Chatham County, Georgia

Chatham County ( ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Georgia, on the state's Atlantic coast. The county seat and largest city is Savannah. One of the original counties of Georgia, Chatham County was created February 5, 1777, and is named after William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.

The U.S. Census Bureau's 2025 estimated population for Chatham County was 311,855 residents. The official 2020 U.S. census population was 295,291 residents, an increase of 11.4% from the official 2010 population of 265,128. Chatham County is the fifth-most-populous county in Georgia, and the state's most populous outside the Atlanta metropolitan area. The county is the core of the Savannah metropolitan area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (32.6%) is covered by water.

Chatham County is the northernmost of Georgia's coastal counties on the Atlantic Ocean. It is bounded on the northeast by the Savannah River, and in the southwest bounded by the Ogeechee River.

The bulk of Chatham County, an area with a northern border in a line from Bloomingdale to Tybee Island, is located in the Ogeechee River Coastal subbasin of the Ogeechee River basin. The portion of the county north of that line is located in the lower Savannah River subbasin of the Savannah River basin, while the very southern fringes of the Chatham County are located in the lower Ogeechee River subbasin of the Ogeechee River basin.

Major highways

(Interstate 16)
(Interstate 95)
(Interstate 516)
(decommissioned)
(unsigned designation for I-16)
(unsigned designation for I-95)
(unsigned designation for I-516)
(Savannah River Parkway)

Adjacent counties

Jasper County, South Carolina – north
Beaufort County, South Carolina – northeast
Bryan County – west/southwest
Liberty County - southeast
Effingham County – northwest

National protected areas

Fort Pulaski National Monument
Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (part)
Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge

Communities

Municipalities

Cities

Bloomingdale
Garden City
Pooler
Port Wentworth
Savannah (county seat)
Tybee Island

Towns

Thunderbolt
Vernonburg

Census-designated places

Dutch Island
Georgetown
Henderson
Isle of Hope
Montgomery
Skidaway Island
Talahi Island
Whitemarsh Island
Wilmington Island

Other unincorporated communities

Pin Point
Sandfly

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Chatham County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|121,234

|129,145

|125,802

|133,492

|style='background: #ffffe6; |139,433

|59.95%

|59.53%

|54.21%

|50.35%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |47.22%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|76,648

|82,179

|93,463

|105,274

|style='background: #ffffe6; |108,011

|37.90%

|37.88%

|40.28%

|39.71%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |36.58%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|237

|437

|517

|587

|style='background: #ffffe6; |619

|0.12%

|0.20%

|0.22%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.21%

|Asian alone (NH)

|1,418

|2,276

|3,992

|6,229

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10,620

|0.70%

|1.05%

|1.72%

|2.35%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.60%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|128

|224

|style='background: #ffffe6; |408

|0.06%

|0.08%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.14%

|Other race alone (NH)

|413

|116

|311

|476

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,447

|0.20%

|0.05%

|0.13%

|0.18%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.49%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|2,432

|4,476

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10,963

|1.05%

|1.69%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.71%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|2,276

|2,782

|5,403

|14,370

|style='background: #ffffe6; |23,790

|1.13%

|1.28%

|2.33%

|5.42%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8.06%

|Total

|202,226

|216,935

|232,048

|265,128

|style='background: #ffffe6; |295,291

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 295,291. Of the residents, 20.5% were under the age of 18 and 16.1% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 36.4 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.5 males. 97.0% of residents lived in urban areas and 3.0% lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was 48.7% White, 37.0% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.6% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 3.9% from some other race, and 6.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 8.1% of the population.

Savannah State University is partly in the Savannah city limits and partly in an unincorporated area.

Savannah College of Art and Design is in Savannah.

Libraries

The Live Oak Public Libraries constitute a regional library system that provides services to three Georgia counties: Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty. The former name of the system, "Chatham Effingham Liberty Regional Library," described this collaboration. In 2002, the name was changed to Live Oak, which reflects the personality of the region, as well as the life and growth of its branches.

At the beginning of the 20th century, city leaders in Savannah began to discuss the need for a public library. The history of libraries in Chatham County dates to 1903. According to Geraldine LeMay, former director of the Savannah Public Chatham-Effingham and Liberty Regional Library, the Georgia Historical Society and the city of Savannah worked out a plan that year to establish the Savannah Public Library. The idea was the brainchild of the Georgia Historical Society, which set up a planning committee to determine how the facilities of the society might best be useful to the city of Savannah. In a joint meeting of committee members from the society and the city of Savannah, a free public library was established that would prove to be of great value to the community. This library, however, did not serve citizens of color.

The parties agreed to allow free use of the society's books, provide physical space for the library, and annually contribute $500 in financial support for the library. In turn, the city would contribute $3,000 in annual support.

With an ever-increasing population the library's board of directors decided to expand services beyond the Main Library. In 1916, two branch libraries were opened: the East Side Branch at Habersham and Congress Streets, and the Waters Avenue Branch. The services provided by these two branches were confined to children.

Unincorporated Chatham County is primarily served by the Chatham County Police Department. (CCPD) and the Georgia State Patrol. The Chatham County Sheriff's Office is the enforcement arm of the county court system and operates the county jail. Except for the Town of Vernonburg, every incorporated town and city in Chatham County has its own police department.

Politics

As of the 2020s, Chatham County is a Democratic Party stronghold, voting 58% for Kamala Harris in 2024. Chatham County was one of the earliest counties in Georgia to turn Republican and shake off its Solid South roots. From 1952 to 2000, the county voted for the Republican candidate for president all but four times. In 1968, Hubert Humphrey carried Chatham County by 95 votes over second-place Richard Nixon, and Chatham was one of only eight Georgia counties in which George Wallace came in as low as third place. Jimmy Carter won a majority in both of his runs for president, and in 1996, Bill Clinton became the first non-Georgian Democrat since Franklin D.

Roosevelt to win a majority.

The county has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 2004, when John Kerry carried it by fewer than 150 votes and won a plurality. It would swing dramatically to support Barack Obama in 2008, making Obama only the second non-Georgian Democrat since Franklin Roosevelt to win a majority of the county's votes. Since then, Chatham has tended to vote substantially more for Democrats at the presidential level than the state as a whole. In the last four presidential elections, Democrats have recorded the biggest margins for non-Georgian Democrats since Roosevelt's landslides. This culminated in Joe Biden's winning 58.6% of the vote in the 2020 election, outdoing Jimmy Carter's 57% in 1976 for the best performance of a Democrat in the county since Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. Since 2008, Chatham has been one of the most reliably Democratic urban counties in the state outside the Atlanta area, and one of the few Democratic pockets in heavily Republican South Georgia.

For elections to the United States House of Representatives, Chatham County is part of Georgia's 1st congressional district, currently represented by Buddy Carter. For elections to the Georgia State Senate, Chatham County is divided between districts 1, 2 and 4. For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Chatham County is divided between districts 161, 162, 163, 164, 165 and 166.

References

External links

Documents from Chatham County at the Digital Library of Georgia