Burke County, Georgia

Burke County is a county in Georgia, United States, on the South Carolina border along the Savannah River, in the east-central part of the state. It had a population of 24,596 at the 2020 census and covers 835 square miles (2,160 km2), of which 827 square miles (2,140 km2) is land, centred near 33°04′N 82°00′W.

Waynesboro is the county seat, and its postal code is 30830. The county has 4 cities, 2 towns and more than two dozen unincorporated communities. It sits in the Eastern time zone and carries FIPS code 13033.

Towns & Villages in Burke County

Burke County’s 30 named places split into 6 incorporated municipalities and roughly two dozen unincorporated crossroads and rural communities, most of them former railroad stops or mill settlements scattered across the county’s pine and farm land. The table below carries every settlement confirmed on the county’s own list; unincorporated places without their own census or ZIP data are marked with —.

Shell Bluff and Shell Bluff Landing are two distinct places on the county’s list, the former an inland community and the latter its Savannah River landing a few miles away — both are kept here rather than merged, since Burke County’s own naming treats them separately. Old Sardis is not the same place as the city of Sardis; it refers to an earlier settlement site near the Burke-Screven line.

ZIP Codes

• 30830 — Waynesboro (also serves Alexander, Bellevue, Gough and most of the county’s central communities)
• 30456 — Sardis (also serves Old Sardis)
• 30441 — Midville (also serves the county’s southwest communities)

Girard, Keysville, Vidette and most of the county’s unincorporated crossroads use a neighboring town’s post office rather than a ZIP code of their own; mail there is typically routed through Waynesboro, Sardis or Midville.

Geography

Burke County lies in Georgia’s Coastal Plain and Piedmont transition, its eastern edge formed by the Savannah River against South Carolina. The land is a mix of pine forest, row-crop farmland along the river bottoms, and the Brier Creek watershed that drains much of the county’s interior before joining the Savannah. Georgia’s second-largest county by land area, it borders Richmond County to the north, Aiken County and Barnwell County in South Carolina to the northeast, Allendale County, South Carolina, to the east, Screven County to the southeast, Jenkins County to the south, Emanuel County to the southwest, and Jefferson County to the west.

Demographics

Burke County had 24,596 residents at the 2020 census, spread across roughly 30 square miles of land per person — a density of about 30 people per square mile. Waynesboro (5,799) and Sardis (995) are the county’s two largest communities; most of the remaining population lives in unincorporated rural areas. Median household income in Burke County runs well below the Georgia median of $74,632, reflecting the county’s rural, agricultural economic base.

Economy & Local Life

Burke County’s economy centers on the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, a large nuclear power facility on the Savannah River near Waynesboro operated by Georgia Power, which is one of the region’s biggest employers and taxpayers. Agriculture — timber, cotton, peanuts and cattle — remains important on the county’s farmland outside the plant’s footprint. Waynesboro has long styled itself the “Bird Dog Capital of the World,” home to national field-trial events for bird dogs held on nearby plantations each winter.

History

Burke County was created on February 5, 1777, one of Georgia’s original counties following statehood, and named for Edmund Burke, the Whig member of Parliament who had argued in London for reconciliation with the American colonies. During the Revolutionary War, Georgia militia under Col. John Twiggs and the brothers William and Benjamin Few defeated a British detachment at the Battle of Burke Jail in 1779. The county’s plantation-era economy gave way in the 20th century to timber, row-crop farming and, from the 1970s, the construction of the Vogtle nuclear plant on the river.

Getting There

US 25 and Georgia routes 17, 23, 24, 56, 78, 80, 88 and 305 cross the county, with Waynesboro as the hub.

• Augusta, Georgia — 30 miles north
• Statesboro, Georgia — 35 miles southeast
• Savannah, Georgia — 90 miles southeast
• Sardis — 12 miles west of Waynesboro

Augusta Regional Airport is the nearest commercial airport, about 35 miles north of Waynesboro.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Burke County, Georgia?
It is in east-central Georgia, on the South Carolina border along the Savannah River, about 30 miles south of Augusta.

What is the population of Burke County?
24,596 residents at the 2020 census.

How big is Burke County?
835 square miles (2,160 km2) total, making it Georgia’s second-largest county by land area.

What is the county seat of Burke County?
Waynesboro is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in Burke County?
Four cities (Waynesboro, Sardis, Midville, Vidette) and two towns (Girard, Keysville), plus roughly two dozen unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Burke County?
The main ones are 30830 (Waynesboro), 30456 (Sardis) and 30441 (Midville).

What is Burke County known for?
The Vogtle nuclear power plant on the Savannah River and Waynesboro’s national bird dog field trials.

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