Poverty rate in Cobb County

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Screenshot of interactive map. The figures represented in the map are in table form within the articleScreenshot of map of poverty rate in Cobb County by census tract. Interactive map is in the article.

Posted By: Larry Felton Johnson April 21, 2021

In this article I’ll present a color-coded interactive map that contains data on the poverty rate in Cobb County within each census tract. If you want to skip the explanations and go straight to the map and tables, just scroll down.

The map below will allow you to explore the differences in poverty and affluence between communities in the county.

I’ll also present two tables, one sorted by percentage of the population living below the federal poverty line, and the other sorted by census tract number. At the bottom I include a fast way of finding what the census tract is for any address you enter.

Cobb County has not been generally known for poverty. The overall rate of Cobb’s population below the federal poverty level as calculated in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 5-year American Community Survey is 9.1 percent of the population countywide.

That puts the county as a whole in a pretty good position. Only ten other counties have a lower poverty rate.

For comparison, in the county with the highest poverty rate, Clinch County, 40.2 percent of the population lives on income below the federal poverty line.

But the income inequality between census tracts in Cobb County is considerable.

To give the extreme examples, the census tract with the lowest poverty rate, of 0.3 percent is tract 311.12, an area bounded by Atlanta Road, Ridge Road, South Cobb Drive, and a rough diagonal starting on the north at Concord Road.

That tract also shows that the tract with the lowest poverty isn’t necessarily the tract with the highest income. Several census tracts in Vinings and East Cobb have higher median incomes than 311.12, but they also have higher poverty rates.

The tract with the highest poverty rate in the county is 310.01 in Fair Oaks, an area along South Cobb Drive between Smyrna and Marietta. That tract also has the lowest median household income in the county at just over $29,000. See our previous article mapping median family income for the county.

So what is the federal poverty line? In 2019, the final year of the American Community Survey data we’re examining, the federal poverty rate was as follows:

Persons in family/householdPoverty guideline
1$12,490
2$16,910
3$21,330
4$25,750

So let’s move along to the interactive map.

The map can be zoomed in and out with the plus and minus buttons, and moved around, so if your device has the legend box encroaching on a part of the map you want to see, just drag the map around.

If you click on a census tract a popup with the tract id and the percentage of population below the poverty line will be displayed (In future maps I hope to put the percentage on a separate line from the tract id, since the two numbers aren’t visually separated enough, and you have to look at it closely).

Table of poverty rate in Cobb sorted by percentage

This table sorts the census tracts by the percentage of people in the area who fall below the federal poverty line, from lowest rate of poverty to highest.

Census TractPercent of population below poverty level
Census Tract 311.120.3
Census Tract 303.220.9
Census Tract 303.291.1
Census Tract 302.181.2
Census Tract 303.361.2
Census Tract 303.401.3
Census Tract 303.321.6
Census Tract 302.391.7
Census Tract 303.411.9
Census Tract 301.072
Census Tract 302.382
Census Tract 303.242.1
Census Tract 313.132.1
Census Tract 301.032.2
Census Tract 303.352.6
Census Tract 303.272.7
Census Tract 312.122.8
Census Tract 303.262.9
Census Tract 303.312.9
Census Tract 303.372.9
Census Tract 302.313
Census Tract 303.203
Census Tract 312.113.1
Census Tract 303.433.2
Census Tract 315.053.2
Census Tract 302.323.3
Census Tract 303.303.3
Census Tract 303.423.3
Census Tract 302.343.5
Census Tract 303.333.6
Census Tract 302.333.8
Census Tract 303.183.8
Census Tract 304.093.9
Census Tract 314.084.1
Census Tract 302.144.2
Census Tract 303.284.2
Census Tract 312.074.3
Census Tract 302.194.4
Census Tract 311.064.6
Census Tract 311.174.7
Census Tract 302.304.8
Census Tract 313.124.8
Census Tract 304.105.1
Census Tract 302.355.3
Census Tract 305.075.3
Census Tract 302.225.4
Census Tract 302.245.6
Census Tract 302.365.7
Census Tract 303.145.9
Census Tract 302.156
Census Tract 303.136
Census Tract 303.196.2
Census Tract 315.086.2
Census Tract 306.026.4
Census Tract 312.086.4
Census Tract 312.056.7
Census Tract 302.096.8
Census Tract 304.087
Census Tract 313.067.1
Census Tract 303.107.2
Census Tract 303.127.3
Census Tract 301.067.4
Census Tract 311.087.4
Census Tract 311.117.4
Census Tract 312.067.6
Census Tract 302.207.8
Census Tract 303.397.8
Census Tract 303.348.2
Census Tract 311.188.2
Census Tract 314.048.2
Census Tract 306.018.4
Census Tract 314.098.8
Census Tract 302.269.2
Census Tract 305.029.2
Census Tract 309.019.2
Census Tract 315.079.6
Census Tract 303.459.7
Census Tract 315.099.7
Census Tract 312.099.8
Census Tract 303.119.9
Census Tract 309.0210.1
Census Tract 313.0910.2
Census Tract 303.4410.6
Census Tract 313.0710.6
Census Tract 305.0611.5
Census Tract 304.0711.8
Census Tract 315.0311.8
Census Tract 301.0111.9
Census Tract 313.0811.9
Census Tract 311.1012
Census Tract 305.0412.2
Census Tract 305.0512.3
Census Tract 302.2912.5
Census Tract 302.2313
Census Tract 311.1613.1
Census Tract 311.1514
Census Tract 309.0514.3
Census Tract 310.0514.3
Census Tract 315.0614.4
Census Tract 311.1414.8
Census Tract 302.2715.2
Census Tract 311.1316
Census Tract 314.0516.7
Census Tract 30817.4
Census Tract 30718.3
Census Tract 310.0218.3
Census Tract 304.0519.2
Census Tract 310.0419.2
Census Tract 301.0420.2
Census Tract 302.2820.9
Census Tract 314.0621.3
Census Tract 304.1423.4
Census Tract 311.0123.9
Census Tract 313.1025.1
Census Tract 304.1125.7
Census Tract 309.0425.7
Census Tract 304.1326.7
Census Tract 304.1228
Census Tract 313.1128
Census Tract 310.0134

