The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Peach State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.
While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.
We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in Georgia have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.
A recent study we published found that Georgia is the 40th smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 98.
But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in Georgia are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.
#1 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
Grady County, Georgia
Cairo is a city in Grady County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,607. The city is the county seat of Grady County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
Clayton County, Georgia
Forest Park is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. It is located approximately nine miles south of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 18,468.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 dumbest in Georgia
Camilla is a city in Mitchell County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,360.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 dumbest in Georgia
Data | Movers
#5 dumbest in Georgia
The town of Blakely is the county seat of Early County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 5,068.
Blakely was platted in 1825 as the county seat for Early County. It was named for Johnston Blakeley, an officer in the War of 1812.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
Walton County, Georgia
Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Walton County, Georgia, United States. It is located east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The population was 13,234 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
Clayton County, Georgia
Morrow is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,445 at the 2010 census, up from 4,882 in 2000. It is the home of Clayton State University.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 dumbest in Georgia
Data | Movers
#9 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
McDuffie County, Georgia
Thomson, originally called Slashes is a city in McDuffie County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,778 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of McDuffie County. Thomson’s nickname is “The Camellia City of the South”, in honor of the thousands of camellia plants throughout the city. Thomson was founded in 1837 as a depot on the Georgia Railroad. It was renamed in 1853 for railroad official John Edgar Thomson and incorporated February 15, 1854 as a town and in 1870 as a city. It is part of the Augusta – Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 dumbest in Georgia
Located in
Polk County, Georgia
Cedartown is a city in Polk County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,750. The city is the county seat of Polk County. Cedartown is the principal city of and is included in the Cedartown, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Georgia-Alabama Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Georgia’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Georgia’s dumbest cities are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Peach State
We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in Georgia:
- % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)
We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.
Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in Georgia from dumbest to brightest.
For this ranking, we used every Georgia city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in Georgia.
The full plate
Dumbest Cities In Georgia For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | % Adult High School Dropout | % Highly Educated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairo | 10,055 | 26.0% | 12.0% |
| 2 | Forest Park | 19,504 | 25.0% | 12.0% |
| 3 | Camilla | 5,124 | 21.0% | 10.0% |
| 4 | Jonesboro | 6,143 | 23.0% | 13.0% |
| 5 | Blakely | 5,238 | 19.0% | 12.0% |
| 6 | Monroe | 15,648 | 25.0% | 16.0% |
| 7 | Morrow | 6,364 | 24.0% | 16.0% |
| 8 | Glennville | 5,179 | 18.0% | 11.0% |
| 9 | Thomson | 6,821 | 19.0% | 13.0% |
| 10 | Cedartown | 10,227 | 19.0% | 14.0% |
