Lee County, Georgia

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,163.^[1] The county was established in 1825 and its county seat is Leesburg.^[2] Lee County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statistical area.

Lee County
County
Lee County courthouse in Leesburg
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31.78°N 84.14°W / 31.78; -84.14
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	June 9, 1825; 200 years ago (1825-06-09)
Named after	Henry Lee III
Seat	Leesburg
Largest city	Leesburg
Area
• Total	362 sq mi (940 km2)
• Land	356 sq mi (920 km2)
• Water	5.9 sq mi (15 km2)  1.6%
Population  (2020)
• Total	33,163
• Density	93/sq mi (36/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	2nd
Website	www.lee.ga.us

History

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, but they were not named until December 14, 1826.^[3] The county was named in honor of Henry Lee III, popularly known as "Light-Horse Harry," the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.^[4] On January 29, 1916, five African American men were lynched; they were taken from the Worth county jail and hanged, their bodies riddled with bullets.^[5] The Leesburg Stockade occurred in Lee County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 362 square miles (940 km²), of which 356 square miles (920 km²) is land and 5.9 square miles (15 km²) (1.6%) is water.^[6] Most of the western three-quarters of Lee County is located in the Kinchafoonee-Muckalee sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The eastern quarter of the county is located in the Middle Flint River sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin, while a very small corner in the south of Lee County is located in the Lower Flint River sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin. An even smaller southwestern corner is located in the Ichawaynochaway Creek sub-basin of the ACF River Basin.^[7]

Major highways

• U.S. Route 19
• 
  U.S. Route 19 Bypass
• U.S. Route 82
• State Route 3
• State Route 3 Bypass
• State Route 32
• State Route 91
• State Route 118
• State Route 133
• State Route 195
• State Route 377
• State Route 520

Adjacent counties

• Sumter County (north)
• Crisp County (northeast)
• Worth County (east)
• Dougherty County (south)
• Terrell County (west)

Communities

• Leesburg (county seat)
• Smithville

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1830	1,680		—
1840	4,520		169.0%
1850	6,660		47.3%
1860	7,196		8.0%
1870	9,567		32.9%
1880	10,577		10.6%
1890	9,074		−14.2%
1900	10,344		14.0%
1910	11,679		12.9%
1920	10,904		−6.6%
1930	8,328		−23.6%
1940	7,837		−5.9%
1950	6,674		−14.8%
1960	6,204		−7.0%
1970	7,044		13.5%
1980	11,684		65.9%
1990	16,250		39.1%
2000	24,757		52.4%
2010	28,298		14.3%
2020	33,163		17.2%
2024 (est.)	34,073	[8]	2.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[9] 1790-1880[10] 1890-1910[11] 1920-1930[12] 1930-1940[13] 1940-1950[14] 1960-1980[15] 1980-2000[16] 2010[17]

Lee County racial composition as of 2020^[18]

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	22,758	68.62%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	7,331	22.11%
Native American	57	0.17%
Asian	850	2.56%
Pacific Islander	9	0.03%
Other/Mixed	1,205	3.63%
Hispanic or Latino	953	2.87%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 33,163 people, 10,226 households, and 7,872 families residing in the county.

Education

Lee County School District headquarters

Public schools are operated by the Lee County School District. Lee County High School is the sole high school of the district.

Politics

Historically, Lee County was part of the solidly Democratic Solid South^[19] where control of the dominant black population dictated unified white voting for Democratic candidates due to the Republican association with Reconstruction and black political power. However, with a combination of the Great Migration and white in-migration, the black share of the county's population has declined and it is now powerfully Republican, having voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964, with the exception of 1968 and 1976 when it backed Southern “favorite sons” George Wallace and Jimmy Carter.

United States presidential election results for Lee County, Georgia^[20]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	12,655	71.38%	4,957	27.96%	118	0.67%
2020	12,007	71.82%	4,558	27.26%	154	0.92%
2016	10,646	74.73%	3,170	22.25%	430	3.02%
2012	10,314	75.58%	3,196	23.42%	136	1.00%
2008	9,925	75.69%	3,100	23.64%	87	0.66%
2004	8,201	78.64%	2,182	20.92%	45	0.43%
2000	5,872	74.48%	1,936	24.56%	76	0.96%
1996	3,983	61.15%	2,005	30.78%	525	8.06%
1992	3,061	51.81%	1,811	30.65%	1,036	17.54%
1988	2,875	74.04%	995	25.62%	13	0.33%
1984	2,972	69.83%	1,284	30.17%	0	0.00%
1980	1,942	53.05%	1,670	45.62%	49	1.34%
1976	1,110	39.13%	1,727	60.87%	0	0.00%
1972	1,441	78.70%	390	21.30%	0	0.00%
1968	389	17.18%	674	29.77%	1,201	53.05%
1964	1,041	81.01%	244	18.99%	0	0.00%
1960	191	32.10%	404	67.90%	0	0.00%
1956	79	12.93%	532	87.07%	0	0.00%
1952	205	34.45%	390	65.55%	0	0.00%
1948	36	7.69%	215	45.94%	217	46.37%
1944	27	5.70%	447	94.30%	0	0.00%
1940	17	3.91%	416	95.63%	2	0.46%
1936	1	0.20%	490	99.59%	1	0.20%
1932	6	2.33%	252	97.67%	0	0.00%
1928	45	13.55%	287	86.45%	0	0.00%
1924	23	9.39%	211	86.12%	11	4.49%
1920	19	7.04%	251	92.96%	0	0.00%
1916	4	1.24%	316	97.83%	3	0.93%
1912	5	2.22%	213	94.67%	7	3.11%

See also

• State of Georgia portal

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Lee County, Georgia
• List of counties in Georgia