Odum, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Odum · Wayne County, Georgia
Population 384 (est. 2026: ~700)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 17.97% annual growth projection

Odum, Georgia

Wayne County, Georgia · Population 463

Odum sits in the longleaf pine flatlands of southeastern Georgia, about 55 miles northwest of Brunswick and roughly 70 miles southwest of Savannah. It is a small incorporated community — fewer than 500 people — embedded in Wayne County's rural landscape where timber, agriculture, and corridor traffic along US-341 define the local economy. The nearest city of any scale is Jesup, the Wayne County seat, roughly 12 miles to the southeast. Odum is not a suburb of anything. It functions as a self-contained rural settlement with its own elementary school and a tight housing stock, and it draws on Jesup for most commercial, medical, and government services.

People & Demographics

The ACS 2022 survey counted 355 residents in Odum, within a total population figure of 463 for the incorporated city. The median age is 37.3 years. The population skews majority white (312 residents), with 24 Black residents and 9 Hispanic or Latino residents. There are no Asian residents recorded in this survey period.

Of 123 occupied households, 93 are family households. The average household size of 2.89 is higher than most small Georgia towns, reflecting the notable share of children in the population — 110 residents under age 18, which represents roughly 31 percent of the ACS count. That is a community with a lot of kids relative to its size, which helps explain why Odum Elementary runs well above the town's own census headcount.

Wayne County as a whole holds 30,144 residents. Odum represents a small fraction of that, but its demographic profile — younger-than-average households with children — distinguishes it from many rural communities that skew older.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Odum is $51,797. Per capita income is $22,585. Georgia's statewide median household income runs considerably higher, placing Odum in the lower tier economically. Of the 138 residents counted in the labor force, only 3 are unemployed — a low unemployment rate — though the broader picture includes 43 residents living below the poverty line, which suggests a segment of the working-age population is not captured in labor force participation figures.

The local economy ties into Wayne County's broader base of forestry, agricultural processing, and transportation. Jesup, as the county seat, provides the largest concentration of local employment, and most Odum workers make that daily commute.

Housing

Odum has 147 total housing units. Of those, 123 are occupied and 24 are vacant — a vacancy rate of about 16 percent, which is elevated but not unusual for rural Georgia communities. Owner-occupied units number 87; 36 units are renter-occupied, putting the ownership rate at approximately 71 percent of occupied units.

The median home value is $104,500. That figure is low by Georgia standards but reflects the rural land market and the modest size of the housing stock. Median gross rent sits at $877 per month, which is relatively modest but notable given per capita income levels — renters here carry a meaningful housing cost burden relative to local wages.

Schools

Odum Elementary School serves grades pre-K through 5 with an enrollment of 405 students — a figure that substantially exceeds the town's own population count, indicating the school draws from the surrounding rural area. For middle and high school, students attend Wayne County schools based in Jesup.

Getting Around

Odum is car-dependent. Of 135 workers, 106 drove alone to work and 28 carpooled. Zero workers used public transit, and zero walked to work. Only 1 person worked from home. The aggregate commute time for all workers totals 2,645 minutes, averaging roughly 19.6 minutes per worker — consistent with a short rural commute to Jesup or surrounding county employment sites. There is no local public transit service.

Healthcare

Wayne Memorial Hospital serves as the county's primary hospital, located in Jesup. Specific hospital ratings and emergency service data were not available in the current dataset. For a searchable list of individual healthcare providers registered in Odum, the CMS NPI Registry can be queried directly at npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov.

Library

The Wayne County Library is the nearest public library, located approximately 8.5 miles from Odum. It can be reached by phone at (912) 427-2500.

Parks & Recreation

Fort Frederica National Monument, administered by the National Park Service, is the closest major federal recreational and historical site, located on St. Simons Island approximately 49 miles southeast. The Fort Frederica Visitor Center is roughly 48.9 miles from Odum. The monument preserves the remains of a British colonial fort and town from the 1730s and offers a substantive look at early Georgia history. The surrounding Golden Isles region provides coastal recreation — beaches, marshes, and waterways — within reasonable driving distance for Odum residents.

Natural Hazards

Wayne County sits squarely in the path of Atlantic and Gulf storm systems that track through southeastern Georgia. FEMA disaster declarations for the county cover more than fifteen events since 2005:

The pattern is unambiguous: Wayne County absorbs major storm impacts on a near-annual basis in recent years. Residents should maintain hurricane preparedness plans and monitor official alerts regularly.

Government & Municipal Code

Odum's municipal code is published through Municode and accessible at library.municode.com/ga/odum-city-georgia. The city does not have a locally adopted building code on record.

Weather

Current forecasts for Odum are available through the National Weather Service at forecast.weather.gov. Active weather alerts can be monitored at alerts.weather.gov. The nearest weather observation station is Madray Springs 2WNW, located 5.2 miles from town.

References

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