State bird
Brown thrasher
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeAtlanta ·
U.S. States / South · Card 010
Georgia
The Peach State
Cumberland Island is a barrier island along Georgia’s coast.
Georgia and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Georgia.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Atlanta
- Postal abbreviation
- GA
- Population
- 11,302,748July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 153,910 km²59,425 square miles · land and water
- Constitution ratified
- January 2, 1788One of the original thirteen states
- Region
- South
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
Georgia on My Mind
Sources: Designation & background
State prepared food
Grits
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.
02
Landscape & places
Cumberland Island is a barrier island along Georgia’s coast. Beaches face the Atlantic, while marshes and maritime forest occupy other parts of the island. Its natural landscape also contains evidence of Indigenous life, slavery and later estates.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 148,959 km² of land and 4,951 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
Red, white and red stripes, with a blue canton containing the state coat of arms and thirteen stars.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Cumberland Island
How the landscape works
A barrier island has different environments on its ocean and sheltered sides. At Cumberland Island, beaches, marshes, and maritime forest occur within the same island system. Those environments create different conditions for plants, animals, and human activities. A coastline is therefore more than the line where dry land meets open water. It includes connected habitats that can respond differently to wind, water, and storms.
History
Cherokee removal from Georgia
The Cherokee Nation had a government and a capital at New Echota in what is now Georgia. As settlers sought Cherokee land, Georgia asserted authority over it and federal policy increasingly favored removal to the West. A minority group signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, despite opposition from most Cherokee people.
The United States used that treaty to justify forced removal in 1838. Soldiers gathered Cherokee families into camps before the journey west, now remembered as the Trail of Tears. The removal uprooted communities rather than moving an empty boundary on a map. New Echota and the surviving removal routes preserve evidence of that government, resistance and displacement.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
Cherokee removal involved a conflict between a Native nation’s rights and the demands of settlers and governments seeking its land. A treaty did not necessarily represent the consent of everyone it affected. Forced removal broke connections among communities, homes, and livelihoods. Learning the route without explaining the coercion would miss the central historical issue.
Key dates
-
Colonial charter granted
-
Constitution ratified · One of the original thirteen states
-
Western land claims ceded
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Cherokee Nation’s government is based in Oklahoma, while its history includes homelands in the Southeast. Forced removal helps explain why present-day governmental centers and ancestral places can be far apart.
Continue with Cherokee Nation. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Georgia and Alabama
| Measure | Georgia | Alabama |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 11,302,748 | 5,193,088 |
| Land area (km²) | 148,959 | 131,171 |
| People per km² of land | 75.9 | 39.6 |
Georgia has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Alabama.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, real estate and rental and leasing was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included professional and business services, government and government enterprises, and manufacturing.
Total economic output was $924.8 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 14.4%
- Professional and business services: 12.6%
- Government and government enterprises: 10.2%
- Manufacturing: 9.2%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people11.302025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 10,732,595 |
| 2021 | 10,793,038 |
| 2022 | 10,929,992 |
| 2023 | 11,063,669 |
| 2024 | 11,204,208 |
| 2025 | 11,302,748 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars710.412025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 471,588.2 |
| 2011 | 481,215.4 |
| 2012 | 489,027.3 |
| 2013 | 499,900.2 |
| 2014 | 517,511.9 |
| 2015 | 540,108.5 |
| 2016 | 561,718.3 |
| 2017 | 583,543.3 |
| 2018 | 600,934.7 |
| 2019 | 620,744.9 |
| 2020 | 603,202.5 |
| 2021 | 643,748.4 |
| 2022 | 670,107.2 |
| 2023 | 679,447.2 |
| 2024 | 697,450.9 |
| 2025 | 710,412.3 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Georgia’s population increased by about 5.3% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 162024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 142020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Georgia
Show a hint
Your place in the quiz and best full-quiz score are saved on this device when browser storage is available.
Want to practice recognizing states? Try the mixed-state map quiz.
Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.