{"id":1559,"date":"2023-02-14T19:03:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T19:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=1559"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:49:25","slug":"bibb-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/bibb-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Bibb County, Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bibb County is a county in Georgia, United States, about 85 miles southeast of Atlanta. It had a<br \/>\npopulation of 157,346 at the 2020 census, an estimated 156,578 by 2024, and covers 255 square<br \/>\nmiles (660 km2) centred near 32&deg;48&prime;N 83&deg;42&prime;W.<\/p>\n<p>Macon is the county seat, and since January 1, 2014 Macon and Bibb County have run as a single<br \/>\nconsolidated government, Macon&#8211;Bibb County; its postal code is 31201. Payne, a small enclave<br \/>\ncity surrounded on all sides by Macon, held out until the Georgia General Assembly abolished it<br \/>\non March 27, 2015, leaving Macon&#8211;Bibb as the county&#8217;s only municipal government. The<br \/>\ncounty runs on Eastern Time, and its FIPS code is 13021.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Bibb County<\/h2>\n<p>Bibb County has no other incorporated cities left to list &#8212; consolidation absorbed every<br \/>\none of them into Macon&#8211;Bibb. The table below covers the county&#8217;s recognized<br \/>\nneighborhoods and named places instead: historic districts inside Macon, the former city of<br \/>\nPayne, and Lizella, an unincorporated crossroads that straddles the Bibb&#8211;Crawford county<br \/>\nline. CDP stands for census-designated place; Unincorp. covers a community with no formal<br \/>\nboundary of its own.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Macon (Macon&#8211;Bibb County)<\/td>\n<td>Consolidated city &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>157,346<\/td>\n<td>31201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Vineville<\/td>\n<td>Neighborhood<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>31204<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Downtown Macon<\/td>\n<td>Neighborhood<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>31201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>East Macon<\/td>\n<td>Neighborhood<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>31217<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>North Macon<\/td>\n<td>Neighborhood<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>31210<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Payne<\/td>\n<td>Historic &middot; former city<\/td>\n<td>218<\/td>\n<td>31204<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lizella<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>31052<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Payne&#8217;s population figure is its last count as an independent city, the 2010 census, taken<br \/>\nbefore its 2015 dissolution &#8212; it is not tracked separately today. Lizella sits partly in<br \/>\nBibb County and partly in neighboring Crawford County, so its population is not counted as a<br \/>\nsingle Bibb County total.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>31201 &mdash; downtown Macon<\/li>\n<li>31204 &mdash; Vineville and the Payne area<\/li>\n<li>31206 &mdash; south Macon<\/li>\n<li>31210 &mdash; north Macon<\/li>\n<li>31211 &mdash; northeast Macon<\/li>\n<li>31216 &mdash; southwest Macon<\/li>\n<li>31217 &mdash; east Macon<\/li>\n<li>31220 &mdash; far north Macon, near the Monroe County line<\/li>\n<li>31052 &mdash; Lizella<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bibb County also carries eleven PO-box-only or single-entity ZIPs (31202, 31203, 31205, 31207,<br \/>\n31208, 31209, 31213, 31221, 31294, 31295 and 31296) issued for USPS official mail, Mercer<br \/>\nUniversity and GEICO&#8217;s regional office, none of which serve street delivery.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Bibb County lies on Georgia&#8217;s fall line, the geological boundary between the Piedmont<br \/>\nplateau and the coastal plain, which is why Macon shares that fall-line-city status with Augusta<br \/>\nand Columbus. Of its 255 square miles, about 250 are land and 5.6 are water &#8212; roughly 2.2<br \/>\npercent, most of it the Ocmulgee River, which runs through the county on its way to the Altamaha<br \/>\nRiver basin, and Lake Tobesofkee, a reservoir west of Macon used for boating, fishing and swimming<br \/>\nat two county parks.<\/p>\n<p>Monroe County lies to the northwest, Jones County to the north, Twiggs County to the east,<br \/>\nHouston County to the south, Peach County touches Bibb&#8217;s southern edge, and Crawford County<br \/>\nlies to the west. <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/monroe-county-georgia\/\">Monroe<br \/>\nCounty<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/jones-county\/\">Jones County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/twiggs-county\/\">Twiggs County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/peach-county\/\">Peach County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/crawford-county-georgia\/\">Crawford County<\/a> each have their<br \/>\nown Towns &amp; Villages page; Houston County, home to Warner Robins and Robins Air Force Base,<br \/>\ndoes not currently have one on this site.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Bibb County had a population of 157,346 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the<br \/>\ncounty near 156,578 residents. Macon&#8211;Bibb&#8217;s racial composition has shifted over four<br \/>\ndecades: the non-Hispanic white share fell from 60.53 percent in 1980 to 36.09 percent in 2020,<br \/>\nwhile the Black or African American share rose from 38.35 percent to 54.17 percent over the same<br \/>\nperiod. Median household income runs $51,234 (2024, Data USA), well below Georgia&#8217;s<br \/>\nstatewide figure of $74,632 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 629 people per<br \/>\nsquare mile of land, among the densest counties in central Georgia, reflecting the fact that the<br \/>\nwhole county is one consolidated city rather than a mix of towns and farmland.