City · Hall County, Georgia

Lula, Georgia

Lula is a city in Hall County, Georgia, part of the Gainesville, GA metro area. It has 2,964 residents. Lula, Georgia has a quality-of-life score of 36 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,027 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Georgia it ranks #107 of 386 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), new homes permitted (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (low). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), loneliness (high) and uninsured residents (under 65) (high).

36Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,027 of 15,651 cities and towns
Georgia: #107 of 386 in GA
Population: 2,964 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 622.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 1347896

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety52#7,500/15,637
Economy62#5,935/15,631
Housing82#2,661/14,977
Health52#7,433/15,609
Healthcare22#12,281/15,650
Environment60#6,164/15,453
Education10#14,106/15,649
Infrastructure22#12,256/15,650
Community14#13,383/15,651
Leisure & amenities47#8,275/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lula, Georgia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Hall County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Effective property tax rate · low0.29%
97/100Georgia 0.79%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090High uncertainty
New homes permitted · high11.8 /1k
90/100Georgia 5.5 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Distance to an Amtrak station · low7 mi
87/100Georgia 38 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauHall County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Georgia 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHall County value
Days with unhealthy air · low0.0%
84/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHall County value
Dental care shortage · low0.0
84/100Georgia 5.9United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationHall County value

Weaknesses

Time spent in the emergency room · high232 min
7/100Georgia 168 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHall County value
Loneliness · high38.1%
7/100Georgia 37.9%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high19.3%
8/100Georgia 14.0%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
10/100Georgia 0.4 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesHall County value
Reading scores · low2.73
11/100Georgia 2.97United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHall County value
Math scores · low2.69
14/100Georgia 2.92United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHall County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedImproving
7.4 /1k (2021) → 11.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+59%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Child poverty rateImproving
18.5% (2015-2019) → 6.9% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$49,667 (2015-2019) → $69,397 (2020-2024)
+40%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.3% (2015-2019) → 89.9% (2020-2024)
+7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.8× (2015-2019) → 3.4× (2020-2024)
+25%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
20.4% (2015-2019) → 23.6% (2020-2024)
+3.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Lula, Georgia improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+7.6 points82.3% → 89.9%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Lula, Georgia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.2 min2015-2019	29.2 min2020-2024	+2.9 min	Within the margin of error	20%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.3%2015-2019	18.1%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Broadband subscriptions	82.3%2015-2019	89.9%2020-2024	+7.6 points	Improved	47%
High school diploma or higher	81.7%2015-2019	83.5%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.7×	Within the margin of error	37%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3732015-2019	0.3732020-2024	+0.001	Within the margin of error	50%
Median household income	$49,6672015-2019	$69,3972020-2024	+40%	Within the margin of error	73%
Poverty rate	13.9%2015-2019	10.9%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	20.4%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Rent-burdened households	31.9%2015-2019	30.5%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	20.1%2015-2019	19.3%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Lula, Georgia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lula, Georgia in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Lula, Georgia itself moved −4.1 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,964 residents (±162)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,112 households (±122)

Lula, Georgia
Georgia share

Under $25k14%†160
$25k–50k18%†198
$50k–75k20%

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,112 households (±122)

Lula, Georgia
Georgia share

Own74%825
Rent26%†287

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,512 workers (±163)

Lula, Georgia
Georgia share

Drive alone81%1,222
Carpool8.1%†123
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Gainesville, GA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Hall County, the county holding most of Lula's residents.

Hall County has 5,181 employer establishments, 237 for every 10,000 residents (0.95× the US rate of 248; 1.00× Georgia's), with 92,380 paid employees at an average annual pay of $60,542. The Census Bureau also counts 23,719 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 5,181; 23,719 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 237; US 248 · Georgia 236
Paid employees: 92,380
Average annual pay: $60,542; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Hall County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	494	22.6	1.08×About typical	7,086	$83,615	776
Specialty trade contractors	377	17.3	1.11×About typical	2,910	$63,039	2,662
Restaurants and other eating places	342	15.7	0.85×About typical	6,687	$22,161	131
Lessors of real estate	283	13	1.05×About typical	650	$121,735	1,958
Offices of physicians	187	8.6	1.32×More than typical	3,760	$108,049	162
Building equipment contractors	180	8.2	1.37×More than typical	1,762	$64,776	719
Construction of buildings	174	8	1.05×About typical	1,170	$80,431	1,162
Services to buildings and dwellings	164	7.5	1.11×About typical	1,681	$43,848	2,054
Limited-service restaurants	154	7	0.88×About typical	3,355	$19,777	37
Real estate agents and brokers	148	6.8	1.39×More than typical	188	$76,170	663
Full-service restaurants	141	6.5	0.84×About typical	2,709	$25,238	67
Offices of other health practitioners	124	5.7	0.93×About typical	734	$50,381	352

Rank places for an industry Open Hall County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 218,510 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lula, Georgia: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

0FY2017

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Lula, Georgia, so they do not add up across cities.

Lula, Georgia's figures are part of those of Hall County, GA and Banks County, GA ($91.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Lula is mostly in Hall County.

See federal money in Hall County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Lula, Georgia is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Gainesville, GA47

Other cities and towns in Hall County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1347896

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends