Living in Marietta, GA

Cobb County (county seat)

Marietta is the Cobb County seat, and its identity runs through two things that are both real rather than marketing gloss: a genuinely walkable historic downtown square, and a large aeronautics manufacturing employer next door. Lockheed Martin's Marietta plant -- more than 5,600 employees across an 8-million-square-foot facility -- builds the C-130J Super Hercules and produces F-35 center-wing assemblies, and together those two programs are cited as supporting over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs across Georgia. Cobb County has its own civic identity distinct from Fulton County to the east, with Marietta Square functioning as a real, historic town center rather than a generic suburban downtown. Median home sale price runs around $475K, the most affordable of the five Atlanta satellites profiled in this batch, though still modestly above the national median cited elsewhere on this site.

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Housing

Median sale price (Marietta city)$475,000

Median sale price (Cobb County (county seat))Not yet verified

Taxes

Local effective property tax rateNot yet verified

Not independently sourced at the Cobb County (county seat) 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 Marietta-specific.

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The tradeoffs

Pros

A real, large-scale aeronautics employer (Lockheed Martin, 5,600+ jobs, C-130J and F-35 production) rather than a bedroom community with no industry of its own; a genuinely walkable historic square distinct from the broader car-dependent county around it; the most affordable median home price among the five Atlanta satellites in this batch.

Cons

Walkability is concentrated around the historic square itself -- greater Cobb County remains broadly car-dependent; shares the inland Piedmont tornado/severe-thunderstorm exposure common to metro Atlanta; effective property tax rate was not resolved to a verified figure this pass.

Who this fits

Best for: Families and buyers wanting a real historic town center plus stable aeronautics/defense-sector employment, at the most affordable price point among this batch of Atlanta satellites.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers wanting Alpharetta's or Sandy Springs' concentration of corporate-office and tech employment should look at those cities directly rather than expecting Marietta to match that specific profile.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-22. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.