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Chatham County, Georgia
Chatham County Courthouse, Administrative Center, Savannah GA, East view 20160705 1
Chatham County Administrative and Legislative Center in Savannah
Seal of Chatham County, Georgia
Seal
Map of Georgia highlighting Chatham County
Location in the state of Georgia (U.S. state)
Map of the U.S
Georgia's location in the U.S.
Founded February 5, 1777
Named for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
Seat Savannah
Largest city Savannah
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

632 sq mi (1,637 km²)
426 sq mi (1,103 km²)
206 sq mi (534 km²), 32.6%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

295,291
622/sq mi (240/km²)
Congressional district 1st
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website www.chathamcounty.org

Chatham County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, and is located 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 population as of the 2020 U.S. Census was 295,291 residents, making Chatham the most populous Georgia county outside the Atlanta metropolitan area. Chatham is the core county of the Savannah metropolitan area.


Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 632 square miles (1,640 km2), of which 426 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 206 square miles (530 km2) (32.6%) is water.[1]

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 Coastal sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin. The portion of the county north of that line is located in the Lower Savannah River sub-basin of the Savannah River basin, while the very southern fringes of the Chatham County are located in the Lower Ogeechee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin.[2]

Major highways[]

  • I-16 (GA) Interstate 16
  • I-95 (GA) Interstate 95
  • I-516 (GA) Interstate 516
  • US 17 U.S. Route 17
  • US 80 U.S. Route 80
  • Georgia 17 State Route 17
  • Georgia 21 State Route 21
  • Georgia 21 Spur State Route 21 Spur
  • Georgia 25 State Route 25
  • Georgia 26 State Route 26
  • State Route 26 Connector
  • Georgia 30 State Route 30
  • Georgia 204 State Route 204
  • Georgia 204 Spur State Route 204 Spur
  • Georgia 307 State Route 307
  • Georgia 404 State Route 404 (unsigned designation for I-16)
  • Georgia 404 Spur State Route 404 Spur
  • Georgia 405 State Route 405 (unsigned designation for I-95)
  • Georgia 421 State Route 421 (unsigned designation for I-516)
  • Georgia 565 Savannah River Parkway

Adjacent counties[]

National protected areas[]

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

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1790 10,769
1800 12,946 20.2%
1810 13,540 4.6%
1820 14,737 8.8%
1830 14,127 −4.1%
1840 18,801 33.1%
1850 23,901 27.1%
1860 31,043 29.9%
1870 41,279 33.0%
1880 45,023 9.1%
1890 57,740 28.2%
1900 71,239 23.4%
1910 79,690 11.9%
1920 100,032 25.5%
1930 105,431 5.4%
1940 117,970 11.9%
1950 151,481 28.4%
1960 188,299 24.3%
1970 187,767 −0.3%
1980 202,226 7.7%
1990 216,935 7.3%
2000 232,048 7.0%
2010 265,128 14.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[3]
1790-1960[4] 1900-1990[5]
1990-2000[6] 2010-2020[7]

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 265,128 people, 103,038 households, and 64,613 families residing in the county.[8] The population density was 621.7 inhabitants per square mile (240.0 /km2). There were 119,323 housing units at an average density of 279.8 per square mile (108.0 /km2).[9] The racial makeup of the county was 52.8% white, 40.1% black or African American, 2.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.2% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 5.4% of the population.[8] In terms of ancestry, 9.8% were Irish, 8.7% were English, 7.9% were German, and 4.6% were American.[10]

Of the 103,038 households, 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.0% were married couples living together, 17.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.3% were non-families, and 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.03. The median age was 34.0 years.[8]

The median income for a household in the county was $44,928 and the median income for a family was $54,933. Males had a median income of $42,239 versus $31,778 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,397. About 11.6% of families and 16.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.[11]

Education[]

Savannah-Chatham County Public School System building

Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools headquarters

Public schools are operated by Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools.

Government and infrastructure[]

The Coastal State Prison, a Georgia Department of Corrections state prison, is located in Savannah, near Garden City.[12][13]

Chatham County is primarily policed by the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department (SCMPD) 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.[14] The SCMPD was formed on January 1, 2005 when the separate Savannah Police Department and Chatham County Police merged.[15]

Communities[]

Municipalities[]

Cities[]

  • Bloomingdale
  • Garden City
  • Pooler
  • Port Wentworth
  • Savannah
  • Tybee Island

Towns[]

  • Thunderbolt
  • Vernonburg

Census-designated places (unincorporated)[]

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

Other unincorporated communities[]

  • Pin Point
  • White Bluff
  • Sandfly

Politics[]

Chatham County was one of the earliest counties in Georgia to convert from a Solid South voting pattern. From 1952 to 2000, the county went Republican all but four times. Hubert Humphrey carried it by 95 votes in 1968. Jimmy Carter won a majority in both of his runs for president, and in 1996, Bill Clinton became the first non-Georgian Democrat to win a majority since Humphrey.

