Vidalia Authority

Vidalia is a lower-income town of 10,752 with home prices 1.9× below the Georgia median.

Population 10,752

Source: Census ACS 2023

Vidalia, Georgia

Montgomery County, Georgia · Population 10,785

Vidalia sits in the coastal plain of southeast Georgia, about 75 miles west of Savannah and 60 miles northwest of Brunswick. It is the county seat of Toombs County — though it straddles the Montgomery County line — and the largest city in this stretch of pine-and-farmland Georgia. The name is recognized far beyond the city limits: Vidalia onions, with their distinctive sweetness tied to the low-sulfur soils of this region, carry the city's name to grocery stores across the country and hold protected geographic designation under federal law. That agricultural identity is real, but Vidalia is also a small regional hub — the largest population center in the immediate area, with retail, healthcare, and education serving a wide surrounding radius.

People & Demographics

Vidalia's population of 10,732 makes it substantially larger than the rest of Montgomery County, which holds only 8,610 residents in total — meaning Vidalia itself draws from and serves a broader multi-county catchment. The median age is 37.4 years.

The racial composition reflects the Deep South pattern of much of rural Georgia: 5,598 residents identify as white (52.2%) and 4,151 as Black (38.7%). Asian residents number 190, and 415 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. Of 3,955 total households, 2,471 are family households. Average household size is 2.65 persons. Children under 18 account for 2,760 residents — roughly 26% of the population — a meaningful share that puts pressure on schools and family services.

Economy & Employment

The labor force stands at 4,292, with 317 people counted as unemployed — an unemployment rate of approximately 7.4% within that labor force figure. Median household income is $47,124. Per capita income is $33,701. Georgia's statewide median household income runs well above $60,000, which puts Vidalia solidly below the state average — a common pattern in rural southeastern Georgia where agricultural and light industrial wages anchor the economy.

The poverty picture is sharp: 2,772 residents fall below the poverty line, representing roughly 26% of the population. That concentration of economic hardship shapes demand for every public service in the city, from schools to healthcare.

Agriculture — particularly onion farming and processing — remains the region's economic anchor. Southeastern Technical College, reachable at 912-538-3100, provides workforce training locally and feeds students into healthcare, industrial technology, and business sectors that employ Vidalia residents.

Housing

Total housing units number 4,653, of which 3,955 are occupied and 698 sit vacant — a vacancy rate of about 15%. Owner-occupied units total 2,121; renter-occupied units total 1,834, a nearly even split that leans slightly toward ownership.

Median home value is $147,100 — well below the Georgia statewide figure, which sits above $230,000. For buyers, that gap represents genuine affordability, particularly for households priced out of metro markets. Median gross rent of $641 per month is similarly low by state and national standards. The combination of low purchase prices and low rents makes Vidalia one of the more accessible housing markets in Georgia, though those figures also reflect the underlying income levels in the local economy.

Schools

Vidalia City Schools operates a four-campus pipeline:

• J. D. Dickerson Primary School — Pre-K through Grade 1, 456 students

• Sally Dailey Meadows Elementary School — Grades 2–5, 647 students

• J. R. Trippe Middle School — Grades 6–8, 531 students

• Vidalia Comprehensive High School — Grades 9–12, 732 students

Total district enrollment across those four campuses reaches approximately 2,366 students. The system is self-contained within the city; surrounding rural areas in Montgomery and Toombs counties feed into separate county school systems.

Among residents 25 and older (6,784 total), 1,539 hold a high school diploma as their highest credential, 748 hold a bachelor's degree, and 648 hold a master's degree — a master's count that actually exceeds bachelor's, suggesting a bifurcated credential structure with a notable professional class alongside a large share of residents who did not complete college. Doctoral degree holders number 31.

Getting Around

Vidalia is a car-dependent community. Of 3,928 total workers, 2,850 drove alone to work and 786 carpooled. Only 10 used public transit, and 97 walked. Just 125 worked from home. The aggregate commute time of 97,080 minutes across all workers produces a mean one-way commute of roughly 24.7 minutes — moderate by Georgia standards, though longer trips to Savannah or Macon are common for specialty employment or healthcare.

No meaningful public transit infrastructure exists here. A vehicle is a practical necessity for daily life.

Healthcare

Memorial Health Meadows Hospital operates in Vidalia and serves as the primary acute care facility for the surrounding region. For the broader range of local healthcare providers — physicians, specialists, physical therapists, mental health clinicians — the NPI Registry lists currently enrolled providers in Vidalia.

For complex specialty care, Savannah (roughly 75 miles east) hosts larger health systems including Memorial Health University Medical Center.

Library

The Ladson Genealogical Library serves Vidalia and the surrounding area, reachable at 912-537-8186. With strong genealogical collections, it serves both everyday library functions and the substantial family-history research interest common in communities with deep roots in this part of Georgia.

Natural Hazards

Montgomery County has accumulated 15 federal disaster declarations since 2004 — a record that reflects southeast Georgia's persistent exposure to Atlantic weather systems. The county has been hit by or affected by:

• Hurricane Helene (2024) — two separate declarations, emergency and major disaster

• Hurricane Debby (2024)

• Hurricane Idalia (2023)

• Hurricane Michael (2018)

• Hurricane Irma (2017)

• Severe Storms and Flooding (2016)

• COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)

• Tropical Storm Frances (2004)

• Hurricane Katrina evacuation (2005) — Montgomery County received evacuees

• Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, and Straight-Line Winds (2009)

• Severe Winter Storm (2026)

The pattern is unmistakable: tropical systems are the primary recurring threat, arriving from the Gulf or Atlantic and tracking directly through this part of the coastal plain. 2024 alone produced three separate declarations. Anyone moving to Vidalia should treat hurricane preparedness — including evacuation planning, flood insurance assessment, and generator readiness — as standard practice, not precaution.

Government & Municipal Code

Vidalia's municipal code is published through Municode and available at library.municode.com/ga/vidalia. The city does not have a locally adopted building code on file with the publisher — construction and building standards default to state-level Georgia requirements.

Weather

Current forecasts for Vidalia are available through the National Weather Service. Active weather alerts can be monitored at alerts.weather.gov. The nearest official weather observation station is VIDALIA, located 1.1 miles from the city center.

References

• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 (Tables B01001, B01002, B02001, B03001, B09001, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25001, B25002, B25003, B10010, B25064, B25077, B08006, B08013)

• National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data 2022

• FEMA Disaster Declarations, Montgomery County, Georgia

• CMS Hospital Compare — Memorial Health Meadows Hospital

• NPI Registry, CMS — Vidalia, GA providers

• National Weather Service — NWS forecast point 32.2053, -82.4033

• Municode — City of Vidalia Municipal Code

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