According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 684 square miles (1,770km2), of which 678 square miles (1,760km2) is land and 5.9 square miles (15km2) (0.9%) is water.[5]
The western portion of Washington County, west of a north-to-south line running through Sandersville, is located in the Lower Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. The northeastern portion of the county, north of Riddleville, is located in the Upper Ogeechee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin, while the southeastern portion, centered on Harrison, is located in the Ohoopee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.[6]
Washington County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 19,988.[19] The median age was 42.2 years, with 21.4% of residents under the age of 18 and 19.1% of residents 65 years of age or older.[20] For every 100 females there were 102.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 102.8 males age 18 and over.[21] 35.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 64.5% lived in rural areas.[20]
There were 7,506 households in the county, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 37.9% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[21] Of those households, 5,315 were families.[21]
There were 8,556 housing units, of which 12.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 67.6% were owner-occupied and 32.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.5%.[21]
Kaolin mines are a major industry in Washington County. Kaolin has had a particularly strong impact on the town of Sandersville which brands itself as the “kaolin capital of the world.” Each October, the town hosts a festival that includes a parade of heavy mining machinery, kaolin mine tours, and a beauty pageant that crowns Miss Kaolin.
Education
The county is served by the Washington County School District, which includes:[23]
The 1933 short story "The People's Choice" by Erskine Caldwell is set in Washington County, where the story's protagonist is a popular local politician elected again and again as the county's tax assessor.
In 1992, the Pig Monument was erected in the county, near Oconee off of Georgia State Route 272. The monument commemorates a 1933 event where several residents of the county gathered together to help a local farmer rescue a pig that had fallen down a dry well.
The biography of one of the main characters (Grant Alexander) in the 2011 console game X-Men: Destiny states that they were born in Sandersville, Georgia.
Politics
Like most other majority-minority counties in the South, Washington County has primarily backed Democratic Party candidates for most of its history. Democratic margins of victory in presidential elections were far greater prior to 1964, but the county has only failed to back a Democratic presidential candidate five times in its history. However, no candidate of any party since Bill Clinton in 1996 has managed to win the county by a margin of 1,000 votes or greater. It was the most Black county in Georgia to vote for Donald Trump in 2024.
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