Fayette County ( FAY-ət) is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 119,194, an increase from 106,567 in 2010. Fayette County was established in 1821. The county seat, Fayetteville, was established in 1823. Much of Fayette County is bordered on the east side by the Flint River.
Fayette County was organized in 1821 after the United States signed a treaty at Indian Springs, Georgia with the Creek people for cession of a large portion of their land. The county and its seat, Fayetteville, were both named in honor of the French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette, who aided General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War.
Since the late 20th century, Fayette County has been part of the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is located south of Atlanta, which is based in Fulton County. Fayette County is minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. As a suburb of Atlanta, Fayette County has increased rapidly in population and development since the late 20th century, nearly doubling its population since 1990.
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History
Fayette County was created on May 15, 1821, from territory ceded to the United States by the Creek people, who had historically inhabited the area. It was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolutionary War.
In the years following World War II, the county developed suburban residential communities, with many workers commuting to Atlanta. Peachtree City was chartered in 1959. It was developed as the only planned community in the county and in the Southeast; it covers 16,000 acres.
The county population has increased rapidly during the late twentieth century with the growth of Atlanta. It has also benefited from a reverse migration of African Americans to the South, as new residents are attracted to jobs and opportunities. Significant growth and development continues.
In 2002, Charles "Chuck" Floyd was appointed to the position of Chief Magistrate Judge of the county. In 2004 and 2008, he was elected to the position in his own right, thereby becoming the first African American ever elected to any office in the county.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 199 square miles (520 km2), of which 194 square miles (500 km2) is land and 5.0 square miles (13 km2) (2.5%) is water.
The Flint River passes through the county and provided the earliest route for transportation and shipping of commodity crops. The entirety of Fayette County is located in the Upper Flint River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).
Major highways
State Route 54
State Route 74
State Route 85
State Route 92
State Route 138
State Route 279
State Route 314
Adjacent counties
Fulton County – north
Clayton County – east
Spalding County – south
Coweta County – west
Communities
Cities
Fayetteville (county seat)
Peachtree City (largest city)
Towns
Brooks
Tyrone
Woolsey
Unincorporated communities
Inman
Starr's Mill
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
As of the 2020 census, the residents of Fayetteville are predominantly African American, while those of Peachtree City and Tyrone are predominantly white.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, there were 119,194 people, 42,886 households, and 33,101 families residing in the county, and the median age was 44.0 years with 23.0% of residents under the age of 18 and 19.6% aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males (88.8 for those 18 and over), and 81.9% of residents lived in urban areas while 18.1% lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 58.5% White, 24.8% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 3.3% from some other race, and 7.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 8.0% of the population.
Of the 42,886 households in the county, 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 23.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 20.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 45,202 housing units, of which 5.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 80.0% were owner-occupied and 20.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.9%.
2010 census
In 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $82,216 and the median income for a family was $92,976. Males had a median income of $68,381 versus $46,140 for females. The per capita income for the county was $35,076. About 3.4% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.
2000 census
In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $71,227, and the median income for a family was $78,853 (these figures had risen to $79,498 and $89,873 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $54,738 versus $33,333 for females. The per capita income for the county was $29,464. About 2.00% of families and 2.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.80% of those under age 18 and 4.60% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Fayette County's local government is led by a board of five county commissioners, known as the governing authority of Fayette County. Since March 2016, four seats are to be filled by election from single-member districts and one at-large from the county.
Voting rights suit and settlement
Until 2013, the county was divided into three "county commission districts." Three of the members of the board of commissioners were required to live inside one of the designated districts. The remaining two commissioners could live anywhere in the county. All members of the county commission were elected "at-large," which meant that each candidate had to attract the majority of votes across the county in order to win. Since 1982, more than 100 cases of such at-large voting systems in Georgia have been replaced by single-member districts.
The five members of the school board were also elected at-large. In the early 21st century, Fayette County was one of only 20 school boards among 180 in the state of Georgia to maintain at-large voting to elect members of these boards. The practical effect was the exclusion of African Americans from these positions. The county has been majority-white and majority-Republican since the late 20th century. Neither Republican nor Democratic African-American candidates had any electoral success.
