Chatham County vs DeKalb County

A side-by-side comparison of Chatham County and DeKalb County: population, income, housing, and more.

Chatham County and DeKalb County are counties in Georgia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

DeKalb County has the higher population (762,105 vs 298,143 in Chatham County). DeKalb County has the higher median household income ($77,683 vs $69,575 in Chatham County). DeKalb County has the higher median home value ($331,400 vs $273,300 in Chatham County).

Population, income & housing

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
Population	298,143	762,105
Median age	37.1 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$69,575	$77,683
Median home value	$273,300	$331,400
Median gross rent	$1,382	$1,591
Housing units	135,983	328,614
Homeownership rate	56.3%	58.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.8%	46.7%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
Population	288,496 → 298,143 (+3.3%)	749,323 → 762,105 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$56,842 → $69,575 (+22.4%)	$62,399 → $77,683 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$194,500 → $273,300 (+40.5%)	$215,600 → $331,400 (+53.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,085 → $1,382 (+27.4%)	$1,169 → $1,591 (+36.1%)

Chatham County

Population

288,496298,143

Median household income

$56,842$69,575

Median home value

$194,500$273,300

Median gross rent

$1,085$1,382

DeKalb County

Population

749,323762,105

Median household income

$62,399$77,683

Median home value

$215,600$331,400

Median gross rent

$1,169$1,591

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
Under 5	5.9%	6.6%
5 to 17	15.1%	16.4%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.4%
25 to 34	15.7%	16.4%
35 to 44	13.1%	14.4%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.1%	11.7%
65 to 74	9.9%	8.4%
75 and over	6.5%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
White (non-Hispanic)	45.7%	28.1%
Black or African American	38.8%	51.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.8%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.9%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	8.0%	10.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
No high school diploma	8.8%	9.2%
High school graduate	24.6%	20.1%
Some college or associate's	29.9%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.0%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	14.7%	20.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
Drove alone	73.8%	62.8%
Carpooled	10.4%	9.6%
Public transit	1.4%	4.1%
Walked	2.3%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.9%	20.0%
Other means	1.5%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	56.0%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	8.3%
2 to 4 units	10.9%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	16.2%
20 or more units	7.4%	14.1%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Chatham County	DeKalb County
Poverty rate	14.3%	13.5%
Average household size	2.41	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	23	31
Median year structure built	1985	1983