# Lee County, Georgia

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,163. The county was established in 1825 and its county seat is Leesburg. Lee County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statistical area.

## History

The land for Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll counties was ceded by the Creek people in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. 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 named in honor of Henry Lee III, popularly known as "Light-Horse Harry," the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. On January 29, 1916, five African American men were lynched; they were taken from the Worth county jail and hung, their bodies riddled with bullets. The Leesburg Stockade occurred in Lee County.

## Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 362 square miles (940 km$^2$), of which 356 square miles (920 km$^2$) is land and 5.9 square miles (15 km$^2$) (1.6%) is water. Most of the western three-quarters of Lee County is located in the Kinchafoonee-Muckalee sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The eastern quarter of the county is located in the Middle Flint River sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin, while a very small corner in the south of Lee County is located in the Lower Flint River sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin. An even smaller southwestern corner is located in the Ichawaynochaway Creek sub-basin of the ACF River Basin.

### Major highways

* U.S. Route 19
* U.S. Route 19 Bypass
* U.S. Route 82
* State Route 3
* State Route 3 Bypass
* State Route 32
* State Route 91
* State Route 118
* State Route 133
* State Route 195
* State Route 377
* State Route 520

### Adjacent counties

* Sumter County (north)
* Crisp County (northeast)
* Worth County (east)
* Dougherty County (south)
* Terrell County (west)

## Communities

* Leesburg (county seat)
* Smithville

## Demographics

Lee County racial composition as of 2020 :
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
| White (non-Hispanic) | 22,758 | 68.62% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 7,331 | 22.11% |
| Native American | 57 | 0.17% |
| Asian | 850 | 2.56% |
| Pacific Islander | 9 | 0.03% |
| Other/Mixed | 1,205 | 3.63% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 953 | 2.87% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 33,163 people, 10,226 households, and 7,872 families residing in the county.

## Education

Public schools are operated by the Lee County School District. Lee County High School is the sole high school of the district.

## Politics

Historically, Lee County was part of the solidly Democratic Solid South where control of the dominant black population dictated unified white voting for Democratic candidates due to the Republican association with Reconstruction and black political power. However, with a combination of the Great Migration and white in-migration, the black share of the county's population has declined and it is now powerfully Republican, having voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964, with the exception of 1968 and 1976 when it backed Southern “favorite sons” George Wallace and Jimmy Carter.
United States presidential election results for Lee County, Georgia :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| 2024 | 12,655 | 71.38% | 4,957 | 27.96% | 118 | 0.67% |
| 2020 | 12,007 | 71.82% | 4,558 | 27.26% | 154 | 0.92% |
| 2016 | 10,646 | 74.73% | 3,170 | 22.25% | 430 | 3.02% |
| 2012 | 10,314 | 75.58% | 3,196 | 23.42% | 136 | 1.00% |
| 2008 | 9,925 | 75.69% | 3,100 | 23.64% | 87 | 0.66% |
| 2004 | 8,201 | 78.64% | 2,182 | 20.92% | 45 | 0.43% |
| 2000 | 5,872 | 74.48% | 1,936 | 24.56% | 76 | 0.96% |
| 1996 | 3,983 | 61.15% | 2,005 | 30.78% | 525 | 8.06% |
| 1992 | 3,061 | 51.81% | 1,811 | 30.65% | 1,036 | 17.54% |
| 1988 | 2,875 | 74.04% | 995 | 25.62% | 13 | 0.33% |
| 1984 | 2,972 | 69.83% | 1,284 | 30.17% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1980 | 1,942 | 53.05% | 1,670 | 45.62% | 49 | 1.34% |
| 1976 | 1,110 | 39.13% | 1,727 | 60.87% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1972 | 1,441 | 78.70% | 390 | 21.30% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 389 | 17.18% | 674 | 29.77% | 1,201 | 53.05% |
| 1964 | 1,041 | 81.01% | 244 | 18.99% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 191 | 32.10% | 404 | 67.90% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 79 | 12.93% | 532 | 87.07% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1952 | 205 | 34.45% | 390 | 65.55% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 36 | 7.69% | 215 | 45.94% | 217 | 46.37% |
| 1944 | 27 | 5.70% | 447 | 94.30% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 17 | 3.91% | 416 | 95.63% | 2 | 0.46% |
| 1936 | 1 | 0.20% | 490 | 99.59% | 1 | 0.20% |
| 1932 | 6 | 2.33% | 252 | 97.67% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 45 | 13.55% | 287 | 86.45% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1924 | 23 | 9.39% | 211 | 86.12% | 11 | 4.49% |
| 1920 | 19 | 7.04% | 251 | 92.96% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1916 | 4 | 1.24% | 316 | 97.83% | 3 | 0.93% |
| 1912 | 5 | 2.22% | 213 | 94.67% | 7 | 3.11% |