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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-CORNELIA-GA · Cornelia, GA 4,813 pop · income 8th pct · 11 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Cornelia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cornelia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cochran · lowest
30,756
Cochran · lowest
30,756 median HH income
21.3% of the leader · rank #1
Cooper · near
40,189
Cooper · near
40,189 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #2
Cornelia · this city
40,192
Cornelia · this city
40,192 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #3
Iuka · near
40,192
Iuka · near
40,192 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #4
South Carroll… · near
40,192
South Carroll… · near
40,192 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #5
Clayton · near
40,192
Clayton · near
40,192 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #6
Flourtown · highest
144,634
Flourtown · highest
144,634 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Cornelia on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 4,813.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Cornelia lands in the 8th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
8th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Cornelia, GA
Georgia's Cornelia is a small town, with 4,813 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Cornelia brings in $40,192 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 27.5%. Home values in Cornelia run a median of $210,200, and the median resident age is 31.2 years. Educational attainment runs 25.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 60.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 31 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Slowing), down 9% from five years earlier. NOAA puts Cornelia's yearly average temperature at 58.4°F with 58.9 inches of precipitation per year and 0.6 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Georgia run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Georgia at 96.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,203 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Georgia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Cornelia's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cornelia, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Cornelia growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +919 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +20.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 31 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 25.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cornelia?
Within Georgia, the closest population matches are Cochran (4,815 residents, $30,756 income); Chatsworth (4,857 residents, $68,176 income); Lakeview (4,760 residents, $56,208 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Clinton, IN (4,814 residents); Telford, PA (4,814 residents); Ashland, MO (4,811 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Cornelia?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 58.4°F, with 58.9 inches of precipitation and 0.6 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Georgia is 39.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
58.4°F
Annual precipitation
58.9 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.5
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Cornelia?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 27.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$40,192
Home value
$210,200
Value / income
5.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Cornelia?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.2%
Drive alone
78.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,261 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 27.5% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Cornelia, GA
27/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living C
96.3 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$40,192
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
27.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Cornelia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Household income: 7/100 (F) · $40,192
Poverty rate: 3/100 (F) · 27.5%
How does Cornelia compare to other US cities?
Cornelia measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cornelia against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Georgia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Georgia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Cornelia near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cornelia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cornelia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#470 of 610
23rd percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#208 of 577
64th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#90 of 637
86th percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#188 of 638
70th percentile in Georgia
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Georgia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
8th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Cornelia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$210,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Cornelia's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,225 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,954 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.2×, Cornelia sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,225 of 15,516 and #9,954 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$40,192Cornelia, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cornelia, GA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Cornelia, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)27.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,813
Median Income
$40,192
Median Home Value
$210,200
Median Age
31.2
Poverty Rate
27.5%
Labor force participation
60.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Climate
Avg Temperature
58.4°F
Annual Precipitation
58.9"
Annual Snowfall
0.6"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cornelia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,540 residents
2021
4,748 residents
2022
5,011 residents
2023
5,311 residents
2024
5,388 residents
2025
5,459 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
31
housing units authorized
Single-Family
31
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
34
18
16
$3.5M
2020
85
1
84
$7.1M
2021
106
1
105
$8.9M
2022
132
0
132
$11.0M
2023
14
14
0
$2.8M
2024
31
31
0
$5.6M
Permit volume decreased 9% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.9%
Carpool
16.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.2%
Based on 2,261 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Georgia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Georgia at $225 (electricity about $125 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Georgia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Cornelia. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Georgia's BEA cost-of-living index is 96.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Cornelia is $1,203/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Georgia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.5 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Georgia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Cornelia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cornelia compares to similar-size Georgia cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.