Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Folkston gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $206K, 3.4 years of the county’s $61K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 92nd of 258 graded towns in Georgia. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $50K, and 29% of residents live below the poverty line, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 83% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. On the plus side, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 80% of U.S. towns. 29% of residents live below the poverty line in Folkston, against 15% in Georgia’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. On walkability, just 28 of Georgia’s 371 towns do worse. Folkston's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 94% of U.S. towns.
Where Folkston beats most towns.
Charlton County Courthouse2,502 counted in 2010 and 4,464 in 2020; an estimated 4,767 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 5.9% since 2020, after 78.4% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Georgia), ordered by how far Folkston is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 89% of comparable towns) to D− for jobs and income (better than 2%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 167 in 1900, 4,464 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2010 and 4 maps from 1918 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Folkston, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Folkston.
Folkston trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Georgia (mostly hurricanes) and is a long drive from an emergency room.
1,588 jobs are based in Folkston, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 5 of Folkston’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Folkston has added 240 jobs, to 1,588 in 2023. The top destinations are Jacksonville (7%), Waycross (4%) and Kingsland (3%).
| Folkston | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 9% | 8% |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $63,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Charlton County school district. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Charlton County High School, with 417 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folkston Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 545 | B+ |
| Charlton County High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 417 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within GA on state tests and graduation
The nearest emergency room, Southeast Georgia Health System -- Camden Campus, is 23.6 miles away in a straight line. Against the 5,839 U.S. towns with household incomes like Folkston’s, it is less healthy than 62%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
28% of Folkston adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Among 261 Georgia towns, just 7 have a lower share of adults who had a checkup this year than Folkston. 16% of Folkston adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Folkston | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 79% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 20% | 23% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 22% | 14% |
| What stands out | Folkston | GA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.7% | 7% |
| Fewer adults with asthma | 8.5% | 10.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 27.6% | 13.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 8.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 92% of Georgia’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Folkston is 4.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Folkston | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.6 per 1,000 residents | 14.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 92% of Georgia towns; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1998, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Folkston.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $206K for the typical one, A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 39 miles. Home values rose 39% in five years, to about $206K, against 21% across Georgia.
Folkston’s median rent is $495 a month. The typical Folkston home is worth about $206,000, up 0.8% in a year, 38% below the Georgia typical home.
| Folkston | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $495 a month | $1,160 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 66% | 58% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Folkston 9 Sw weather station, 10 miles away, records that about 114 days a year reach 90°, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Folkston has warm winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 93°, January nights drop to 40° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Folkston | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.2% | 2.3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Homeland Park | — | 3 |
| 2. Jesse A. Crews Sr. Memorial Park | — | 1 |
| 3. Charlton War Memorial | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Folkston; the nearest are
About 8 of every 100 Folkston residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Georgia.
Where Folkston’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Folkston on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Folkston.
City in Georgia, United States
Folkston is a city in and the county seat of Charlton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,464 in 2020. The largest employer in Folkston is a GEO Group-operated ICE detention center with 3,000 beds.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Folkston.
Homeland isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Folkston with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Folkston grades C+ overall, better than 42% of U.S. towns and #92 of 258 in Georgia. It grades C− for health, A− for safety and B+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
5 notable people were born here, including Courtney Williams and Boss Bailey.
