Decatur County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Decatur County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wayne County has the higher population (30,519 vs 29,118 in Decatur County). Decatur County has the higher median household income ($50,485 vs $49,562 in Wayne County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($149,800 vs $146,200 in Decatur County).

Population, income & housing

	Decatur County	Wayne County
Population	29,118	30,519
Median age	38.7 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$50,485	$49,562
Median home value	$146,200	$149,800
Median gross rent	$860	$839
Housing units	13,106	12,590
Homeownership rate	61.8%	65.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.6%	14.0%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decatur County	Wayne County
Population	26,682 → 29,118 (+9.1%)	29,788 → 30,519 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$41,481 → $50,485 (+21.7%)	$45,483 → $49,562 (+9.0%)
Median home value	$110,900 → $146,200 (+31.8%)	$105,400 → $149,800 (+42.1%)
Median gross rent	$677 → $860 (+27.0%)	$655 → $839 (+28.1%)

Decatur County

Population

26,68229,118

Median household income

$41,481$50,485

Median home value

$110,900$146,200

Median gross rent

$677$860

Wayne County

Population

29,78830,519

Median household income

$45,483$49,562

Median home value

$105,400$149,800

Median gross rent

$655$839

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decatur County	Wayne County
Under 5	6.7%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.6%	18.6%
18 to 24	9.1%	8.4%
25 to 34	11.9%	12.0%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.7%
45 to 54	10.8%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.3%	12.4%
65 to 74	9.8%	10.1%
75 and over	7.0%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decatur County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	49.0%	70.8%
Black or African American	41.7%	19.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	6.8%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decatur County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	16.9%	13.7%
High school graduate	33.6%	44.3%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decatur County	Wayne County
Drove alone	82.0%	75.8%
Carpooled	10.6%	15.6%
Public transit	0.3%	1.0%
Walked	0.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.1%
Worked from home	2.8%	4.6%
Other means	2.7%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decatur County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	66.5%	57.9%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	6.1%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	1.4%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	20.8%	33.8%

Poverty & households

	Decatur County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	24.8%	20.5%
Average household size	2.67	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	20	28
Median year structure built	1987	1988