Inside the City of Marietta vs. a Marietta Mailing Address
By Mary McMath, Keller Williams Realty Atlanta North
October 24, 2026 · 2 min read
I'm a Marietta native, and I still remind clients of this one: a Marietta mailing address does not mean a home is in the City of Marietta. The city covers about 23 square miles and had 60,972 residents in the 2020 census. Thousands more homes, including most of East Cobb, share the Marietta address while sitting in unincorporated Cobb County.
The difference shows up in four places:
| Inside City of Marietta | Unincorporated Cobb, Marietta address | |
|---|---|---|
| Public schools | Marietta City Schools | Cobb County School District |
| School tax rate (2026) | 17.97 mills | 18.70 mills (proposed) |
| City tax rate (2026) | 4.692 mills | None |
| County general rate (2026) | 8.46 mills | 8.46 mills |
| Police and fire | City of Marietta | Cobb County |
Schools. Marietta City Schools runs every public school inside the city limits: eight elementary schools, the Marietta Sixth Grade Academy, Marietta Middle School and one high school, Marietta High School. Outside the city line, the Cobb County School District serves the same ZIP codes.
Taxes. City homeowners pay the city's own rate, which the city proposed holding at 4.692 mills for 2026, plus Marietta City Schools' 17.97 mills and the county general fund. Unincorporated homeowners skip the city rate but pay Cobb schools' 18.70 mills and the county fire fund. The city also offers its own homestead exemptions, so ask the tax office which ones apply.
Utilities. The city has owned its own utility since 1906. Marietta Power & Water is Georgia's largest municipal electric utility, with more than 45,000 electric and 17,000 water and sewer customers. Whether a given home is on Marietta Power, Georgia Power or Cobb EMC depends on the address, so check before you budget.
How to check an address. Look at the Cobb County tax assessor record. It lists the tax district, which tells you whether the parcel is inside city limits.
Take it from Mary: I check the tax district on every home I show in Marietta, because it can change the monthly payment more than buyers expect. More on the Marietta area page.
A note on the numbers: every figure in this post is a good-faith estimate taken from the sources below as of the date it was posted. Figures aren't exact and can change, so please do your own research and confirm anything important with the official source before relying on it.
Sources
- Marietta, Georgia (Wikipedia)
- Marietta schedules tax increase public hearings (Cobb County Courier)
- Marietta City Schools public hearings regarding 2026 rollback millage rate (Marietta City Schools)
- About Marietta Power & Water (City of Marietta)
Photo: HowardSF via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
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