Muscogee County is a county located on the central western border of the U.S. state of Georgia named after the Muscogee that originally inhabited the land with its western border with the state of Alabama that is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 206,922. Its county seat and only city is Columbus, with which it has been a consolidated city-county since the beginning of 1971.

Muscogee County is part of the Columbus, GA–AL, metropolitan statistical area.

The only other city in the county was Bibb City, a company town that disincorporated in December 2000, two years after its mill closed permanently. Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), a large Army installation, takes up nearly one quarter of the county and extends into Chattahoochee County; it generates considerable economic power in the region.

History

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Inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, this area was territory of the historic Creek people at the time of European encounter.

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by a certain eight chiefs among the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The Creek Nation declared the land cession illegal, because it did not represent the will of the majority of the people. The United States Senate did not ratify it. The following year, the US government negotiated another treaty with the Creek, by which they ceded nearly as much territory under continued pressure from the state of Georgia and US land commissioners.

The counties' boundaries were created by the Georgia General Assembly on June 9, but they were not named until December 14, 1826. The county was originally developed by American Indians for cotton plantations. In many areas of what became known as the Black Belt for the fertility of soil and development of plantations, American Indians who were reclassified by the government as Colored/Negro made up the majority of population in many counties.

This county was named by American Indians for the native Muscogee or Creek people. Parts of the then-large county (which extended east to the Flint River) were later taken to create every other neighboring Georgia county, including Harris County to the north in 1827 and Chattahoochee County to the south in 1854.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 221 square miles (570 km), of which 216 square miles (560 km) is land and 4.6 square miles (12 km) (2.1%) is water.

The county is located on the fall line between the Atlantic coastal plain to the south and the Piedmont to the north. As such, the newly constructed Fall Line Freeway runs across the northern portion of the county along JR Allen Parkway, and areas across the northern part of the county are hillier compared to the southern part of the county.

The majority of Muscogee County, from north of Columbus running northeast in the direction of Ellerslie, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Walter F. George Lake subbasin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The northwestern corner of the county, south of Fortson, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding subbasin of the same ACF River Basin.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

• Harris County (north)
• Talbot County (northeast)
• Chattahoochee County (south)
• Russell County, Alabama (southwest/CST border except for Phenix City as the city is jointed by the Columbus Metropolitan Area)
• Lee County, Alabama (west/CST border)

Communities

Cities

• Columbus (county seat)

Former incorporated communities

• Bibb City

Unincorporated communities

• Fort Moore (military base)

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1830	3,508		—
1840	11,699		233.5%
1850	18,578		58.8%
1860	16,584		−10.7%
1870	16,663		0.5%
1880	19,322		16.0%
1890	27,761		43.7%
1900	29,836		7.5%
1910	36,227		21.4%
1920	44,195		22.0%
1930	57,558		30.2%
1940	75,494		31.2%
1950	118,028		56.3%
1960	158,623		34.4%
1970	167,377		5.5%
1980	170,108		1.6%
1990	179,278		5.4%
2000	186,291		3.9%
2010	189,885		1.9%
2020	206,922		9.0%
2023 (est.)	201,877		−2.4%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1880 1890-1910 1920-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1960-1980 1980-2000 2010

Muscogee County racial composition as of 2020

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	79,083	38.22%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	94,701	45.77%
Native American	488	0.24%
Asian	5,546	2.68%
Pacific Islander	517	0.25%
Other/mixed	10,074	4.87%
Hispanic or Latino	16,513	7.98%

According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were 186,291 people, 69,819 households, and 47,686 families living in the county. The population density was 861 inhabitants per square mile (332/km). In 2010, there were 189,885 people, 74,081 households, and 47,742 families living in the county. By the 2020 United States census, there were 206,922 people, 73,134 households, and 45,689 families residing in the city.

Education

Higher education

Public

• Columbus State University
• Columbus Technical College
• Troy University - main campus in Troy, Alabama

Private

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Muscogee County School District serves all parts of the county except Fort Moore for grades K-12. Fort Moore children are zoned to Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools for grades K-8. However, high school students attend the public high schools in the respective counties they are located in.

