De Soto, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
De Soto · Sumter County, Georgia
Population 92 (est. 2026: ~100)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 7.61% annual growth projection

De Soto, Georgia

Sumter County, Georgia · Population 124

De Soto sits in the southwest Georgia flatlands of Sumter County, about as rural as the state gets. With a recorded population hovering around 124 — and an ACS sample count of 67 — this is not a town that appears on most maps people actually use. The nearest real service hub is Americus, roughly 10 miles away, which is where residents go for groceries, medical care, jobs, and everything else a small incorporated place cannot provide for itself. De Soto has a municipal code, a zip code, and a presence on the landscape. What it does not have is much of an economy, a school, a hospital, or a transit system. Understanding De Soto means understanding that most of its daily life happens somewhere else.

People & Demographics

The ACS 2022 five-year estimates place De Soto's population at 67, drawn from 26 occupied households. The median age is 26.8, which is notably younger than Georgia's statewide median of around 37. The town's demographic composition reflects the broader character of this part of Sumter County: 10 residents identified as white, 23 as Black, and 32 as Hispanic or Latino. Average household size runs 2.58 people. Ten children under 18 live in town. Family households account for 16 of the 26 occupied units.

Sumter County itself holds about 29,616 residents, making De Soto home to a fraction of a fraction of the county's population.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in De Soto is $27,813 — well below Georgia's statewide median, which sits above $60,000. Per capita income comes in at $13,734. Of the 67 counted residents, 32 fall below the poverty line, meaning roughly half the town is living in poverty by federal standards. The labor force counts 31 people, and reported unemployment is zero, though a population this small produces ACS estimates with substantial margins of error.

The local economy in any meaningful sense is the economy of Americus, where Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, agriculture, retail, and light industry provide most of the jobs that Sumter County residents actually hold. South Georgia Technical College, reachable from De Soto, offers workforce and vocational training at (229) 931-2394.

Housing

De Soto has 54 total housing units. Only 26 are occupied. That leaves 28 vacant — a vacancy rate of roughly 52%, which is extraordinarily high even by rural southwest Georgia standards. Of those 26 occupied units, 25 are owner-occupied and just 1 is rented. The ACS did not produce usable estimates for median home value or median gross rent, so those figures are unavailable.

What the occupancy data suggests is a community in demographic contraction, where the housing stock has outpaced the population willing or able to fill it.

Schools

No school operates within De Soto itself. The NCES data associated with this area returns schools tied to DeKalb County and Laurens County districts — a data artifact rather than a reflection of where De Soto children actually attend school. Students in De Soto are served through Sumter County Schools, with Americus as the county seat and primary school hub.

Getting Around

Of De Soto's 26 counted workers, 17 drove to work alone and 8 carpooled. One person walked. No one used public transit or worked from home. There is no bus service, no passenger rail, and no rideshare infrastructure in this part of Sumter County. A car is not optional — it is the only practical way to get anywhere. Aggregate travel time data was not available in the ACS estimates for this population.

Healthcare

Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus serves as the primary hospital for De Soto residents. It is the closest facility with emergency care access. The CMS rating was not available in the data. For a searchable list of individual healthcare providers registered in De Soto through the National Provider Identifier registry, see the NPI Registry.

Library

The Lake Blackshear Regional Library serves this area and sits 1.8 miles from De Soto. It functions as the county library system's primary resource for residents across Sumter County, including access to digital resources, interlibrary loan, and public computing.

Parks & Recreation

Two significant National Park Service sites sit within easy reach of De Soto. Jimmy Carter National Historical Park in Plains preserves the home, farm, and boyhood places of the 39th president — Plains High School's visitor center and museum is 11.4 miles away. Andersonville National Historic Site, 8.3 miles out, holds the National Prisoner of War Museum and the site of Camp Sumter, the Civil War prison camp where nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died. Both are genuinely worth the short drive and are among the more historically significant NPS units in Georgia.

Natural Hazards

Sumter County has a long and documented history of federal disaster declarations. Hurricane-force weather hits this part of Georgia with regularity: Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Michael (2018), and Hurricane Helene (2024) all triggered FEMA declarations for the county. A severe winter storm declaration followed in January 2026. COVID-19 produced two declarations in March 2020. Earlier events on record include Tropical Storm Frances (2004), severe storms and tornadoes (2007), Tropical Storm Alberto flooding (1994), and a drought declaration reaching back to 1977.

Residents in this area should treat hurricane preparedness as a routine annual matter, not an exceptional one.

Government & Municipal Code

De Soto maintains a municipal code published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/de-soto-city-georgia. The data does not indicate that De Soto has adopted a local building code.

Weather

The nearest official weather station is in Americus, 1.4 miles away. Current forecasts for De Soto's coordinates are available through the National Weather Service forecast page. Active alerts can be checked at the NWS alerts page.

References

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