Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gainesville grades D overall, 210th among Georgia's 258 graded towns, mostly because of safety. It reports more crime per resident than 82% of U.S. towns, including 198 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: it has 27 miles of trail and 25% conserved land. 25% of the land in Gainesville is conserved, where Georgia’s towns sit at 2.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Its National Register listings include Hall County Courthouse and Federal Building and Courthouse. Gainesville is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Gainesville beats most towns.
Federal Building and Courthouse
Census counts: 344 in 1860, 42,296 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1878 and 3 maps from 1964 on.
15 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Georgia), ordered by how far Gainesville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gainesville, 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 Gainesville.
Gainesville draws workers from Athens and beyond, fares better on crime within Georgia than nationally and is one of Georgia’s best towns for the outdoors.
Its A for the outdoors ranks #7 of 264 in Georgia.
27 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve, at 1,425 acres with 9.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. At 0.8 miles per square mile, Gainesville’s trail density is against 0.3 in Georgia’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve | 9.4 mi | 1,425 |
| 2. Midland Greenway Park | 0.8 mi | 10 |
| 3. Longwood Park | 0.6 mi | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Gainesville City school district. Two of its 19 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gainesville Middle School WestLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 931 | – |
| Gainesville High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,077 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within GA on state tests and graduation
50,314 jobs are based in Gainesville, 2.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. Jobs based here grew from 37,534 in 2013 to 50,314.
About one in 3 of Gainesville’s working residents works in town. 20% of residents live below the poverty line in Gainesville. Since 2013, Gainesville has added 12,780 jobs, to 50,314 in 2023.
| Gainesville | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 31% | 9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 15% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.8% | 9.2% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 38.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 63% of Georgia’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 1,368 to 1,010 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Gainesville is 4 per 1,000 residents. Gainesville reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 82% report less. The property crime rate in Gainesville is 16.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Gainesville | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.5 per 1,000 residents | 14.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 76% of U.S. communities. Since 1997, 8 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gainesville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Gainesville beats the Georgia average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 24% of Gainesville adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Gainesville | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 38% | 33% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 29% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 79% | 79% |
| What stands out | Gainesville | GA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 24% | 13.1% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 25.2% | 17.7% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 12.7% | 9.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Gainesville weather station records that about 33 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 92% of Georgia places with climate records.
Gainesville has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Among 264 Georgia towns, just 8 have a lower July high than Gainesville.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Only 39.2% of households own their home, against 65.7% across Georgia.
Adults 35 to 64 are 32% of residents (39% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 27% of residents (23% statewide). Gainesville has grown 17% since 2020, to 49,221 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Gainesville’s median age is 33.3 years.
| Gainesville | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 33.3 years | 36.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 26% | 24% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 14% | 18% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.6 points. Across Georgia, 51.2% of residents are women. Median age: women 35.9, men 31.6.
| Gainesville | GA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.8% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.8% | 11.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 11.4% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.9% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.8% | 13.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.7% | 12.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.8% | 12.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.7% | 9.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.1% | 5.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 24.9% | 10.8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25.8% | 26.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.5% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.8% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.8% | 21.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.3% | 13.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Gainesville home is worth about $369,000, down 1.1% in a year, 12% above the Georgia typical home.
| Gainesville | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 39% | 58% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,299 a month | $1,152 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gainesville. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi LakeLake Lanier
Big draw38 mi MountainStone Mountain
35 mi Stadium & arenaSanford Stadium
37 mi MuseumChattahoochee Nature Center
31 mi MountainCurrahee Mountain
26 mi Stadium & arenaGas South ArenaLake Lanier: http://www.terraprints.com, CC BY 2.5 · Stone Mountain: KyleAndMelissa22, Public domain · Sanford Stadium: The original uploader was Clio64 at French Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chattahoochee Nature Center: muffinn from Worcester, UK, CC BY 2.0 · Currahee Mountain: Wikilackey (talk), Public domain · Gas South Arena: fr:File:ArenaatGwinnettCenterSat.png : fr:User:Betp (26 janvier 2008 à 20:19), Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Gainesville
About 7 of every 100 Gainesville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Georgia.
33,804 counted in 2010 and 42,296 in 2020; an estimated 49,221 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 17.4% since 2020, after 25.1% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
15 places in Gainesville on the National Register of Historic Places.
48 notable people were born in Gainesville.
City in Georgia, United States
Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 42,296. This city is the part of Metro Atlanta.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Gainesville.
| Town | GA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gainesville | #210 | D | D | C− | C | C |
| Oakwood | #133 | C | C− | — | B− | C+ |
Oakwood reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Gainesville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gainesville grades D overall, better than 8% of U.S. towns and #210 of 258 in Georgia. It grades C for health, C− for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. That is 4.6 years of the area's median household income ($80,901 across the Gainesville, GA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
48 notable people were born here, including Margaret Woodrow Wilson and Doug Collins.