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance is the county&#8217;s largest employment sector, with about<br \/>\n10,230 workers, followed by retail trade at 8,349 and educational services at 6,343. Atrium<br \/>\nHealth Navicent and Piedmont Healthcare anchor that health care employment with major hospital<br \/>\ncampuses in Macon. Mercer University, a private research university founded in 1833, and its Bear<br \/>\nathletics program are major institutional employers and a source of civic identity. GEICO runs a<br \/>\nregional headquarters and claims-processing operation in the county, YKK USA operates a<br \/>\nmanufacturing plant, and Norfolk Southern Railway maintains freight operations through its rail<br \/>\nyards. The county&#8217;s biggest annual event is the International Cherry Blossom Festival each<br \/>\nMarch, celebrating Macon&#8217;s Yoshino cherry trees, of which the city claims more than<br \/>\n350,000.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Georgia&#8217;s General Assembly created Bibb County on December 9, 1822, naming it for Dr.<br \/>\nWilliam Wyatt Bibb, a physician and congressman who went on to become Alabama&#8217;s first<br \/>\ngovernor. Macon grew up around Fort Benjamin Hawkins, built in 1809 near the Ocmulgee River, and<br \/>\ndeveloped into a cotton-trading hub through the 19th century. During the Civil War the city served<br \/>\nas the Confederacy&#8217;s official arsenal; it escaped destruction when Union General William T.<br \/>\nSherman bypassed it on his March to the Sea in 1865.<\/p>\n<p>On the east bank of the Ocmulgee River, within the city, the Ocmulgee Mounds National<br \/>\nHistorical Park preserves earthwork mounds the Mississippian culture built before 1000 CE,<br \/>\nincluding the Great Temple Mound, a ceremonial mound and a burial mound, on ground sacred to the<br \/>\nMuscogee (Creek) Nation. The National Park Service first protected the site as a national<br \/>\nmonument in 1936; Congress redesignated it a national historical park in 2019 and expanded it by<br \/>\nabout 2,100 acres. Bipartisan bills introduced in Congress in 2024 and 2025 would elevate it<br \/>\nfurther to a national park and preserve, though a 2023 federal study found the full corridor<br \/>\nproposal unfeasible and recommended a smaller partnership approach instead.<\/p>\n<p>Voters approved merging the city of Macon and Bibb County government in July 2012 &#8212; 57.8<br \/>\npercent of city voters and 56.7 percent of county voters &#8212; after four earlier consolidation<br \/>\nattempts had failed, in 1933, 1960, 1972 and 1976. The merger took effect January 1, 2014, and<br \/>\nPayne City, a 218-resident enclave inside Macon, was folded in by state law on March 27, 2015.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 75 and Interstate 16 meet in Bibb County, with Interstate 475 bypassing downtown<br \/>\nMacon to the west. US 23, US 41 and US 80 also run through the county.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atlanta &mdash; about 85 miles northwest<\/li>\n<li>Warner Robins &mdash; about 10 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Savannah &mdash; about 165 miles southeast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Middle Georgia Regional Airport, on Macon&#8217;s south side, and Macon Downtown Airport handle<br \/>\ngeneral aviation; Hartsfield&#8211;Jackson Atlanta International Airport, roughly 85 miles<br \/>\nnorthwest, is the nearest major commercial airport. Bibb County has no Amtrak service; the<br \/>\nnearest station is in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Bibb County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits on Georgia&#8217;s fall line in the center of the state, about 85 miles southeast of<br \/>\nAtlanta, bordered by Monroe, Jones, Twiggs, Houston, Peach and Crawford counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Bibb County?<\/strong><br \/>\n157,346 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 156,578.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Bibb County?<\/strong><br \/>\n255 square miles (660 km2), of which about 250 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Bibb County?<\/strong><br \/>\nMacon is the county seat, and since 2014 it has governed the entire county as the consolidated<br \/>\nMacon&#8211;Bibb County.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in Bibb County?<\/strong><br \/>\nNone, separately &#8212; Macon&#8211;Bibb County absorbed the last one, Payne City, in 2015.<br \/>\nNamed neighborhoods and places include Vineville, Downtown Macon, East Macon, North Macon and the<br \/>\nunincorporated community of Lizella.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Bibb County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n31201 through 31221 for Macon, plus a handful of PO-box-only and single-entity codes, and 31052<br \/>\nfor Lizella.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Bibb County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, Mercer University, and the International Cherry<br \/>\nBlossom Festival held every March.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/georgia\/\">Towns<br \/>\nand villages in Georgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bibb County is a county in Georgia, United States, about 85 miles southeast of Atlanta. It had a population of 157,346 at the 2020 census, an estimated 156,578 by 2024, and covers 255 square miles (660 km2) centred near 32&deg;48&prime;N 83&deg;42&prime;W. Macon is the county seat, and since January 1, 2014 Macon and Bibb County [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Bibb County, Georgia","_seopress_titles_desc":"Bibb County, Georgia (Macon-Bibb): neighborhoods, ZIP codes, population, income and history of the consolidated city-county.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-1559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-georgia","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1559"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9566,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions\/9566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}