun 3.4 SW, approximately 1.8 miles from town.

References

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