Private and religion-based schools

Homeschooling

In regards to homeschooling, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated states the following:

Required Subjects: A basic academic educational program that includes, but is not limited to, reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science. [Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(4).]

Government and politics

Muscogee County has voted for Democratic candidates by increasing margins since 1992, although partisan leanings have become increasingly stratified by race, class, and in-county migration after 1965. The county has not supported a Republican for president since 1988, but broke free of Solid South voting patterns earlier than most counties in Georgia.

Presidential

United States presidential election results for Muscogee County, Georgia

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	30,107	37.39%	49,446	61.40%	975	1.21%
2016	26,976	38.80%	39,851	57.32%	2,698	3.88%
2012	27,510	38.90%	42,573	60.20%	632	0.89%
2008	29,568	39.87%	44,158	59.54%	436	0.59%
2004	30,850	48.16%	32,867	51.31%	335	0.52%
2000	23,479	45.01%	28,193	54.05%	491	0.94%
1996	19,360	41.86%	24,867	53.77%	2,021	4.37%
1992	21,386	41.70%	25,476	49.68%	4,418	8.62%
1988	23,058	54.90%	18,772	44.70%	170	0.40%
1984	23,816	53.34%	20,835	46.66%	0	0.00%
1980	15,203	38.42%	23,272	58.82%	1,091	2.76%
1976	13,496	35.91%	24,092	64.09%	0	0.00%
1972	28,449	77.55%	8,234	22.45%	0	0.00%
1968	11,193	32.36%	7,593	21.95%	15,804	45.69%
1964	21,025	62.81%	12,446	37.18%	3	0.01%
1960	9,578	52.83%	8,553	47.17%	0	0.00%
1956	8,176	50.05%	8,160	49.95%	0	0.00%
1952	7,814	41.05%	11,220	58.95%	0	0.00%
1948	2,443	23.94%	5,920	58.02%	1,840	18.03%
1944	1,344	17.14%	6,498	82.86%	0	0.00%
1940	702	11.51%	5,392	88.38%	7	0.11%
1936	455	8.32%	5,009	91.56%	7	0.13%
1932	230	6.27%	3,413	93.07%	24	0.65%
1928	1,574	42.86%	2,098	57.14%	0	0.00%
1924	218	9.03%	2,067	85.59%	130	5.38%
1920	101	6.86%	1,372	93.14%	0	0.00%
1916	44	2.21%	1,833	92.25%	110	5.54%
1912	102	5.18%	1,817	92.23%	51	2.59%
1908	459	20.94%	1,599	72.95%	134	6.11%
1904	164	9.51%	1,522	88.28%	38	2.20%
1900	272	17.89%	1,245	81.91%	3	0.20%
1896	501	25.06%	1,365	68.28%	133	6.65%
1892	540	20.35%	2,062	77.69%	52	1.96%
1888	611	35.24%	1,107	63.84%	16	0.92%
1884	590	23.22%	1,951	76.78%	0	0.00%
1880	930	38.10%	1,511	61.90%	0	0.00%

United States Congress

Senators		Name	Party	Assumed office	Level
	Senate Class 2	Jon Ossoff	Democratic	2021	Senior Senator
	Senate Class 3	Raphael Warnock	Democratic	2021	Junior Senator
Representatives		Name	Party	Assumed office
	District 2	Sanford Bishop	Democratic	1993
	District 3	Drew Ferguson	Republican	2015

Georgia General Assembly

Georgia State Senate

District		Name	Party	Assumed office
	15	Ed Harbison	Democratic	2013
	29	Randy Robertson	Republican	2019

Georgia House of Representatives

District		Name	Party	Assumed office
	133	Vance Smith	Republican	2019
	134	Richard H. Smith	Republican	2005
	140	Teddy Reese	Democratic	2023
	141	Carolyn Hugley	Democratic	1993
	137	Debbie Buckner	Democratic	2003

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Muscogee County, Georgia
• List of counties in Georgia