Chatham County, Georgia

County in Georgia, United States

For the county in North Carolina, see Chatham County, North Carolina. For the band, see Chatham County Line.

County in Georgia

Chatham County

County

Chatham County Administrative and Legislative Center in Savannah

Seal

Location within the U.S. state of Georgia

Georgia's location within the U.S.

Coordinates: 31°58′N 81°05′W﻿ / ﻿31.97°N 81.09°W﻿ / 31.97; -81.09
Country|  United States
State|  Georgia
Founded| February 5, 1777; 247 years ago (1777)
Named for| William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
Seat| Savannah
Largest city| Savannah
Area

• Total| 632 sq mi (1,640 km2)
• Land| 426 sq mi (1,100 km2)
• Water| 206 sq mi (530 km2)  32.6%
Population

(2020)

• Total| 295,291
• Density| 470/sq mi (180/km2)
Time zone| UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)| UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district| 1st
Website| chathamcountyga.gov

Chatham County (/ˈtʃætəm/ CHAT-əm) is located 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.[1]

The U.S. Census Bureau's official 2020 population for Chatham County was 295,291 residents.[2] This was an increase of 11.4% from the official 2010 population of 265,128 residents.[3] Chatham is the sixth most populous county in Georgia, and the most populous Georgia county outside the Atlanta metropolitan area. Chatham is the core county of the Savannah metropolitan area.

## Geography

[edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 632 sq mi (1,640 km2), of which 206 sq mi (530 km2) (32.6%) is covered by water.[4]

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.[5]

### Major highways

[edit]

* I-16 (Interstate 16)
* I-95 (Interstate 95)
* I-516 (Interstate 516)
* US 17
* US 80
* SR 17
* SR 21
* SR 21 Spur
* SR 25
* SR 26
* SR 26 Conn.
* SR 30
* SR 204
* SR 204 Spur (Decommissioned)
* SR 307
* SR 404 (unsigned designation for I-16)
* SR 404 Spur
* SR 405 (unsigned designation for I-95)
* SR 421 (unsigned designation for I-516)
* SR 565 (Savannah River Parkway)

### Adjacent counties

[edit]

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

### National protected areas

[edit]

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

## Communities

[edit]

### Municipalities

[edit]

#### Cities

[edit]

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

#### Towns

[edit]

* Thunderbolt
* Vernonburg

### Census-designated places

[edit]

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

### Other unincorporated communities

[edit]

* Pin Point
* Sandfly

## Demographics

[edit]

Historical population Census| Pop.| Note| %±

|
|
|

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%
2020| 295,291| | 11.4%
2023 (est.)| 303,655| | 2.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[6]
1790-1880[7] 1890-1910[8]
1920-1930[9] 1930-1940[10]
1940-1950[11] 1960-1980[12]
1980-2000[13] 2010[14] 2020[15]
Chatham County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race. Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[16] | Pop 2010[14] | Pop 2020[15] | % 2000  | % 2010  | % 2020

|
|
|
|
|
|

White alone (NH)  | 125,802  | 133,492  | 139,433  | 54.21%  | 50.35%  | 47.22%
Black or African American alone (NH)  | 93,463  | 105,274  | 108,011  | 40.28%  | 39.71%  | 36.58%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)  | 517  | 587  | 619  | 0.22%  | 0.22%  | 0.21%
Asian alone (NH)  | 3,992  | 6,229  | 10,620  | 1.72%  | 2.35%  | 3.60%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)  | 128  | 224  | 408  | 0.06%  | 0.08%  | 0.14%
Other race alone (NH)  | 311  | 476  | 1,447  | 0.13%  | 0.18%  | 0.49%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)  | 2,432  | 4,476  | 10,963  | 1.05%  | 1.69%  | 3.71%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)  | 5,403  | 14,370  | 23,790  | 2.33%  | 5.42%  | 8.06%
Total | 232,048 | 265,128 | 295,291 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 295,291 people, 107,987 households, and 65,889 families residing in the county.