The county has voted majority Democratic in every presidential election since 2004, when John Kerry carried it by fewer than 150 votes. It swung dramatically to support Barack Obama in 2008, making Obama only the second non-Georgian Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote since Humphrey. Since then, Chatham has tended to vote substantially more for the Democratic Party at the presidential level than the state as a whole. In the last four presidential elections, the Democrats have recorded the biggest margins for a non-Georgian Democrat since Roosevelt's landslides. This culminated in 2020, when Joe Biden took 58.6% of the vote, outdoing Carter's 57% in 1980, because it is a primarily urban county with a large African-American population, especially in its principal city of Savannah. Since 2008, it has been one of the most Democratic urban counties in the state outside of the Atlanta area, and one of the few Democratic pockets in mostly heavily Republican South Georgia.

United States presidential election results for Chatham County, Georgia[16]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 53,232 39.88% 78,247 58.62% 2,005 1.50%
2016 45,688 40.41% 62,290 55.10% 5,073 4.49%
2012 47,204 43.38% 60,246 55.36% 1,371 1.26%
2008 46,829 42.40% 62,755 56.82% 858 0.78%
2004 45,484 49.62% 45,630 49.78% 557 0.61%
2000 37,847 49.49% 37,590 49.15% 1,038 1.36%
1996 31,987 44.88% 35,781 50.20% 3,509 4.92%
1992 31,925 44.30% 31,533 43.75% 8,611 11.95%
1988 35,623 58.12% 25,063 40.89% 603 0.98%
1984 38,482 57.65% 28,271 42.35% 0 0.00%
1980 26,499 46.67% 28,413 50.04% 1,869 3.29%
1976 24,160 42.96% 32,075 57.04% 0 0.00%
1972 38,079 70.98% 15,566 29.02% 0 0.00%
1968 18,106 33.81% 18,201 33.99% 17,238 32.19%
1964 33,141 58.85% 23,176 41.15% 1 0.00%
1960 17,935 52.48% 16,240 47.52% 0 0.00%
1956 14,520 62.54% 8,698 37.46% 0 0.00%
1952 15,532 51.94% 14,370 48.06% 0 0.00%
1948 5,966 24.97% 10,864 45.46% 7,067 29.57%
1944 2,058 19.09% 8,725 80.91% 0 0.00%
1940 1,985 16.47% 10,048 83.37% 19 0.16%
1936 1,227 10.89% 10,019 88.90% 24 0.21%
1932 1,669 17.13% 8,020 82.31% 55 0.56%
1928 5,288 48.86% 5,534 51.14% 0 0.00%
1924 1,800 20.42% 6,158 69.86% 857 9.72%
1920 995 19.00% 4,243 81.00% 0 0.00%
1916 616 12.88% 3,797 79.42% 368 7.70%
1912 332 7.49% 3,864 87.14% 238 5.37%
1908 1,209 26.54% 3,305 72.54% 42 0.92%
1904 363 12.01% 2,645 87.52% 14 0.46%
1900 916 21.43% 3,352 78.41% 7 0.16%
1896 1,697 35.64% 2,506 52.64% 558 11.72%
1892 1,359 20.35% 5,264 78.83% 55 0.82%
1888 1,355 25.41% 3,920 73.52% 57 1.07%
1884 1,747 35.72% 3,144 64.28% 0 0.00%
1880 2,160 38.82% 3,404 61.18% 0 0.00%



See also[]

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Chatham County, Georgia

References[]

  1. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
  2. ^ "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. http://www.gaswcc.org/maps/. Retrieved 2015-11-22. 
  3. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. http://www.webcitation.org/6YSasqtfX?url=http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html. Retrieved June 17, 2014. 
  4. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2014. 
  5. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ga190090.txt. Retrieved June 19, 2014. 
  6. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. Retrieved June 19, 2014. 
  7. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named QF
  8. ^ a b c "DP-1 Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0500000US13051. Retrieved 2015-12-27. 
  9. ^ "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - County". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/GCTPH1.CY07/0500000US13051. Retrieved 2015-12-27. 
  10. ^ "DP02 SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP02/0500000US13051. Retrieved 2015-12-27. 
  11. ^ "DP03 SELECTED ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP03/0500000US13051. Retrieved 2015-12-27. 
  12. ^ "City of Savannah Neighborhoods 2008 Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." City of Savannah. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
  13. ^ "Coastal State Prison Archived 2010-09-04 at the Wayback Machine." Georgia Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
  14. ^ http://www.chathamsheriff.org/Enforcement.aspx
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20101130005852/http://savannahpd.org/cityweb/scmpdorg.nsf/238f728e195a9dbb85256ae90052f4a9/05b4f92ebc47ef1e85256dc2006020c5?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  16. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 

External links[]

Coordinates: 31°58′N 81°05′W / 31.97, -81.09


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Chatham County, Georgia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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