Jesup, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Jesup · Wayne County, Georgia
Population 9,863 (est. 2026: ~10,100)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 0.8% annual growth projection

Jesup, Georgia

Wayne County, Georgia · Population 9,809

Jesup sits at the geographic center of Wayne County in the coastal plain of southeast Georgia, roughly 65 miles northwest of Brunswick and about 70 miles southwest of Savannah. It's the county seat, the commercial hub, and the largest community in a county that otherwise consists of small crossroads towns and longleaf pine timberland. U.S. Highway 84 and U.S. 301 converge here, making Jesup a through-town for traffic moving between south Georgia and the coast. The Altamaha River basin wraps around the county, and that geography — flat, low, and wet — shapes both the local economy and the town's recurring relationship with tropical weather systems.

People & Demographics

Jesup has 9,820 residents, representing roughly a third of Wayne County's total population of 30,144. The median age is 44.6, which skews older than the Georgia statewide median, reflecting both an aging population and the out-migration of younger adults seeking jobs in larger metros. The racial composition is approximately 66.6% white and 27.4% Black, with a Hispanic or Latino population of 582 — about 5.9% of the total. Asian residents number just 2 in the data. There are 3,957 households in Jesup, of which 2,686 are family households. The average household size is 2.40. Children under 18 number 2,237, meaning roughly one in four residents is school-aged.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Jesup is $53,096, and per capita income sits at $27,895. By Georgia standards, both figures fall below the state's median household income, consistent with the pattern across rural southeast Georgia's smaller county seats. Of the 9,820 residents, 3,983 are in the labor force, with 247 counted as unemployed — an unemployment rate of approximately 6.2% within the labor force. Poverty touches a significant share of the population: 1,746 residents fall below the poverty line, representing nearly 17.8% of the total. Wayne County's economy historically rests on timber and wood products, poultry processing, and agriculture, along with the public sector employment that comes with being a county seat — courts, schools, and Wayne Memorial Hospital are among the larger institutional employers.

Housing

Jesup has 4,441 total housing units, of which 3,957 are occupied and 484 sit vacant — an occupancy rate of about 89.1%. Of occupied units, 2,344 are owner-occupied (59.2%) and 1,613 are renter-occupied (40.8%). The median home value is $148,300, well below the Georgia statewide median, which makes ownership attainable for working families who can secure financing. Median gross rent is $762 per month. These figures place Jesup among the more affordable small cities in Georgia, though incomes are correspondingly lower, so the affordability advantage is real but not as dramatic as the raw numbers suggest.

Schools

All public schools in Jesup are part of the Wayne County School System. Wayne County High School serves grades 9–12 with 1,467 students — the only high school in the county. At the middle school level, Arthur Williams Middle School enrolls 650 students in grades 6–8, and Martha Puckett Middle School serves 561 students in the same grade band. Elementary-age students attend Jesup Elementary School (680 students), Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School (610 students), or Bacon Elementary School (590 students), all serving pre-K through grade 5.

Getting Around

Jesup is car-dependent. Of 3,500 workers, 2,865 drove alone to work — 81.9%. Another 520 carpooled. Only 22 use public transit, and 23 walked. Just 54 residents worked from home. The aggregate commute time for all workers totals 78,575 minutes, which works out to a mean one-way commute of roughly 22 minutes — short by Georgia standards, consistent with a small city where most employment is local or within the county. Anyone commuting to Brunswick or Savannah for work is looking at 60–70 minutes each way.

Healthcare

Wayne Memorial Hospital provides inpatient and emergency care locally. The hospital appears in CMS records under both a general and a Jesup-specific listing; detailed ratings data was not available at the time of this writing. For a full directory of individual healthcare providers licensed in Jesup, the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System maintains a searchable registry: NPI Registry — Jesup, GA. For specialty or advanced care, residents typically travel to Brunswick (Southeast Georgia Health System) or Savannah (Candler, Memorial Health).

Library

The Wayne County Library serves Jesup and the surrounding county and can be reached at (912) 427-2500. It is part of Georgia's public library network and provides access to digital resources, interlibrary loan, and local programming in addition to physical collections.

Parks & Recreation

The nearest National Park Service site is Fort Frederica National Monument, located on St. Simons Island approximately 39.8 miles from Jesup. Fort Frederica preserves the ruins of a British colonial fort and town established by James Oglethorpe in 1736, and it offers both historical interpretation and access to the salt marsh landscape of the Georgia coast. The Fort Frederica Visitor Center is the starting point for any visit. The Altamaha River corridor near Jesup also supports hunting, fishing, and wildlife observation, as the Altamaha is one of the most biologically significant river systems on the Atlantic Seaboard.

Natural Hazards

Wayne County's FEMA disaster declaration history is among the most active in Georgia. Since 2005, the county has received 15 federal emergency or major disaster declarations — nearly all tied to tropical weather systems.

Major hurricane and tropical storm declarations include Hurricane Matthew (2016), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Dorian (2019), Hurricane Idalia (2023), Tropical Storm/Hurricane Debby (2024), and Hurricane Helene (2024) — which generated two separate federal actions within a week in late September 2024. The county also received a declaration for severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds in April 2009, and served as a Hurricane Katrina evacuation support area in 2005.

The pattern is clear: residents in and around Jesup should maintain hurricane preparedness supplies, know their evacuation routes toward higher ground to the north and west, and carry flood insurance if in any low-lying area. The Altamaha basin floods readily, and even tropical systems that make landfall well to the south or west can produce significant rainfall and wind here.

Government & Municipal Code

Jesup's municipal code is published through Municode and is publicly accessible at library.municode.com/ga/jesup. The code covers zoning, business licensing, public safety ordinances, and local governance procedures. Note: Jesup does not have a locally adopted building code on file with the publisher, meaning building construction and renovation may default to state-level standards — anyone planning construction should verify current requirements with Wayne County and the city directly.

Weather

Current forecasts and conditions for Jesup are available through the National Weather Service: NWS Forecast for Jesup, GA. Active watches, warnings, and advisories can be checked at NWS Alerts. The nearest official weather observation station is located 2.1 miles from the town center. Given the hurricane declaration history, bookmarking the NWS alerts page is a practical step for any Jesup resident.

References

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