Dallas, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Dallas · Paulding County, Georgia
Population 14,440 (est. 2026: ~15,400)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 1.9% annual growth projection

Dallas, Georgia

Paulding County, Georgia · Population 14,042

Dallas sits about 30 miles west of Atlanta, close enough to pull jobs from the metro but far enough that it still functions as a genuine small city rather than a commuter satellite. It is the county seat of Paulding County, a fast-growing exurban county that has more than doubled in population over the past two decades. The city itself has grown alongside that wave — 14,042 residents packed into a community with a median age of just 33.7 years, one of the youngest profiles in the region. That youth shows in the schools, the housing stock, and the demographic mix. This is not a retirement destination. It is a place where families land when they want a foothold in the Atlanta orbit without paying Atlanta prices.

People & Demographics

Dallas holds 14,126 residents across 5,453 households, with an average household size of 2.55. Family households account for 3,374 of those — a majority, consistent with the high share of children under 18, which stands at 3,599. The racial composition is 7,756 white, 4,469 Black, and 172 Asian residents. The Hispanic and Latino population numbers 1,331. Paulding County as a whole counts 168,661 people, making Dallas home to roughly 8 percent of the county population despite being its governmental center.

Economy & Employment

The labor force numbers 6,868, with 351 unemployed at the time of the survey — an unemployment rate of approximately 5.1 percent within that labor force. Median household income is $60,032, and per capita income sits at $26,171. Neither figure is exceptional for the Atlanta metro, but both reflect the working-family character of the city. A total of 2,488 residents fall below the poverty line. Most employment pulls toward Atlanta and the broader northwest metro corridor; Dallas itself does not host a major employment center, so residents largely commute out. The nearest large commercial and industrial activity concentrates along the I-20 and U.S. 278 corridors connecting to Douglasville and beyond.

Housing

Dallas has 6,087 total housing units, of which 5,453 are occupied and 634 are vacant — a vacancy rate of about 10.4 percent. Owner-occupied units number 3,041; renter-occupied units number 2,412, putting the ownership rate at roughly 55.8 percent. Median home value is $207,300, and median gross rent is $1,245 per month. For buyers, that home value sits meaningfully below the Atlanta metro median, which makes Dallas attractive to first-time buyers and families priced out of closer-in suburbs. The rental market is not cheap by small-city standards, reflecting demand pressure from the broader county growth.

Schools

All schools serve the Paulding County School District. Three high schools draw students from across the county:

Middle schools include Sammy McClure Sr. Middle School (Grades 6–8, 1,536 students), Lena Mae Moses Middle School (907 students), East Paulding Middle School (858 students), Herschel Jones Middle School (807 students), Carl Scoggins Sr. Middle School (760 students), and P. B. Ritch Middle School (755 students).

Elementary schools serving the area include Floyd L. Shelton Elementary School at Crossroad (1,439 students), WC Abney Elementary (1,270 students), Burnt Hickory Elementary School (1,044 students), Roland W. Russom Elementary (936 students), Allgood Elementary School (812 students), and Nebo Elementary School (721 students).

School enrollments at the high school level are large — North Paulding's nearly 3,000 students makes it one of the bigger high schools in the state. This is a county where school capacity is perpetually under pressure from growth.

Getting Around

Dallas is a car-required community. Of 6,450 total workers, 5,035 drive alone and 826 carpool. Public transit use registers at zero. Only 43 residents walk to work. Remote work accounts for 537 workers, a figure that will likely grow as it has across similar exurban communities. The aggregate commute time across all workers totals 234,170 minutes, averaging out to roughly 36 minutes per worker each way — consistent with a long Atlanta-area commute. U.S. 278 is the primary artery connecting Dallas to the broader metro.

Healthcare

WellStar Paulding Medical Center serves as the primary hospital for Dallas and Paulding County. For specialized care, Wellstar's larger facilities in Marietta and the broader WellStar Health System network are the practical options. Local providers across medicine, dentistry, and allied health can be searched through the CMS NPI Registry for Dallas, GA.

Library

The Paulding County Public Library serves Dallas and the county. Contact: (770) 445-5680. The library is part of the broader public library system providing research, community programming, and digital access for county residents.

Parks & Recreation

Several National Park Service units are accessible within a reasonable drive:

For daily outdoor use, Paulding County maintains local parks and greenspace, and the Paulding County Recreation Authority manages youth and adult athletic programs.

Natural Hazards

Paulding County has received 15 FEMA disaster declarations since 1993, a record that reflects genuine vulnerability rather than administrative routine. Hurricane-force storms reach this far inland with regularity: Hurricane Opal (1995), Hurricane Irma (2017), Tropical Storm Zeta (2021), and Hurricane Helene (2024) all triggered declarations. Severe winter storms have hit the county in 1993, 2000, 2014, and again in January 2026. Flooding events struck in 1998 and 2009. The county also received a Hurricane Katrina evacuation declaration in 2005, reflecting its role as a receiving area for Gulf Coast displaced residents. Residents should maintain readiness for both ice storms in winter and tropical remnants in late summer and fall.

Government & Municipal Code

Dallas operates under a mayor-council form of government as the Paulding County seat. The municipal code is published through Municode and available at https://library.municode.com/ga/dallas. Note: no adopted building code is on file for the city in the available records — residents and contractors should confirm current requirements directly with the city.

Weather

Current forecasts for Dallas are available through the National Weather Service. Active alerts can be monitored at weather.gov alerts. The nearest weather observation station is Dallas 7.7 NNE, approximately 1.3 miles from the city center.

References

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