## Education

[edit]

Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools headquarters

See also: Savannah, Georgia § Education

Public schools are operated by Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. The entire county is in the district.[17]

## Libraries

[edit]

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.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] 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.

## Government and infrastructure

[edit]

The Coastal State Prison, a Georgia Department of Corrections state prison, is located in Savannah, near Garden City.[21][22]

Unincorporated Chatham County is primarily served by the Chatham County Police Department. (CCPD[23]) 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.[24] Except for the Town of Vernonburg, every incorporated town and city in Chatham County has its own police department.[25]

## Politics

[edit]

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 went Republican all but four times. Hubert Humphrey carried it by 95 votes in 1968, when it was also one of only eight counties in Georgia in which George Wallace came in third. 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 Franklin Roosevelt.

The county has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 2004, when John Kerry carried it by fewer than 150 votes and by a plurality. 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 Franklin Roosevelt. 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 non-Georgian Democrats since Roosevelt's landslides. This culminated in 2020, when Joe Biden took 58.6% of the vote, outdoing Carter's 57% in 1976 for the best performance in the county since Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. 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. It is primarily an urban county, especially in its principal city of Savannah.

United States presidential election results for Chatham County, Georgia[26] Year  | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies)

|
|
|

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 | 368  | 7.70%  | 3,797  | 79.42% | 616  | 12.88%
1912 | 238  | 5.37%  | 3,864  | 87.14% | 332  | 7.49%
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

[edit]

* State of Georgia portal

* Georgia Senate, District 2
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Chatham County, Georgia
* List of counties in Georgia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 39\. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 10, 2003.
2. ^ "Census 2010-2020: Counties, Georgia". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
3. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
4. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
5. ^ "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
6. ^ "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades". United States Census Bureau.
7. ^ "1880 Census Population by Counties 1790-1800" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
8. ^ "1910 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
9. ^ "1930 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930.
10. ^ "1940 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
11. ^ "1950 Census of Population - Georgia -" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
12. ^ "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
13. ^ "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
14. ^ a b "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Chatham County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
15. ^ a b "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Chatham County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
16. ^ "P004 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Chatham County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
17. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Chatham County, GA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved August 1, 2022. \- Text list
18. ^ "Library History". Live Oak Public Libraries. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
19. ^ LeMay, Geraldine. "HISTORY OF THE SAVANNAH PUBLIC CHATHAM – EFFINGHAM – LIBERTY REGIONAL AND CARNEGIE LIBRARIES 1903 – 1963" (PDF). Live Oak Public Libraries. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
20. ^ LeMay, Geraldine. "History of the Savannah Public Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional and Carnegie Libraries 1903-1963" (PDF). Live Oak Public Libraries (LOPL). LOPL. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
21. ^ "City of Savannah Neighborhoods 2008 Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." City of Savannah. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
22. ^ "Coastal State Prison Archived 2010-09-04 at the Wayback Machine." Georgia Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
23. ^ "Chatham County Police Department - Home". police.chathamcountyga.gov. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
24. ^ "Enforcement". Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
25. ^ "SCMPD FAQs". Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
26. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 19, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Chatham County, Georgia at Wikimedia Commons

* Official website
* Documents from Chatham County at the Digital Library of Georgia

* v
* t
* e

Places adjacent to Chatham County, Georgia

| Effingham County |  | Jasper County, South Carolina

|
|

|  |
Bryan County |

Chatham County, Georgia

| Atlantic Ocean
|  |
|  |

* v
* t
* e

Municipalities and communities of Chatham County, Georgia, United States

County seat: Savannah

Cities|

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

Map of Georgia highlighting Chatham County

Towns|

* Thunderbolt
* Vernonburg

CDPs|

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

Unincorporated
communities|

* Bethesda
* Pin Point
* Sandfly
* Silk Hope
* White Bluff

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31°58′N 81°05′W﻿ / ﻿31.97°N 81.09°W﻿ / 31.97; -81.09
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