Dawson County, Georgia

Dawson County is a county in Georgia, United States, about 50 miles north of Atlanta along the
GA 400 corridor. It had a population of 26,798 at the 2020 census, an estimated 35,365 by 2025,
and covers 214 square miles (550 km2) centred near 34°26′N 84°10′W.

Dawsonville is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city; its postal code is 30534.
The county holds 1 city and 7 unincorporated or private communities, and it runs on
Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 13085.

Towns & Villages in Dawson County

Dawson County has 8 named places on record: 1 incorporated city and 7 unincorporated
communities or private developments with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census
designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.

Big Canoe is a gated mountain community that straddles the Dawson–Pickens county line, so
only the portion inside Dawson County belongs to this list — its overall population of
about 3,000 residents is split between the two counties. Silver City straddles the opposite
border, between Dawson and Forsyth counties; its census figures are reported under Forsyth
County’s Silver City census county division, not Dawson’s. The old list on this page
also carried Lumpkin as a Dawson County settlement — that is a wrong-county mix-up. Lumpkin
is the seat of Stewart County, more than 200 miles to the southwest, and has no connection to
Dawson County beyond sharing a name with neighboring Lumpkin County.

Geography

Dawson County sits in Georgia’s Northeast region, at the southern edge of the Blue Ridge
Mountains where the Appalachians meet the Piedmont. Of its 214 square miles, 211 are land and 3.6
are water, about 1.7 percent. Amicalola Creek and its namesake falls drain the county’s
northern half; three small lakes at Big Canoe — Petit, Sconti and Disharoon — are the
county’s main bodies of standing water, with Lake Petit supplying the community’s
drinking water.

Fannin County lies to the north, Lumpkin County to the northeast, Hall County to the east,
Forsyth County to the south, Cherokee County to the southwest, Pickens County to the west and
Gilmer County to the northwest. Fannin
County, Lumpkin County, Hall County, Forsyth County, Pickens County and Gilmer County all have their own pages on
this site; Cherokee County’s Georgia page is not yet live here.

Demographics

Dawson County had a population of 26,798 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau
estimate puts the county near 35,365 residents — growth of about 32 percent in five years.
Between 2021 and 2022 alone the county grew 5.8 percent, the fourth-fastest rate of any county in
the nation that year. Dawsonville is by far the largest community, holding most of the
county’s in-town population; the rest live in unincorporated areas, which house 69.4
percent of all residents. Median household income runs about $92,991 (2024 ACS estimate),
notably higher than Georgia’s statewide figure of $74,632 (2023 ACS). Population density
works out to roughly 127 people per square mile of land at the 2020 count, rising toward 168 per
square mile at the 2025 estimate.

Economy & Local Life

Retail trade employs the most workers in the county, about 1,973 people, followed by
educational services at 1,857 and manufacturing at 1,513. Amicalola Falls State Park, an 829-acre
park built around Georgia’s tallest waterfall, draws visitors from across the Southeast and
supports lodging and food-service jobs at its lodge, restaurant and cabins; it also serves as the
southern gateway to the Appalachian Trail, with an 8.5-mile connector trail leading to the
trail’s official start on Springer Mountain. Dawsonville’s racing heritage runs deep
— NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott and his son, 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, both
grew up in the county, and locals trace their driving skills to Prohibition-era moonshine runners
who used back roads like Georgia State Route 9, still known as Thunder Road, to reach Atlanta. The
county’s biggest annual event is the Mountain Moonshine Festival each October, which
celebrates that bootlegging history with car shows and demonstrations in downtown
Dawsonville.

History

Georgia’s legislature created Dawson County on December 3, 1857, from parts of Gilmer and
Lumpkin counties. It was named for William Crosby Dawson, a U.S. senator from Georgia.
Dawsonville was founded the same year as the new county seat and was incorporated as a town in
1859, then as a city in 1952.

During the Civil War, several Confederate units were raised in the county, including the 21st
and 22nd Georgia Infantry companies and two companies of Wright’s Legion; a Union company,
the 1st Georgia Infantry Battalion, was also raised there. In the twentieth century the
county’s isolation and mountain roads made it a center of illegal whiskey production during
Prohibition, a history residents still call the county the “Moonshine Capital of the
World” for. That bootlegging culture fed directly into stock car racing — many of the
sport’s early drivers, including Dawsonville’s own Gober Sosebee, learned to handle a
car running liquor before NASCAR existed.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Dawson County. U.S. Route 19 and State Routes 9, 52, 53, 136, 183
and 400 carry most of its traffic; GA 400 connects the county south to Atlanta’s northern
suburbs.

• Atlanta — about 50 miles south
• Gainesville — about 25 miles east
• Jasper — about 20 miles west
• Cumming — about 20 miles south

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, roughly 60 miles south of Dawsonville, is the
nearest major commercial airport. Amtrak does not serve north Georgia; the closest station is on
the Crescent line at Atlanta’s Peachtree Station, about the same distance away.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Dawson County located?
It sits in Georgia’s Northeast region, about 50 miles north of Atlanta, bordered by Fannin,
Lumpkin, Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Pickens and Gilmer counties.

What is the population of Dawson County?
26,798 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 35,365 by 2025.

How big is Dawson County?
214 square miles (550 km2), of which 211 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Dawson County?
Dawsonville, founded in 1857 and the county’s only incorporated city.

How many towns are in Dawson County?
One incorporated city, Dawsonville, plus seven unincorporated or private communities: Big Canoe,
Amicalola, Juno, Dougherty, Silver City, Barrettsville and Afton.

What ZIP code does Dawson County use?
30534 covers Dawsonville and most of the county. Big Canoe, Amicalola, Juno, Dougherty, Silver
City, Barrettsville and Afton have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the
30534 code or a neighboring county’s post office.

What is Dawson County known for?
Amicalola Falls, Georgia’s tallest waterfall and the southern gateway to the Appalachian
Trail, plus its Prohibition-era moonshine history and NASCAR ties through Bill and Chase
Elliott.

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