Cherokee County, Georgia
Cherokee County is in the US state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census the population was 266,620. The county seat is Canton. The county Board of Commissioners is the governing body, with members elected to office. Cherokee County is included to be part of Metro Atlanta.
History
Original territory
Cherokee County was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 26, 1831, covering a vast area northwest of the Chattahoochee River and Chestatee River. It was named after the Cherokee people who lived in the area at that time.The discovery of gold in local streams accelerated the push of European Americans to expel the Cherokee from their land.
In 1832, the State of Georgia implemented the Cherokee Land Lottery, which gave deeds of land that had previously belonged to the Cherokee people to white male citizens. The forcible removal of the Cherokee people to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River began during this year.
Partition
The General Assembly passed a law on December 3, 1832, which created the counties of Forsyth, Lumpkin, Union, Cobb, Gilmer, Murray, Cass, Floyd, and Paulding from area that had previously been part of Cherokee County.Etowah was declared the county seat in 1833. Its name was later changed to Canton, which is still the county seat today.
In 1857, part of the southeastern corner of the county was ceded by the General Assembly to form Milton County.
Development
In the 1890s, The Atlanta & Knoxville Railroad built a branch line through the middle of the county. When this line was bought by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in the following decade, the L&N Railroad built stations at Woodstock and Holly Springs.Cherokee County began to see rapid population growth following the construction of Interstate 575, the first phase of which opened in 1979. The freeway bisects the county and serves as its primary thoroughfare, running from Kennesaw north through Woodstock, Holly Springs, Canton, and Ball Ground. Today, the county is most densely populated in its southern areas, which are closest to the City of Atlanta.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which are land and are covered by water. Much of the water is in Lake Allatoona in the southwest. The lake is fed by the Etowah and Little Rivers, and other large streams such as Noonday Creek. Much of the northern part of the county begins to rise toward the foothills of the north Georgia mountains.The vast majority of Cherokee County is located in the sub-basin of the Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin, with only a small northwesterly corner of the county located in the Coosawattee River sub-basin of the same basin.
Mountains
Nine summits are listed by the United States Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System as being in the county. From tallest to lowest, they are:- Bear Mountain –
- Pine Log Mountain –
- Oakey Mountain –
- Dry Pond Mountain –
- Hickory Log Mountain –
- Polecat Mountain –
- Byrd Mountain –
- Garland Mountain –
- Posey Mountain –
Adjacent counties
- Pickens – north
- Dawson – northeast
- Forsyth – east
- Fulton – southeast
- Cobb – south
- Bartow – west
- Gordon – northwest
Government, politics, and policing
The county had voted Republican even during the Jim Crow era, voting Republican in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1928. It voted for a third-party candidate in 1912 and 1968.
In addition, it has not voted Democratic at the state level since the 1994 elections, when it supported Democratic candidates for Secretary of State and Agriculture Commissioner.
The GOP margin of victory has decreased in recent presidential cycles as population growth has led Metro Atlanta and, in turn, the state as a whole to shift politically leftward. The county remains a Republican stronghold, but less than it used to be. In 2024, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won 30% of the vote in the county, the highest percentage since 1980.
For state politics, Cherokee County is part of districts 44, 46 and 47 for elections to the Georgia House of Representatives and districts 21, 32 and 56 for the Georgia State Senate.
Government
The five-member board of commissioners is elected from four districts, with an at-large county commission chair. Thus, members are elected as residents of geographic districts, but the commission chair must receive the majority vote of the county in total. Each is elected to a four-year term.Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and city police agencies
The county is under the jurisdiction of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, which is currently headed by Sheriff Frank Reynolds. Unlike some other metro Atlanta counties in Georgia, the Cherokee Sheriff's Office is a full-service Sheriff's Office meaning they manage the Adult Detention Center, and handle law enforcement for unincorporated areas of Cherokee County. The incorporated cities within Cherokee County, Woodstock, Canton, Holly Springs, and Ball Ground, have independent municipal police departments.Cherokee County Marshal's Office
Originally formed by the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners as the Cherokee County Police, the Marshal's office is composed of Sworn Deputies and civilian Animal Control Officers. The Deputies primarily handle code enforcement, commercial vehicle traffic enforcement, park ordinance enforcement, business and liquor licenses, Cherokee Probation arrests and transports, as well as enforcing State Laws and assisting the Sheriff's Office and City Police. The civilian Animal Control Officers enforce all animal related ordinances within the county, including cities.Politics
As of 2021, all state, county, and municipal elected officials representing Cherokee County are members of the Republican Party, with the exception of officials who hold officially non-partisan offices.Cherokee County had voting patterns similar to most Solid South and Georgia counties prior to 1964 in presidential elections, though Democratic Party candidates did not win by as wide margins as they did in the rest of the state and the Deep South. In fact, the county backed Republican candidates four times between 1900 and 1960. From 1964 onward, the county has swung strongly toward the Republicans, only failing to vote for the Republican in presidential elections since then in 1968 when segregationist George Wallace appealed to anti-Civil Rights Act sentiment and in the two times Georgian Jimmy Carter was on the ballot in 1976 and 1980. In addition, unlike the inner suburban counties of the Atlanta metropolitan area, Cherokee County has continued to vote for Republicans by landslide margins, although the margins have decreased slightly in the most recent elections with the growth of the metropolitan area. In 2020, the majority of votes from all of the 42 county election precincts were cast for incumbent President Donald Trump.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 266,620; the census recorded 95,916 households, including 69,257 families, within the county.Of the residents, 23.9% were under the age of 18 and 15.4% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 39.4 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.3 males.
81.7% of residents lived in urban areas and 18.3% lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 76.8% White, 6.7% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.1% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 4.7% from some other race, and 9.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 12.0% of the population.
Of the 95,916 households, 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 22.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 100,813 housing units, of which 4.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 77.2% were owner-occupied and 22.8% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%.
2010 census
As of the 2010 United States census, 214,346 people, 75,936 households, and 57,876 families were living in the county. The population density was. The 82,360 housing units averaged. The racial makeup of the county was 86.6% White, 5.65% Black or African American, 1.65% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.6% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin of any race made up 9.6% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 16.2% were Irish, 16.1% were German, 14.1% were English, 10.7% were American, and 5.7% were Italian.Of the 75,936 households, 41.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 23.8% were not families, and 18.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.20. The median age was 36.3 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $66,320 and for a family was $77,190. Males had a median income of $53,773 versus $40,153 for females. The per capita income for the county was $30,217. About 5.5% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.