Cairo, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Cairo · Grady County, Georgia
Population 10,067 (est. 2026: ~10,000)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + -0.12% annual growth projection

Cairo, Georgia

Grady County, Georgia · Population 10,179

Cairo (pronounced KAY-ro by everyone who lives there) sits at the heart of Grady County in southwest Georgia, about 35 miles north of Tallahassee, Florida and 40 miles south of Thomasville. It is the county seat and the largest city in Grady County, holding roughly 39% of the county's 26,236 residents within its limits. The surrounding landscape is flat agricultural land — tobacco, peanuts, cotton — and the town itself has the feel of a working small city: a real hospital, a high school pushing 1,300 students, and a downtown where the courthouse still anchors daily life. Cairo is not a suburb. It is not a bedroom community. It is the center of its own world.

People & Demographics

Cairo's population of 10,091 skews young — the median age is 31.9, noticeably lower than most Georgia small cities. Nearly 2,865 residents are under 18, which shapes everything from school enrollment to household size. The average household holds 2.79 people across 3,594 occupied units.

The city is almost evenly split between Black and white residents: 4,707 Black residents (roughly 47%) and 4,488 white residents (roughly 44%). The Hispanic and Latino population numbers 1,290, or about 13% — a meaningful share that reflects the region's agricultural labor history. The Asian population is very small at 29 individuals.

Economy & Employment

Cairo's economy is modest by most measures. Median household income sits at $39,784 — well below the Georgia statewide median, which hovers around $65,000. Per capita income is $21,542. About 2,388 residents — roughly 24% of the population — fall below the federal poverty line, a rate that reflects the broader challenges of rural southwest Georgia.

The labor force numbers 4,181, with 317 people unemployed at the time of the survey, an unemployment rate of approximately 7.6%. Agriculture, healthcare, retail, and local government are the pillars of the local economy. Grady General Hospital is one of the county's significant employers. There is no major manufacturing base.

Housing

Cairo is affordable in absolute terms. The median home value is $115,800 — a figure that looks very different from Atlanta or coastal Georgia. Median rent runs $791 per month. Of 4,152 total housing units, 3,594 are occupied and 558 sit vacant, a vacancy rate of about 13%.

Renters slightly outnumber owners: 1,846 renter-occupied units versus 1,748 owner-occupied. That near-even split is unusual for a town this size and suggests a transient working population alongside a stable homeowning core. For buyers coming from a major metro, the prices here require adjustment in expectations — in both directions.

Schools

Cairo is served by Grady County Schools. All schools are within or adjacent to the city.

Combined elementary enrollment across three schools totals over 1,500 students, which reflects the town's notably young population. Families moving to Cairo have a full K–12 pipeline entirely within the county system.

Getting Around

Cairo requires a car. Of 3,689 workers, 2,712 drive alone and 834 carpool. Public transit counts zero. Only 43 people walk to work and 83 work from home. Aggregate travel time across all workers is 88,445 minutes, which works out to an average commute of roughly 24 minutes — consistent with a county-seat town where many people work locally but some travel to Thomasville or across the Florida line to the Tallahassee metro for employment.

Healthcare

Grady General Hospital serves Cairo and the surrounding county. The hospital is the primary acute care facility for Grady County residents. For specialized care, Tallahassee (about 35 miles south) offers a full range of tertiary services at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and HCA Florida Tallahassee Hospital. Thomasville, Georgia, roughly 40 miles northeast, has Archbold Medical Center.

Local providers across medicine, dentistry, and behavioral health can be searched through the CMS NPI Registry for Cairo, GA.

Library

Roddenbery Memorial Library is Cairo's public library, serving the Grady County community. Contact: (229) 377-3632.

Natural Hazards

Grady County has a long and active FEMA disaster declaration history. Between 1994 and 2024, the county has been included in 15 separate federal disaster and emergency declarations. The pattern tells a clear story: southwest Georgia sits in the path of Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes that weaken but do not disappear by the time they reach inland.

Recent major events include Hurricane Helene (2024), which generated both a major disaster declaration (DR-4830) and an emergency declaration (EM-3616). Hurricane Debby (2024) preceded it the same season. Hurricane Michael (2018) struck the region hard, producing two declarations. Hurricane Irma (2017) did the same. Earlier in the record: Tropical Storm Frances (2004), Hurricane Katrina evacuation sheltering (2005), and severe storms with tornadoes and flooding dating back to 1994.

Anyone moving to Cairo should carry flood insurance regardless of their flood zone designation, have a hurricane preparedness plan, and understand that the area experiences tropical weather impacts most years in some form.

Government & Municipal Code

Cairo's municipal code is published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/cairo. No local building code is on file through Municode — construction and building standards default to state and county codes.

Weather

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

The nearest weather observation station is Cairo 1SW, located 0.8 miles from the town center. The climate is humid subtropical — hot, humid summers with afternoon thunderstorms, mild winters, and a hurricane season that runs June through November. Overnight freezes occur but are not prolonged. Spring and fall are genuinely pleasant.

References

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