| 11 | Waycross | 13,756 | 19.0% | 16.0% |
| 12 | Fort Valley | 8,858 | 24.0% | 19.0% |
| 13 | Waynesboro | 5,644 | 17.0% | 12.0% |
| 14 | Fitzgerald | 8,918 | 17.0% | 14.0% |
| 15 | Cordele | 9,994 | 17.0% | 14.0% |
| 16 | Sandersville | 5,601 | 20.0% | 19.0% |
| 17 | Sylvester | 5,489 | 16.0% | 14.0% |
| 18 | Bainbridge | 14,404 | 19.0% | 19.0% |
| 19 | Griffin | 23,761 | 17.0% | 16.0% |
| 20 | Jesup | 9,942 | 18.0% | 18.0% |
| 21 | LaFayette | 6,967 | 14.0% | 12.0% |
| 22 | Calhoun | 18,183 | 19.0% | 20.0% |
| 23 | Adel | 5,641 | 18.0% | 19.0% |
| 24 | Moultrie | 14,588 | 19.0% | 20.0% |
| 25 | Dalton | 34,538 | 30.0% | 25.0% |
| 26 | Commerce | 8,013 | 16.0% | 17.0% |
| 27 | Oakwood | 5,862 | 20.0% | 23.0% |
| 28 | Swainsboro | 7,571 | 14.0% | 14.0% |
| 29 | Clarkston | 14,557 | 22.0% | 24.0% |
| 30 | Barnesville | 6,121 | 15.0% | 17.0% |
| 31 | Auburn | 8,711 | 15.0% | 18.0% |
| 32 | Milledgeville | 16,748 | 17.0% | 20.0% |
| 33 | Gainesville | 45,032 | 25.0% | 27.0% |
| 34 | Thomaston | 9,831 | 15.0% | 18.0% |
| 35 | Douglas | 11,749 | 14.0% | 17.0% |
| 36 | Toccoa | 9,238 | 16.0% | 20.0% |
| 37 | Lilburn | 15,390 | 23.0% | 28.0% |
| 38 | Jackson | 5,741 | 11.0% | 15.0% |
| 39 | Eatonton | 6,515 | 15.0% | 21.0% |
| 40 | Brunswick | 15,307 | 14.0% | 20.0% |
| 41 | Riverdale | 14,792 | 12.0% | 17.0% |
| 42 | Temple | 5,901 | 12.0% | 17.0% |
| 43 | Lawrenceville | 30,954 | 17.0% | 25.0% |
| 44 | Americus | 15,813 | 15.0% | 23.0% |
| 45 | Rockmart | 5,204 | 13.0% | 21.0% |
| 46 | Dublin | 16,136 | 14.0% | 21.0% |
| 47 | Albany | 67,224 | 14.0% | 22.0% |
| 48 | Buford | 17,997 | 18.0% | 29.0% |
| 49 | Doraville | 11,134 | 27.0% | 36.0% |
| 50 | Austell | 8,447 | 13.0% | 21.0% |
| 51 | Fort Oglethorpe | 10,416 | 11.0% | 19.0% |
| 52 | Port Wentworth | 12,892 | 15.0% | 25.0% |
| 53 | Winder | 19,437 | 11.0% | 20.0% |
| 54 | Rome | 38,189 | 17.0% | 29.0% |
| 55 | Stone Mountain | 6,623 | 13.0% | 23.0% |
| 56 | Tifton | 17,210 | 12.0% | 22.0% |
| 57 | Canton | 35,741 | 18.0% | 32.0% |
| 58 | Vidalia | 10,752 | 12.0% | 23.0% |
| 59 | Loganville | 15,527 | 12.0% | 27.0% |
| 60 | Chamblee | 30,895 | 20.0% | 48.0% |
| 61 | Norcross | 18,007 | 18.0% | 41.0% |
| 62 | Covington | 14,584 | 11.0% | 27.0% |
| 63 | Thomasville | 18,666 | 10.0% | 24.0% |
| 64 | Carrollton | 27,392 | 15.0% | 34.0% |
| 65 | College Park | 14,712 | 12.0% | 28.0% |
| 66 | Social Circle | 5,217 | 9.0% | 24.0% |
| 67 | Eastman | 5,584 | 15.0% | 34.0% |
| 68 | Columbus | 203,711 | 12.0% | 30.0% |
| 69 | Cumming | 8,469 | 14.0% | 35.0% |
| 70 | Grovetown | 17,014 | 10.0% | 28.0% |
| 71 | LaGrange | 32,078 | 11.0% | 29.0% |
| 72 | Valdosta | 55,252 | 11.0% | 29.0% |
| 73 | Dacula | 7,444 | 8.0% | 25.0% |
| 74 | Bremen | 7,488 | 8.0% | 25.0% |
| 75 | Lovejoy | 11,508 | 9.0% | 28.0% |
| 76 | Centerville | 8,505 | 8.0% | 27.0% |
| 77 | McDonough | 30,947 | 8.0% | 27.0% |
| 78 | Cartersville | 24,074 | 9.0% | 29.0% |
| 79 | Savannah | 147,898 | 11.0% | 33.0% |
| 80 | Hinesville | 35,679 | 4.0% | 21.0% |
| 81 | Conyers | 18,512 | 10.0% | 33.0% |
| 82 | Perry | 23,001 | 8.0% | 29.0% |
| 83 | Hapeville | 6,630 | 13.0% | 44.0% |
| 84 | Dallas | 14,714 | 6.0% | 25.0% |
| 85 | Jefferson | 14,990 | 10.0% | 34.0% |
| 86 | Acworth | 22,473 | 10.0% | 34.0% |
| 87 | Statesboro | 34,149 | 9.0% | 32.0% |
| 88 | East Point | 38,335 | 11.0% | 36.0% |
| 89 | Stockbridge | 35,737 | 8.0% | 31.0% |
| 90 | Snellville | 21,620 | 10.0% | 36.0% |
| 91 | St. Marys | 19,166 | 7.0% | 29.0% |
| 92 | Kingsland | 19,627 | 3.0% | 24.0% |
| 93 | Villa Rica | 18,551 | 6.0% | 29.0% |
| 94 | Warner Robins | 82,990 | 7.0% | 32.0% |
| 95 | Hiram | 5,231 | 9.0% | 40.0% |
| 96 | Douglasville | 37,536 | 8.0% | 35.0% |
| 97 | Fairburn | 16,831 | 8.0% | 40.0% |
| 98 | Hampton | 8,687 | 5.0% | 32.0% |
| 99 | Powder Springs | 18,009 | 8.0% | 41.0% |
| 100 | Newnan | 44,235 | 8.0% | 41.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 128 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
If you’re measuring the locations in Georgia where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.
The dumbest cities in Georgia are Cairo, Forest Park, Camilla, Jonesboro, Blakely, Monroe, Morrow, Glennville, Thomson, and Cedartown. Not sold on Georgia? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