Table of poverty rate in Cobb County sorted by census tract id

Here is the same table above sorted by census tract to make it easier to find a tract you’re interested in using the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Census TractPercent of population below poverty level
Census Tract 301.0111.9
Census Tract 301.032.2
Census Tract 301.0420.2
Census Tract 301.067.4
Census Tract 301.072
Census Tract 302.096.8
Census Tract 302.144.2
Census Tract 302.156
Census Tract 302.181.2
Census Tract 302.194.4
Census Tract 302.207.8
Census Tract 302.225.4
Census Tract 302.2313
Census Tract 302.245.6
Census Tract 302.269.2
Census Tract 302.2715.2
Census Tract 302.2820.9
Census Tract 302.2912.5
Census Tract 302.304.8
Census Tract 302.313
Census Tract 302.323.3
Census Tract 302.333.8
Census Tract 302.343.5
Census Tract 302.355.3
Census Tract 302.365.7
Census Tract 302.382
Census Tract 302.391.7
Census Tract 303.107.2
Census Tract 303.119.9
Census Tract 303.127.3
Census Tract 303.136
Census Tract 303.145.9
Census Tract 303.183.8
Census Tract 303.196.2
Census Tract 303.203
Census Tract 303.220.9
Census Tract 303.242.1
Census Tract 303.262.9
Census Tract 303.272.7
Census Tract 303.284.2
Census Tract 303.291.1
Census Tract 303.303.3
Census Tract 303.312.9
Census Tract 303.321.6
Census Tract 303.333.6
Census Tract 303.348.2
Census Tract 303.352.6
Census Tract 303.361.2
Census Tract 303.372.9
Census Tract 303.397.8
Census Tract 303.401.3
Census Tract 303.411.9
Census Tract 303.423.3
Census Tract 303.433.2
Census Tract 303.4410.6
Census Tract 303.459.7
Census Tract 304.0519.2
Census Tract 304.0711.8
Census Tract 304.087
Census Tract 304.093.9
Census Tract 304.105.1
Census Tract 304.1125.7
Census Tract 304.1228
Census Tract 304.1326.7
Census Tract 304.1423.4
Census Tract 305.029.2
Census Tract 305.0412.2
Census Tract 305.0512.3
Census Tract 305.0611.5
Census Tract 305.075.3
Census Tract 306.018.4
Census Tract 306.026.4
Census Tract 30718.3
Census Tract 30817.4
Census Tract 309.019.2
Census Tract 309.0210.1
Census Tract 309.0425.7
Census Tract 309.0514.3
Census Tract 310.0134
Census Tract 310.0218.3
Census Tract 310.0419.2
Census Tract 310.0514.3
Census Tract 311.0123.9
Census Tract 311.064.6
Census Tract 311.087.4
Census Tract 311.1012
Census Tract 311.117.4
Census Tract 311.120.3
Census Tract 311.1316
Census Tract 311.1414.8
Census Tract 311.1514
Census Tract 311.1613.1
Census Tract 311.174.7
Census Tract 311.188.2
Census Tract 312.056.7
Census Tract 312.067.6
Census Tract 312.074.3
Census Tract 312.086.4
Census Tract 312.099.8
Census Tract 312.113.1
Census Tract 312.122.8
Census Tract 313.067.1
Census Tract 313.0710.6
Census Tract 313.0811.9
Census Tract 313.0910.2
Census Tract 313.1025.1
Census Tract 313.1128
Census Tract 313.124.8
Census Tract 313.132.1
Census Tract 314.048.2
Census Tract 314.0516.7
Census Tract 314.0621.3
Census Tract 314.084.1
Census Tract 314.098.8
Census Tract 315.0311.8
Census Tract 315.053.2
Census Tract 315.0614.4
Census Tract 315.079.6
Census Tract 315.086.2
Census Tract 315.099.7

How do you find your own census tract?

Finding the census tract for your address or any other address is easy by following this link to the FFIEC Geomap website.

There is a search bar at the top where you can enter a Cobb County address. You’ll notice in the screenshot below that I entered the address of the Cobb County government building in Marietta. It produces a map, and a little box on the upper left that has an entry called the Tract Code. That is where you’ll find the census tract you searched for.

Where does the data for the map and tables in this article come from?

The data for this article comes from the 2019 five-year American Community Survey. “Five-year” signifies that the data is collected for 60 months, which provides a higher likelihood of accuracy than shorter surveys because of the larger number of responses (aka larger sample size).

The American Community Survey is both more frequent and more comprehensive than the decennial census. Here’s a description of the ACS from the U.S. Census website. The ACS is:

  • Conducted every month, every year
  • Sent to a sample of addresses (about 3.5 million) in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico
  • Asks about topics not on the 2020 Census, such as education, employment, internet access, and transportation
  • Provides current information to communities every year.  It also provides local and national leaders with the information they need for programs, economic development, emergency management, and understanding local issues and conditions.

The decennial census, on the other hand, is:

  • Conducted every ten years
  • Counts every person living in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories
  • Asks a shorter set of questions, such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, and owner/renter status
  • Provides an official count of the population, which determines congressional representation.  Also provides critical data that lawmakers and many others use to provide daily services, products, and support for communities.

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