Collins, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Collins · Tattnall County, Georgia
Population 520 (est. 2026: ~600)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 2.5% annual growth projection

Collins, Georgia

Tattnall County, Georgia · Population 540

Collins sits in the flat coastal plain of southeast Georgia, about 60 miles west of Savannah and 30 miles north of Vidalia. It's a small county-seat-adjacent town in Tattnall County — not the county seat itself (that's Reidsville, roughly 15 miles to the southeast), but a recognizable stop along U.S. Route 301, the old highway corridor that stitched together small towns across the Georgia lowlands long before the interstates arrived. With around 540 residents, Collins functions as the kind of place where the population knows itself — a tight grid of streets, a few local institutions, and a community that draws its daily life from the surrounding county rather than from any urban core.

People & Demographics

The ACS 2022 five-year estimates put Collins's population at 598, with a median age of 37.7. The town is majority white (382 residents), with a significant Black population (186 residents) and a Hispanic or Latino population of 32. There are 243 occupied households, with 132 of those being family households. The average household size is 2.46, and 191 residents are children under 18 — roughly a third of the population, which reflects a relatively young family presence relative to town size. Tattnall County as a whole counts 22,842 residents, meaning Collins holds just over 2% of the county's population.

Economy & Employment

The labor force in Collins numbers 267, with only 5 residents counted as unemployed — a remarkably low figure that reflects both tight local employment and the rural reality that many people work in nearby Reidsville, Lyons, or Vidalia rather than within Collins itself. Median household income is $57,591, and per capita income sits at $37,877. Those figures are modest but competitive for rural Tattnall County. The poverty count stands at 191 — roughly a third of the ACS population estimate — which tracks with broader economic challenges common to small Georgia towns in this region. Agriculture, logistics along the U.S. 301 corridor, and county-level public-sector employment are the backbone of the local economy.

Housing

Collins has 320 total housing units, of which 243 are occupied and 77 are vacant — a vacancy rate of about 24%, which is high even by rural Georgia standards and suggests some outmigration over time. Of occupied units, 143 are owner-occupied and 100 are renter-occupied, a roughly 59/41 split. Median rent is $383 per month, which is strikingly low by any state comparison and reflects the affordability that comes with limited demand in a small rural market. Home value data was not available from the ACS estimates.

Schools

North Tattnall Elementary School serves grades K–5 with an enrollment of 889 students — a notably large elementary enrollment that likely draws from across the northern part of the county rather than Collins alone. Collins Elementary School is listed in the NCES data but shows no active enrollment, suggesting it may be closed or consolidated. Secondary students attend schools in the broader Tattnall County school system.

Getting Around

Collins is car-dependent. Of 262 workers counted in the commute data, 181 drove alone and 27 carpooled. Six residents walked to work. No residents used public transit, and no residents reported working from home. The aggregate travel time for all workers was 7,010 minutes, working out to roughly 27 minutes per commute on average — consistent with driving to Reidsville, Vidalia, or other nearby employment centers. There is no public transit infrastructure serving Collins.

Healthcare

Tattnall County's primary hospital facility is Optim Medical Center – Tattnall, which serves the county's healthcare needs. For NPI-registered providers practicing in Collins, the CMS NPI Registry can be searched directly: Collins, GA providers on NPI Registry. Residents requiring specialized care typically travel to larger facilities in Savannah or Statesboro.

Library

The Tattnall County Library serves Collins residents and is located 7.2 miles away. It can be reached at (912) 557-6247. As the county's public library system, it provides the primary access point for physical collections, public computing, and library services for Collins households.

Natural Hazards

Tattnall County has one of the more active FEMA disaster declaration histories for a rural Georgia county. Since 2016, the county has been included in 15 federal declarations:

The pattern is clear: Collins and Tattnall County sit in a hurricane and tropical storm corridor. Helene alone generated two separate federal declarations within days of each other in late September 2024. Residents should carry flood insurance and maintain storm preparedness year-round. The flat coastal plain terrain offers little natural protection from wind and storm surge effects that extend far inland.

Government & Municipal Code

Collins operates under a city government with its municipal code published through Municode. The full code is available at library.municode.com/ga/collins-city-georgia. Note that Collins does not have a locally adopted building code on file, which is relevant for anyone planning construction or renovation — permitting and code compliance questions should be directed to the city or Tattnall County directly.

Weather

Current National Weather Service forecasts for Collins are available at forecast.weather.gov. Active weather alerts for the area can be monitored at alerts.weather.gov. The nearest weather observation station is Collins 7.3 NNE, approximately 6.8 miles from town. Summers are hot and humid; winters are mild but, as the January 2026 FEMA declaration illustrates, severe winter weather events do occur.

References

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