Jefferson County vs Oglethorpe County

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson County and Oglethorpe County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jefferson County has the higher population (15,468 vs 15,221 in Oglethorpe County). Oglethorpe County has the higher median household income ($69,784 vs $46,561 in Jefferson County). Oglethorpe County has the higher median home value ($198,700 vs $93,100 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
Population	15,468	15,221
Median age	40.7 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$46,561	$69,784
Median home value	$93,100	$198,700
Median gross rent	$723	$832
Housing units	7,165	6,450
Homeownership rate	67.9%	81.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.2%	24.5%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
Population	15,618 → 15,468 (-1.0%)	14,931 → 15,221 (+1.9%)
Median household income	$33,944 → $46,561 (+37.2%)	$47,120 → $69,784 (+48.1%)
Median home value	$72,500 → $93,100 (+28.4%)	$118,500 → $198,700 (+67.7%)
Median gross rent	$561 → $723 (+28.9%)	$725 → $832 (+14.8%)

Jefferson County

Population

15,61815,468

Median household income

$33,944$46,561

Median home value

$72,500$93,100

Median gross rent

$561$723

Oglethorpe County

Population

14,93115,221

Median household income

$47,120$69,784

Median home value

$118,500$198,700

Median gross rent

$725$832

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
Under 5	5.7%	4.8%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.8%
18 to 24	9.2%	8.1%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.8%
35 to 44	13.4%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.3%	13.0%
55 to 64	13.7%	14.6%
65 to 74	11.5%	11.7%
75 and over	7.1%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
White (non-Hispanic)	42.0%	73.6%
Black or African American	52.3%	15.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.4%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	6.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
No high school diploma	18.6%	12.4%
High school graduate	42.7%	36.1%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.1%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.0%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
Drove alone	80.5%	83.9%
Carpooled	15.0%	7.8%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.6%	6.6%
Other means	1.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
1-unit, detached	62.2%	71.0%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	1.1%
20 or more units	0.2%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	30.7%	24.9%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Oglethorpe County
Poverty rate	18.8%	11.2%
Average household size	2.56	2.88
Mean commute (minutes)	29	33
Median year structure built	1982	1988