In 2011 the NAACP and several African-American county residents filed suit against the county and the board for the at-large voting system. In May 2013, the federal district court ordered the county and school board to change their systems of at-large voting, finding that it violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting the voting power of the minority. African Americans make up 20% of the county population but were unable to elect candidates of their choice, as every commission and school board seat required a majority of county voters. The county has a majority-white, majority-Republican population.
Under the federal ruling, five districts were established so that members of both the school board and county commission are elected from single-member districts. This broadened representation on the boards. Voters of each district elect a commissioner living within its boundaries.
In 2014, Democrat Pota E. Coston was elected as the first black county commissioner in the 194-year history of the county. Leonard Presberg was first appointed and then elected in his own right as the first Jewish member of the school board.
The county and school board both appealed the federal district court ruling. In January 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta remanded the case to the district court for a bench trial by the federal district judge, ruling that Judge Timothy Batten Sr. had made a technical error in granting summary judgment in the case. It did not overturn his ruling to establish the single-member district system. The bench trial by Judge Batten would give the county an opportunity to present additional evidence to support its case.
Representation
Fayette County has five incorporated municipalities within its borders; Fayetteville, Brooks, Woolsey, Tyrone and Peachtree City. Formerly, Inman was also a municipality, but gave up its charter years ago. In 2015, Fayetteville, a majority-white city, elected its first African-American mayor, Ed Johnson. In 2011, he had been the first African American elected to its city council and only the second African American elected to any office in the history of Fayette County. Fayette County is represented in the United States House of Representatives by the 3rd and 13th congressional districts, and in the Georgia General Assembly by the 16th and 34th state senate and 63rd, 64th, 71st, 72nd and 73rd state house districts.
Politics
Fayette County has been a Republican stronghold since 1980. In 1980 and 1984, it was the most Republican county in the entire state. In 1980 in particular, it was the sole county in Georgia to vote against favorite son Jimmy Carter by over 15 percentage points. However, as the county's population has grown, the proportion of Republican voters has decreased significantly in recent elections. Republican presidential candidates' margins of victory have decreased from 31.2 percentage points for Mitt Romney in 2012, to 19.1 points for Donald Trump in 2016, to 6.8 points for Trump in 2020, to 3.1 points for Trump in 2024.
In the runoff for the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia, Raphael Warnock narrowly lost the county in his re-election bid by a margin of 491 votes or 1%.
Fayette County is one of nine counties that shifted more than 25 percentage points to the left from 2012 to 2024.
Education
Fayette County is served by the Fayette County School System. The governing authority for the school system is known as the Fayette County Board of Education, a board of five elected persons. They hire a superintendent to manage daily operations of the schools.
Since a federal court ruling in 2013, resulting from the federal voting rights lawsuit described above, the five board members are each elected from single-member districts. In January 2016 after mediation, the school board voted unanimously to settle the lawsuit they had earlier appealed along with the county. The board accepted single-member districts for election of board members.
High schools
Fayette County High School
McIntosh High School
Sandy Creek High School
Starr's Mill High School
Whitewater High School
Alternative schools
Fayette County Alternative Education Program
Notable people
Paris Bennett, singer
Chris Benoit, WWE wrestler
Furman Bisher, longtime late sports columnist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Robert H. Brooks, former chairman and CEO, Hooter's of America Inc.
Zac Brown, Grammy award-winning singer, Zac Brown Band
Robert J Burch, children's author
Kandi Burruss, singer, reality TV star
Kathy Cox, State School Superintendent
Creflo Dollar, televangelist
Mike Duke, former CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Lee Haney, retired professional bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia titleholder
Evander Holyfield, retired professional boxer
Tim Hudson, former starting pitcher with the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants
Calvin Johnson, former NFL receiver for the Detroit Lions, Sandy Creek HS and Georgia Tech alum
Emmanuel Lewis, actor, Webster
Carole Marsh, children's author and founder of Gallopade International
Kelley O'Hara, United States Women's Soccer Player, 2011 FIFA World Cup silver medalist, 2012 Olympic gold medalist, 2015 FIFA World Cup gold medalist