Ashburn, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Ashburn · Turner County, Georgia
Population 4,226 (est. 2026: ~4,200)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 0.12% annual growth projection

Ashburn, Georgia

Turner County, Georgia · Population 4,291

Ashburn sits at the center of Turner County in South Georgia's coastal plain, about 45 miles south of Cordele and 90 miles north of Valdosta along US-41. The town is the county seat of one of Georgia's smaller rural counties — Turner County's total population of 9,006 means Ashburn holds nearly half the county's residents within its limits. The economy is rooted in agriculture, the landscape is flat and open, and the infrastructure is lean. The Peanut Monument on the courthouse square — a giant golden peanut on a pedestal — says something true about the region's identity. This is a working South Georgia town, not a suburb or a resort.

People & Demographics

Ashburn's Census-reported population is 4,223, with a median age of 39.9. The racial composition is 2,976 Black residents and 1,168 white residents, with 192 Hispanic or Latino residents. The town's demographic profile differs significantly from Georgia as a whole, which skews more evenly split and more diverse in its urban centers.

There are 1,589 occupied households, with an average household size of 2.62. Family households number 830. Children under 18 total 1,063 — roughly one in four residents.

Economy & Employment

Median household income in Ashburn is $35,987, and per capita income is $20,175. Both figures fall well below Georgia's statewide medians, which consistently run above $58,000 at the household level. Of the 1,609 residents counted in the labor force, 174 are unemployed — an unemployment rate of about 10.8%.

Poverty is a persistent reality here: 1,039 residents fall below the federal poverty line, representing roughly 24.6% of the population. Agriculture, light manufacturing, and public-sector employment anchor the local economy. Turner County's scale means that many workers commute to larger centers for specialized jobs.

Housing

Ashburn has 1,815 total housing units, of which 1,589 are occupied and 226 sit vacant — a vacancy rate of about 12.5%. Owner-occupied units number 893; renter-occupied units are 696. That splits out to roughly 56% ownership and 44% renter occupancy among occupied units.

Median home value is $88,300, which is low even by rural Georgia standards and reflects both the income levels of the local market and the age of much of the housing stock. Median gross rent is $616 per month. For a household earning the area median income, housing costs are accessible in raw dollar terms, though the income constraints in this market are real.

Schools

All public schools serving Ashburn students operate under the Turner County School District:

All three campuses consolidate the county's students under a single district umbrella, which is common across rural South Georgia where population doesn't support multiple school systems.

Getting Around

Of 1,400 total workers, 1,073 drive alone to work. Another 202 carpool. Only 14 use public transit, and 97 work from home. Aggregate travel time across all workers is 33,165 minutes, which averages to roughly 24 minutes per commuter one way. Car ownership is effectively required for daily life in Ashburn — transit is nearly nonexistent at this scale, and the nearest major employment or retail centers require a meaningful drive.

Healthcare

No hospital data was identified within Ashburn itself. Residents typically travel to Tifton (Tift Regional Medical Center, about 25 miles southwest) or Albany (Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, about 45 miles west) for hospital-level care. Local providers registered with CMS can be searched through the NPI Registry for Ashburn, GA.

Library

The Victoria Evans Memorial Library serves Ashburn and Turner County residents. Contact: (229) 567-4027. It is part of the regional library system that stretches across South Georgia's rural counties.

Parks & Recreation

Two National Park Service sites sit within a reasonable drive:

Natural Hazards

Turner County has accumulated a significant FEMA disaster declaration record. The county has been struck by or affected by named hurricanes multiple times: Hurricane Helene (2024), Hurricane Debby (2024), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Irma (2017), and Tropical Storm Frances (2004). Severe storms, tornadoes, and straight-line winds have generated multiple additional federal declarations — in January 2017, two separate declarations (DR-4294 and DR-4297) were issued within 24 hours of each other. Flooding events, the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, and a Hurricane Katrina evacuation emergency declaration round out the record going back to 2000.

South Georgia is not coastline, but it is a direct path for weakened but still destructive Atlantic and Gulf storms. Ashburn is not a high-elevation refuge from flooding, and the 2024 hurricane season alone generated three FEMA actions for Turner County.

Government & Municipal Code

Ashburn's municipal code is published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/ashburn. The municipality does not have a separately adopted building code on file with Municode.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Ashburn are available through the National Weather Service forecast page. Active weather alerts can be checked at alerts.weather.gov. The nearest official weather observation station is Ashburn 3 ENE, located 1.2 miles from the town center.

References

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