Clayton County, Georgia

Clayton County is a county in Georgia, United States, about 9 miles south of downtown Atlanta.
It had a population of 297,595 at the 2020 census, an estimated 298,924 by 2024, and covers 142
square miles (370 km2) centred near 33°32′N 84°22′W.

Jonesboro is the county seat; its postal code is 30236. The county holds 6 fully incorporated
cities, part of a seventh that crosses in from Fulton County, and several unincorporated
communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 13063.

Towns & Villages in Clayton County

Clayton County has 12 named places on record: 6 cities incorporated entirely within the
county, one city that is mostly in Fulton County but reaches across the line, and 5
unincorporated communities with no city government of their own. CDP stands for census
designated place; Unincorp. covers communities the Census Bureau does not track as a separate
population point.

Three places on this list straddle county lines. College Park’s city limits are mostly in
Fulton County around the airport, with only a small residential slice reaching into Clayton, so
its citywide population figure is not counted here. Ellenwood and Conley are both Census
Designated Places that span Clayton, DeKalb and neighboring counties — the Census Bureau
publishes a single combined population for each CDP rather than a per-county split, so their
population cells are left blank rather than guessed.

ZIP Codes

• 30236 — Jonesboro (the county’s main post office ZIP)
• 30238 — Jonesboro (south side)
• 30297 — Forest Park
• 30274 — Riverdale
• 30296 — Riverdale (also serves Jonesboro addresses on the county’s west side)
• 30250 — Lovejoy
• 30260 — Morrow and Lake City, which share a post office
• 30287 — Morrow (north side)
• 30273 — Rex
• 30294 — Ellenwood
• 30288 — Conley

Mountain View and Irondale have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the
nearest incorporated town’s code. College Park’s Clayton County residents mostly use
30349, a ZIP centred on the Fulton County side of the city.

Geography

Clayton County sits in Georgia’s north-central Piedmont, immediately south of Atlanta,
on flat to gently rolling terrain shaped by the South River and Flint River watersheds. Of its
144 square miles, 142 are land and 2.8 are water, about 1.9 percent — the county has no
large natural lake, and most of its surface water is Lake Jodeco and small tributary creeks
feeding the South River along its northern edge. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International
Airport, the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic, occupies a large share of the
county’s northwestern corner and spills across the line into Fulton County.

Fulton County lies to the north and west, DeKalb County to the north and east, Henry County
to the east, Spalding County to the south, and Fayette County to the west. Of these, only
Spalding County currently has its
own page on this site; Fulton, DeKalb, Henry and Fayette counties border Clayton directly but do
not yet have a Georgia-specific page here.

Demographics

Clayton County had a population of 297,595 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 298,924 residents, essentially flat over the past several years. Forest Park and
Rex are the two largest communities by population, followed closely by Riverdale. Median
household income runs $59,806, below Georgia’s statewide figure of $74,632. Population
density works out to roughly 2,096 people per square mile of land, among the densest counties in
Georgia outside Fulton and DeKalb, reflecting Clayton’s position as a close-in Atlanta
suburb built out almost entirely by the 1980s.

Economy & Local Life

Transportation and warehousing employs the most workers in the county, about 20,044 people,
followed by health care and social assistance at 18,078 and retail trade at 15,683. That
transportation figure traces directly to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport,
whose Clayton County footprint includes cargo terminals, aircraft maintenance hangars and a
dense cluster of logistics warehouses along Interstate 285. Clayton State University in Morrow
and the Georgia Archives, also in Morrow, anchor the county’s education and government
sector. Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale is the county’s main hospital
employer. The county’s biggest annual event is the International Cotton and Cultural
Festival in Jonesboro each October, which draws visitors to the historic downtown square.

History

Georgia’s General Assembly formed Clayton County on 30 November 1858, carving it out of
Henry and Fayette counties. It was named for Augustin Smith Clayton, a Georgia judge and U.S.
Representative from 1832 to 1835 who, as a state court judge in 1829, ruled that Georgia law
extended into Cherokee territory — a decision that led to the U.S. Supreme Court case
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. Jonesboro, the county seat, was a key rail junction and supply depot
during the Civil War; the Battle of Jonesborough in August and September 1864 cut the last
Confederate rail line into Atlanta and forced the city’s evacuation, an episode later
fictionalized as the setting for Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.

Getting There

Interstates 75 and 85 run parallel through the county’s west side, and Interstates 285
and 675 cross it as well, giving Clayton County four interstates within its 142 square miles. US
19, US 23, US 29 and US 41 also pass through.

• Atlanta — about 9 miles north
• McDonough — about 15 miles southeast
• Griffin — about 25 miles south
• Fayetteville — about 15 miles west

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport sits mostly within the county’s
northwestern corner, making Clayton County home to the world’s busiest commercial airport
by passenger traffic. Amtrak has no station in the county; the nearest stop is Atlanta’s
Peachtree Station, about 12 miles north.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Clayton County located?
It sits in Georgia’s north-central Piedmont, about 9 miles south of downtown Atlanta,
bordered by Fulton, DeKalb, Henry, Spalding and Fayette counties.

What is the population of Clayton County?
297,595 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 298,924.

How big is Clayton County?
142 square miles (370 km2) of land, plus 2.8 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Clayton County?
Jonesboro is the county seat, a rail town that became the flashpoint of the 1864 Battle of
Jonesborough.

How many towns and cities are in Clayton County?
Six cities fall entirely inside the county — Jonesboro, Forest Park, Riverdale, Morrow,
Lake City and Lovejoy — plus a small slice of College Park and the unincorporated
communities of Rex, Ellenwood, Conley, Mountain View and Irondale.

What ZIP codes does Clayton County use?
30236 and 30238 for Jonesboro, 30297 for Forest Park, 30274 and 30296 for Riverdale, 30260 and
30287 for Morrow and Lake City, 30250 for Lovejoy, 30273 for Rex, 30294 for Ellenwood and 30288
for Conley.

What is Clayton County known for?
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport by
passenger traffic, and the 1864 Battle of Jonesborough that cut off Confederate Atlanta.

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