307,336 people (2024 Census estimate, +4.2% since 2020)
433 square miles of land · 710 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
83 active community water systems list Chatham County in the area they serve, reporting 333,337 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SAVANNAH-MAIN groundwater · local government · GA0510003 | 168,958 served |
| POOLER buys surface water · local government · GA0510001 | 28,423 served |
| SAVANNAH-GEORGETOWN/GATEWAY groundwater · local government · GA0510081 | 14,589 served |
| SAVANNAH-WILMINGTON ISLAND groundwater · local government · GA0510229 | 13,526 served |
| LARCHMONT ESTATES SUBDIVISION groundwater · private · GA0510034 | 11,799 served |
| THE LANDINGS SUBDIVISION groundwater · private · GA0510033 | 11,058 served |
| PORT WENTWORTH buys surface water · local government · GA0510002 | 11,000 served |
| SAVANNAH-I & D surface water · local government · GA0510004 | 10,500 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 1,308 people were held in Chatham County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 1,288.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Chatham County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $648.1 million — $558.4 million to run schools, about $15,371 per student, plus $89.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $493.7 million local (mostly property tax), $189.5 million state, $82.9 million federal.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Chatham County about $276.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
268 bridges in Chatham County: 199 in good condition, 66 fair, and 3 poor (1.1%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| CHATHAM PKWY over I-16 (SR 404) · built 1982 | 18,500 vehicles a day |
| OCEAN HIGHWAY over MIDDLE RIVER · built 1922 | 5,140 vehicles a day |
| SABER HALL EXT RD over DRAINAGE CANAL · built 1999 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $236.4 million of work in Chatham County in fiscal 2025, about $801 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Georgia are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Chatham County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Chatham County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Georgia: the state government and every county in Georgia.
Nearby counties: Bryan County (21 mi) · Liberty County (25 mi) · Effingham County (30 mi) · Jasper County, SC (31 mi) · Beaufort County, SC (35 mi) · McIntosh County (38 mi).