Boston, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Boston · Thomas County, Georgia
Population 1,305 (est. 2026: ~2,200)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 16.48% annual growth projection

Boston, Georgia

Thomas County, Georgia · Population 1,207

Boston sits in the flatlands of southwest Georgia, about 18 miles north of Thomasville along US-19. It is a small, tight-knit community embedded in Thomas County's agricultural landscape — tobacco, peanuts, and timber country. With just over 1,200 residents, Boston is not a destination town or a suburb. It is a working rural community where most people know their neighbors and drive to Thomasville for most of their needs. The county seat is the economic and institutional hub; Boston is one of its quieter satellites.

People & Demographics

Boston's ACS 2022 estimate places the population at 1,108 residents across 476 households. The median age is 40.2 years, slightly older than a typical rural Georgia community. The racial composition is majority Black at 711 residents (64%), with 370 white residents (33%) and 29 Hispanic or Latino residents. The average household size is 2.33 people. Of the town's 476 households, 313 are family households. There are 210 children under 18 living in Boston — roughly 19% of the population.

Thomas County as a whole holds 45,798 people, meaning Boston represents about 2.6% of the county's total population.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Boston is $37,500 — well below Georgia's statewide median, which typically runs near $65,000. Per capita income stands at $20,409. Of the 1,108 residents counted, 364 fall below the poverty line — a poverty rate of roughly 33%, which is significantly elevated compared to state and national norms.

The labor force counts 553 residents, with 59 unemployed — an unemployment rate of about 10.7%. Most employment is concentrated in Thomas County's broader economy: healthcare, retail, agriculture, and education anchored in Thomasville.

Southern Regional Technical College (phone: 229-225-4096) serves students across the region and offers vocational and technical training pathways that are relevant for the workforce in communities like Boston.

Housing

There are 570 total housing units in Boston, of which 476 are occupied and 94 are vacant — a vacancy rate of 16.5%. The split between owners and renters is nearly even: 240 owner-occupied units versus 236 renter-occupied units. That 50/50 balance is unusual and reflects economic pressures that keep homeownership from dominating the way it does in many rural towns.

The median home value is $92,500 — extremely affordable by any state standard. Median rent is $857 per month. For buyers, Boston offers some of the lowest entry costs in the region. For renters, the rent-to-income ratio warrants attention: at $857/month, rent consumes a substantial share of the median household income of $37,500.

Schools

Boston students are served by Thomas County Schools, a county-wide district based in Thomasville. The district runs a consolidated system rather than neighborhood schools, meaning children across Boston and surrounding rural areas attend the same facilities.

Key campuses include:

Thomas County Central High School is the primary secondary destination for most Boston-area students given the district's geographic routing.

Getting Around

Boston is a car-dependent town. Of 494 workers, 436 drove alone to work. Another 39 carpooled. Only 4 used public transit, and 15 worked from home. No residents in this data set walked to work.

The aggregate commute time for all workers totals 11,190 minutes, averaging roughly 22.6 minutes per worker. That figure suggests most jobs are located in Thomasville or elsewhere in Thomas County — close enough for a manageable daily drive but not walkable from Boston itself. Anyone relocating here without a vehicle will find limited options.

Healthcare

The primary hospital serving Boston residents is Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, approximately 18 miles south. Archbold is the dominant regional healthcare provider for Thomas County and the surrounding southwest Georgia area.

For a searchable directory of individual licensed healthcare providers registered in Boston, the CMS NPI Registry can be queried directly: NPI Registry — Boston, GA.

Library

The Boston Carnegie Library serves the community and can be reached at 229-498-5101. Carnegie libraries are a distinctive historical category — their presence in a town of this size reflects a period of early 20th-century civic investment that many comparable rural towns never received.

Natural Hazards

Thomas County has been hit repeatedly and seriously. FEMA has issued 15 disaster declarations covering this county since 2004:

Southwest Georgia lies in a corridor that catches the remnants of Gulf and Atlantic storms as they track inland. The 2024 season was particularly active, with Debby and Helene both hitting within weeks of each other. Residents should maintain readiness plans and monitor alerts through the NWS.

Government & Municipal Code

Boston's municipal code is published through Municode and is publicly accessible at library.municode.com/ga/boston-city-georgia.

The city does not have a locally adopted building code on file in this dataset. Property owners and contractors undertaking construction or renovation should verify current requirements directly with the city.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Boston are served by the National Weather Service using the nearest weather station at Thomasville WB City, 1.7 miles away.

Given the FEMA declaration history above, checking active alerts during any named storm event is not optional — it is a baseline precaution.

References

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