Living in Augusta, GA
Richmond County (consolidated Augusta-Richmond County city-county government)
Augusta's identity runs through two anchors that have little in common on the surface but both hold up under scrutiny: the Masters Tournament, and Fort Gordon, a genuinely large military-cybersecurity employer, not a minor base. The Masters is a single week each spring, but its documented economic footprint is real -- the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates more than $36 million in direct tournament-week revenue and almost $110 million in total metro economic impact, with an estimated 250,000 visitors and roughly 3,000 homes rented to them (a typical four-bedroom house renting for about $8,500 for the week). Augusta National's involvement extends beyond the tournament itself into funding road and public-space improvements in surrounding neighborhoods. Fort Gordon is the region's largest employer by a wide margin, with 31,874 military, civilian, and contractor personnel currently cited and a total economic impact (including indirect and induced effects) put at $7.5 billion annually. That scale is not incidental to the base's location: Army Cyber Command consolidated eight East Coast facilities into a purpose-built, 336,000-square-foot headquarters at Fort Gordon in 2020, and the NSA separately built a roughly $400 million facility on-post projected to eventually employ nearly 4,000 people -- a genuine cybersecurity-industry cluster, not a marketing label. One nuance worth being precise about: the installation was renamed Fort Eisenhower in 2023 as part of a Department of Defense program removing Confederate namesakes, then renamed back to Fort Gordon in 2025 -- but honoring a different Gordon, Medal of Honor recipient Master Sergeant Gary I. Gordon, rather than the original Confederate general the 2023 change had removed. This file uses the installation's current, 2025-onward name and honoree throughout. On cost, Augusta is genuinely more affordable than Atlanta or Savannah in this batch: median home sale price runs around $220K over the trailing three months, well below the national median and roughly half of Atlanta's figure. Population has been essentially flat in recent years (reported changes of a fraction of a percent, effectively noise) rather than clearly growing or declining, so no population-trend tag is assigned here.
Explore Augusta in depth
- Moving to Augusta: Pros, Cons & What to Know
- Cost of Living in Augusta
- Housing Market in Augusta
- Buying a Home in Augusta
- Renting in Augusta
- Property Taxes in Augusta
- Taxes in Augusta
- Homeowners Insurance in Augusta
- Flood & Hurricane Risk in Augusta
- Climate & Weather in Augusta
- Jobs & Economy in Augusta
- Schools in Augusta
- Crime & Safety in Augusta
- Healthcare in Augusta
- Traffic & Transportation in Augusta
- Best Areas to Live in Augusta
- Pros and Cons of Living in Augusta
- Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Augusta
- Who Should NOT Move to Augusta?
- Retiring in Augusta
- Living in Augusta for Families
- Living in Augusta for Remote Workers
- Is Augusta a Good Place to Live?
Exploring the idea of moving?
We can connect you with a local real estate professional who knows the area -- no pressure, just a starting point.
Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Richmond County (consolidated Augusta-Richmond County city-county government) level this session. Georgia's top state income tax rate is 4.99%. See the Georgia hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Augusta-specific.
Want to know what your budget actually buys here?
Tell us a bit about what you're looking for and we'll connect you with someone local who can walk you through real numbers.
Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
Genuinely more affordable housing than Atlanta or Savannah in this batch -- roughly $220K median sale price, well below the national median; Fort Gordon is a real, large-scale employer (31,874 personnel, $7.5B total economic impact) anchoring an actual cybersecurity-industry cluster (Army Cyber Command HQ, an NSA facility projected to reach ~4,000 employees), not just a small regional base; the Masters brings well-documented, if seasonal, tourism revenue (~$110M total impact) and civic investment from Augusta National; Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia backs genuinely strong healthcare access.
Cons
Population has been essentially flat in recent years rather than growing, unlike Atlanta and Savannah in this same batch; the installation's name changed twice in recent years (Fort Gordon to Fort Eisenhower in 2023, back to Fort Gordon under a different honoree in 2025) -- a genuinely confusing recent history worth knowing before relying on older sources that may cite the interim name; Masters-week economic figures are a single-week snapshot, not evenly distributed across the year; inland tornado/severe-thunderstorm exposure typical of the broader state; effective property tax rate could not be resolved to one authoritative figure this session.
Who this fits
Best for: Buyers prioritizing affordability alongside genuine, large-scale military/cybersecurity employment (Fort Gordon, Army Cyber Command, the on-post NSA facility) and strong healthcare access via Augusta University's teaching hospital -- including military retirees drawn to the installation's scale and the healthcare infrastructure built up around it.
Maybe not for you if: Anyone assuming the base is still called "Fort Eisenhower" should note the 2025 reversion to Fort Gordon (under a different, non-Confederate honoree) when cross-referencing other sources; buyers specifically wanting Atlanta's corporate-HQ density or Savannah's coastal/historic-tourism identity should look at those cities in this batch rather than treating Augusta as a smaller version of either.
Planning a move?
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll connect you with a local expert who can help you make it happen.
Talk to a local expert