Georgia Counties Map: Click All 159 Counties

How many counties are in Georgia?

Georgia has 159 counties. Only Texas has more.

Georgia has 159 counties, more than any state except Texas. The city of Atlanta lies mostly in Fulton County, with a small part in DeKalb County. Clarke County, home to Athens, is the smallest by land area.

How Georgia's counties were formed

Georgia's first eight counties were created by the state constitution of 1777: Burke, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Richmond and Wilkes. The state kept adding small counties into the 1900s, partly so every farmer could reach a county seat and back in a day. Peach County, created in 1924, was the 161st. In 1932 Campbell and Milton counties merged into Fulton, leaving 159, and the state constitution now caps the total there.

Georgia regions and the counties in each

Georgia's map crosses five land regions. The Blue Ridge mountains fill the northeast corner (Rabun, Union, Towns), and the Ridge and Valley country is the northwest corner (Dade, Walker, Floyd). The Piedmont covers the Atlanta area, Athens and Augusta. The fall line, where rivers drop to the coastal plain, links Columbus, Macon and Augusta. The Coastal Plain covers the whole southern half, including the farm counties around Albany and Tifton, and six counties face the Atlantic: Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn and Camden.

Notable places on the Georgia county map

Brasstown Bald, the state's highest point at 4,784 feet, sits on the line between Towns and Union counties. The Okefenokee Swamp spreads across Ware, Charlton and Clinch counties, and Stone Mountain, a huge granite dome, rises in DeKalb County east of Atlanta. Cumberland Island National Seashore, home to wild horses, is Georgia's southernmost barrier island, in Camden County.

Georgia counties map: the biggest and smallest

Ware County is the largest county in Georgia, with 899 square miles of land, about 2% of the state. Clarke County is the smallest, at 119 square miles.

The smallest counties by land area are Clarke County (119 sq mi), Rockdale County (130 sq mi) and Clayton County (142 sq mi).

Which counties in Georgia have the most people?

Fulton County has the most people, about 1,090,354 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 10% of everyone in Georgia. The three biggest counties together hold 26% of the state's 11,180,878 people. Taliaferro County has the fewest, about 1,620.

The most crowded is DeKalb County, with about 2,878 people per square mile. The emptiest is Baker County, with about 8 people per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Atlanta in?

Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, is in Fulton County. It's also the county with the most people. Georgia is called the Peach State, and it became the 4th state in 1788.

Counties on the Georgia border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. Georgia shares a border with Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

How Georgia's counties compare with other states

Georgia ranks 21st among the 50 states in land area and 8th in population. Its average county covers about 363 square miles and holds about 70,320 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so Georgia's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of Georgia

• The Atlanta area counties (Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett) form a tight cluster in the north-central part of the state.
• Chatham County (Savannah) sits at the northern end of the coast.
• The mountain counties line the border with Tennessee and North Carolina.
• Ware County, the largest, holds part of the Okefenokee Swamp in the southeast.

With 159 counties, work one region at a time: study it with names on, then take a Practice round and stop when you've found that group. Then print the Georgia county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 159 Georgia counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

Georgia geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Southeast states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in georgia, and check school choice georgia to see whether a program may help pay for Georgia history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.