Living in Statesboro, GA

Bulloch County

Statesboro is a southeast Georgia college town where Georgia Southern University genuinely dominates the local economy, culture, and age demographics -- GSU's Fall 2026 enrollment is projected to exceed 33,900 students, an institutional record, in a city with a total population of roughly 35,800. That scale is reflected directly in Statesboro's Census data: a median age of just 22.6 years, the youngest of any market in this four-market Georgia batch by a wide margin, with only about 8% of residents 65 or older against a roughly 16% national figure. But Statesboro's economy runs deeper than the university alone: the city and Bulloch County host the world's largest Walmart distribution center (a 20-plus-year presence importing via the Port of Savannah), a real manufacturing base (Briggs & Stratton, Cardinal Glass, GAF roofing products, Great Dane Trailers, Braswell Foods), and a genuine regional agribusiness sector built on carrots, onions, and peanuts -- together supporting a stable, low 3.4% county unemployment rate as of December 2025, essentially in line with Georgia's statewide rate. Housing runs genuinely affordable, though sources disagreed on the exact current figure this session: a $294,900 countywide median (February 2026) sits alongside a more recent, lower Statesboro-specific figure of $235K, both well below the national median either way. Bulloch County's 2025 property tax picture included two real, contested increases -- an 11.35-mill county rate (a 6.5% increase above the state rollback rate) and a 10.4-mill school-board rate (a much larger 39.67% increase, approved on a non-unanimous 6-2 vote). As an inland southeast Georgia city, Statesboro's defining hazard is severe thunderstorm and tornado risk rather than hurricane exposure, though -- like Valdosta in this same batch -- it does carry real, disclosed tropical-storm-remnant rainfall risk: Tropical Storm Debby (2024) affected the Valdosta-to-Statesboro corridor directly, with flooding threats specifically reported near a dam close to the city.

Explore Statesboro in depth

• Moving to Statesboro: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Statesboro
• Housing in Statesboro
• Taxes & Insurance in Statesboro
• Climate in Statesboro
• Schools & Families in Statesboro
• Healthcare & Safety in Statesboro
• Pros and Cons of Living in Statesboro
• Best Areas to Live in Statesboro

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Affordability-focused movers and first-time buyers drawn to genuinely below-national-median housing costs, young professionals connected to GSU or the area's diversified logistics/manufacturing/agribusiness economy, and anyone specifically drawn to a real, energetic college-town culture.

Maybe not for you if: Retirees specifically seeking an established retirement-destination community should look elsewhere in this Georgia batch (see St. Simons Island) -- Statesboro's age profile is the youngest of any market in this batch by a wide margin, driven almost entirely by GSU's dominant student population. Families or buyers prioritizing consistently strong, above-average school performance districtwide should weigh Bulloch County Schools' below-average statewide GreatSchools rating directly, even though specific individual campuses perform meaningfully better.