Moving to Rome, Georgia

About Rome, Georgia
Rome

Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Floyd County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 37,713. It is the largest city in Northwest Georgia and the 26th-largest city in the state.

Rome was founded in 1834, after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the federal government committed to removing the Cherokee and other Native Americans from the Southeast. It developed on former indigenous territory at the confluence of the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers, which together form the Coosa River. Because of its strategic advantages, this area was long occupied by the historic Creek. Later the Cherokee people expanded into this area from their traditional homelands to the east and northeast. National leaders such as Major Ridge and John Ross resided here before Indian Removal in 1838.

The city has developed on seven hills with the rivers running between them, a feature that inspired the early European-American settlers to name it for Rome, the longtime capital of Italy that was also built on seven hills. The American Rome developed in the antebellum period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the rivers. It shipped the rich regional cotton commodity crop downriver to markets on the Gulf Coast and export overseas.

In the late 1920s, a United States company built a rayon plant in a joint project with an Italian company. This project and the American city of Rome were honored by Italy in 1929, when its duce Benito Mussolini sent a replica of the statue of Romulus and Remus nursing from a mother wolf, a symbol of the founding myth of the original Rome.

It is the largest city near the center of the triangular area defined by the Interstate highways between Atlanta, Birmingham, and Chattanooga. It has developed as a regional center for the fields of medical care and education. In addition to its public-school system, it has several private schools. Higher-level institutions include private Berry College and Shorter University, and the public Georgia Northwestern Technical College and Georgia Highlands College.

Gender
Gender Rome Georgia Country
Female 54.1% 51.4% 50.8%
Male 45.9% 48.6% 49.2%
Gender

Household Income


Income Rome Georgia Country
Less than $10,000 10.5% 6.6% 5.8%
$10,000 to $14,999 6.4% 4.2% 4.1%
$15,000 to $24,999 12.7% 9% 8.5%
$25,000 to $34,999 15.1% 9.3% 8.6%
$35,000 to $49,999 12.1% 12.5% 12.0%
$50,000 to $74,999 15.3% 17.6% 17.2%
$75,000 to $99,999 8.8% 12.7% 12.8%
$100,000 to $149,999 11.4% 14.9% 15.6%
$150,000 to $199,999 3.4% 6.3% 7.1%
$200,000 or more 4.3% 6.9% 8.3%
Education


Education Rome Georgia Country
< 9th Grade 10% 4% 5.0%
9-12th Grade 10% 8% 7.0%
High School or GED 27% 28% 27.0%
Other College 20% 20% 20.0%
Associate's Degree 7% 8% 9%
Bachelor's Degree 13% 20% 20.0%
Master's Degree 8% 9% 9.0%
Professional Degree 3% 2% 2.0%
Doctorate Degree 2% 1% 1.0%
Household Income
Education
Race / Ethnicity


Ethnicity Rome Georgia Country
White 48.4% 52.1% 60.1%
African American 24.6% 31.1% 12.2%
American Indian 0% 0.2% 0.6%
Asian 2.1% 4.1% 5.6%
Hawaiian 0% 0.1% 0.2%
Other 0.3% 0.4% 0.3%
Multiracial 3% 2.5% 2.8%
Hispanic 21.6% 9.6% 18.2%
Race / Ethnicity