Bartow County, Georgia

Bartow County is a county in Georgia, United States, about 42 miles southeast of Chattanooga,
Tennessee and roughly the same distance northwest of downtown Atlanta. It had a population of
108,901 at the 2020 census, an estimated 120,800 more recently, and covers 470 square miles
(1,217 km2) centred near 34°14′N 84°50′W.

Cartersville is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 30120. The
county holds 6 cities, 1 incorporated town and 8 unincorporated communities, and it runs on
Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 13015.

Towns & Villages in Bartow County

Bartow County has 15 named places on record: 7 incorporated cities and towns and 8
unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. Unincorp. covers crossroads
and rural communities with no formal boundary and, in most cases, no ZIP code of their own.

Taylorsville straddles a county line: its 1.49 square miles extend from Bartow into Polk
County, so its 252 residents are split between the two. Cassville and Rydal are worth separating
too — Cassville, three miles north of Cartersville, was the original county seat until
Union troops burned it in 1864, while Rydal is a separate crossroads thirteen miles further
north on the same US 411 corridor, with no historical connection beyond geography.

ZIP Codes

• 30120 — Cartersville (also covers Euharlee’s eastern edge)
• 30121 — Cartersville (east-side ZIP, PO box heavy)
• 30103 — Adairsville
• 30145 — Kingston (also covers Euharlee’s western half)
• 30137 — Emerson
• 30184 — White
• 30178 — Taylorsville (shared with the Polk County side of town)
• 30171 — Rydal
• 30123 — Cassville

Atco, Allatoona, Rowland Springs, Stilesboro, Folsom and Center have no ZIP code of their own;
mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Bartow County sits in northwest Georgia, where the Blue Ridge foothills give way to the
Piedmont. Of its 470 square miles, 460 are land and 11 are water, about 2.3 percent — most
of that water is the southern arm of Lake Allatoona, a Corps of Engineers reservoir on the
Etowah River that reaches into the county’s southeast corner near Allatoona. The Etowah River
itself crosses the county west to east, past the Etowah Indian Mounds south of Cartersville, and
Pine Log Mountain rises in the county’s north-central section.

Gordon County lies to the north, Pickens County to the northeast, Cherokee County to the
east, Cobb County to the southeast, Paulding County to the south, Polk County to the southwest,
and Floyd County to the west. Gordon
County, Pickens County, Cobb County, Polk County and Floyd County all have their own page on
this site; Cherokee County and Paulding County do not currently have a Georgia-specific page
here.

Demographics

Bartow County had a population of 108,901 at the 2020 census, up from 100,157 in 2010, and
the latest estimate puts the county near 120,800 residents. Cartersville and Adairsville are the
two largest incorporated places, together holding roughly a quarter of the county’s population.
Median household income runs $82,243, above Georgia’s statewide figure of $74,632 (2023 ACS).
Population density works out to roughly 237 people per square mile of land, moderate for a
county inside the outer edge of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The county recorded 40,045
households in 2020, with 68.4 percent owner-occupied, and a median age of 38.9.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 9,305 people, followed by retail
trade at 7,087 and health care and social assistance at 5,908. Anheuser-Busch runs a large
brewery in Cartersville, and Georgia Power’s coal-fired Plant Bowen, near the Euharlee-Taylorsville
line, has long been one of the county’s biggest single employers. Shaw Industries, a major
flooring manufacturer, and heavy-equipment maker Komatsu both operate plants in the Cartersville
area, and Phoenix Air, a charter and government-contract aviation company, is based at
Cartersville Airport. The county’s biggest annual event is Euharlee’s Fall Festival each October,
centered on the town’s 1886 covered bridge, with craft vendors and school performances.

History

Georgia’s legislature created the county on 3 December 1832 from land taken from the Cherokee
Nation, naming it Cass County after U.S. Senator Lewis Cass. When Cass sided with the Union at
the outbreak of the Civil War, the legislature renamed the county Bartow on 6 December 1861,
honoring Francis S. Bartow, a Confederate colonel from Savannah killed at the First Battle of
Manassas that July — the first Confederate general officer to die in the war.

Cassville served as the original county seat from 1832 until Union troops under General
William Tecumseh Sherman burned the town on 19 May 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign; the county
seat moved to Cartersville afterward, and Cassville never rebuilt at its former size. South of
Cartersville, the Etowah Indian Mounds preserve a Mississippian-culture town occupied from about
1000 to 1550 CE, with its largest mound standing 63 feet high; the site became a National
Historic Landmark in 1964.

Getting There

Interstate 75 crosses the county’s eastern side through Cartersville, Adairsville and Emerson.
US 41 and US 411 run parallel through the county alongside Georgia routes 20, 61, 113 and 293.

• Atlanta — about 42 miles southeast
• Marietta — about 24 miles southeast
• Chattanooga, Tennessee — roughly 75 miles north

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, roughly 50 miles southeast of Cartersville,
is the nearest major commercial airport. Cartersville Airport, three miles southwest of
downtown, handles general aviation and charter traffic on a 5,760-foot runway. No Amtrak line
serves Bartow County; the closest station is Atlanta’s Peachtree Station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Bartow County located?
It sits in northwest Georgia where the Blue Ridge foothills meet the Piedmont, about 42 miles
northwest of downtown Atlanta, bordered by Gordon, Pickens, Cherokee, Cobb, Paulding, Polk and
Floyd counties.

What is the population of Bartow County?
108,901 at the 2020 census, with a more recent estimate near 120,800.

How big is Bartow County?
470 square miles (1,217 km2), of which 460 square miles are land and 11 square miles are Lake
Allatoona and the Etowah River.

What is the county seat of Bartow County?
Cartersville, the county’s largest city, has been the seat since 1864, when Union forces burned
the original seat at Cassville.

How many towns and cities are in Bartow County?
Seven incorporated places — Cartersville, Adairsville, Euharlee, Emerson, Kingston, White
and Taylorsville — plus eight unincorporated communities: Cassville, Rydal, Atco,
Allatoona, Rowland Springs, Stilesboro, Folsom and Center.

What ZIP codes does Bartow County use?
30120 and 30121 for Cartersville, 30103 for Adairsville, 30145 for Kingston and Euharlee’s west
side, 30137 for Emerson, 30184 for White, 30178 for Taylorsville, 30171 for Rydal and 30123 for
Cassville.

What is Bartow County known for?
The Etowah Indian Mounds, one of the best-preserved Mississippian-culture sites in the
Southeast, and Cassville, the original county seat burned by Sherman’s army in 1864.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Georgia.