Cobb County Went From 88% White to 47% in a Generation
See more of our coverage in your search results.
In 1990, Cobb County, Georgia was 87.6 percent white. The Atlanta suburb known for (perhaps the Big Boss Man), Marietta, Kennesaw, and now the Battery with the Atlanta Braves' ballpark was, demographically, about as homogeneous as a large county gets. Today it is 47.1 percent white, having quietly crossed the line into majority-minority. Cobb is the second act of the same story we told about its neighbor next door: how Gwinnett County went from 91 percent white to 30 percent. Two nearby fast growing Atlanta metro counties, the same generation, the same transformation.
How Cobb's population changed
Measured the same way in 1990 and today, using Census Bureau data, the shift is stark.
| # | Group | 1990 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White, non-Hispanic | 87.6% | 47.1% |
| 2 | Black | 9.8% | 26.4% |
| 3 | Hispanic | 2.0% | 15.1% |
| 4 | Asian | 1.7% | 5.4% |
*Note: Hispanic is an ethnicity that can be of any race, so these figures overlap and do not sum to 100 percent.
Unlike some counties whose diversity is driven by a single group, Cobb's change came from three directions at once. Its Black population, at just under 10% in 1990, is now more than 25% of the county, part of the broader movement of the Black middle class into metro Atlanta. Its Hispanic and Asian populations, near zero in 1990, together add another 20%. That balance is why Cobb now ranks 54th out of 3,144 counties on the CensusEasy Diversity Score, near the top 1.5% of the country.
Diverse and affluent at the same time
There's an assumption from long time locals that a diversifying suburb is that it must be a declining one. Cobb is the opposite. Its median household income is $102,738, well above Georgia's $77,353 and the national figure of $82,259. About 16.5% of residents were born outside the United States. Cobb got more diverse and stayed prosperous, the same pattern that holds across the wealthy, fast-diversifying suburbs of the Sun Belt.
The growth that carried it
Cobb nearly doubled in size while it diversified, which means it absorbed newcomers rather than swapping one population for another.
| Year | Population | Growth since 1990 |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 447,745 | baseline |
| 2000 | 607,751 | +35.7% |
| 2010 | 688,078 | +53.7% |
| 2020 | 766,149 | +71.1% |
| 2025 | 793,345 | +77.2% |
Cobb added nearly 346,000 residents in 35 years, and the white population did not shrink so much as get outpaced by everyone else arriving. It is the same dynamic that reshaped Gwinnett, and together the two counties have turned the northern arc of metro Atlanta into one of the most diverse suburban regions in the country. We traced the statewide version in how Georgia is diversifying, and the county-by-county growth in Georgia's fastest-growing counties.
Where Cobb ranks
Cobb sits at number 54 nationally on the diversity index, one spot ahead of Collin County, Texas and among a group of large suburban counties, mostly attached to booming metros, that have diversified fastest since 1990. See the full list at most diverse counties, compare Cobb with Gwinnett or any other county using the compare tool, or explore Cobb County's full data profile and the wider Atlanta metro.
Sources
The Diversity Score is a CensusEasy original index, a Simpson diversity index over the five race and ethnicity shares rescaled from 0 to 100, documented on our methodology page. Race, ethnicity, income, and population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey and the 1990 decennial census, with the 2025 population from the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program. Full ranking: most diverse counties.
Add CensusEasy as a preferred source on Google to see our stories first.
How Did Obamacare Affect the Uninsured Rate in America?
In 2013, 14.9 percent of Americans had no health insurance. Today it is 8.4 percent, a drop of about 18 million people. But all of the gains came before 2019, and the line has been flat ever since.
Gwinnett County Went From 90% White to 30%: The Most Diverse Counties in America
In 1990, Gwinnett County, Georgia was 89.6 percent white. Today no group holds even a third of the population, and it ranks fourth in the nation on the CensusEasy Diversity Score. Here are the most diverse counties in America.
How the Rust Belt Lost Its Factory Jobs
American manufacturing employment peaked at around 19.5 million jobs in 1979 and fell by roughly a third over the next four decades. The Census record shows where those losses landed: a band of industrial cities from Buffalo to Gary that lost between a sixth and nearly half of their residents.
How much has Cobb County's demographics changed since 1990?
Cobb County, Georgia was 87.6 percent white in 1990 and is 47.1 percent today. Over the same period its Black population grew from 9.8 to 26.4 percent, Hispanic from 2.0 to 15.1 percent, and Asian from 1.7 to 5.4 percent.
Is Cobb County now majority-minority?
Yes. With the white share at 47.1 percent, no single group holds a majority, so Cobb is a majority-minority county. It ranks 54th of 3,144 counties on the CensusEasy Diversity Score.
Did Cobb County get poorer as it diversified?
No. Cobb's median household income is $102,738, well above Georgia's $77,353 and the national figure. It diversified while remaining one of the more affluent counties in the state, a pattern common across fast-diversifying Sun Belt suburbs.
