Is East Cobb a City? What Your Address Means for Taxes and Services
By Mary McMath, Keller Williams Realty Atlanta North
October 25, 2026 · 2 min read
One of the questions I hear most from buyers moving to East Cobb is, "What city am I actually in?" The short answer: none. East Cobb is an unincorporated part of Cobb County, and that shapes your tax bill, who answers when you call for services, and even your mailing address.
The 2022 vote. On May 24, 2022, voters rejected a proposal to make East Cobb a city. About 73% voted no. The proposed city would have covered roughly 60,000 residents along the Johnson Ferry Road corridor. Similar referendums for Lost Mountain and Vinings failed the same day. The East Cobb plan would have created its own police and fire departments and taken over zoning, code enforcement and parks from the county.
What that means today. Because there's no city government, Cobb County provides your police, fire, zoning, code enforcement, parks and water. Most homes use a Marietta mailing address, but a Marietta address isn't the same as living in the City of Marietta.
Your property tax, by the numbers. Georgia taxes homes on 40% of the assessor's fair market value, at a rate stated in mills ($1 per $1,000 of assessed value). For 2026, Cobb commissioners kept the county general fund at 8.46 mills and the fire fund at 2.97 mills. The Cobb County School District has levied 18.70 mills since 2023 and proposed the same rate for 2026. Unincorporated homeowners pay no city millage on top.
Here's an illustration for a home the assessor values at $500,000, using only the basic homestead exemption:
| Line item | Taxable value | Rate (mills) | Approx. tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| County general | $190,000 | 8.46 | $1,607 |
| Fire district | $200,000 | 2.97 | $594 |
| School general | $190,000 | 18.70 | $3,553 |
| Total | $5,754 |
That excludes any bond levies and other exemptions, so treat it as a ballpark, not a bill.
Exemptions worth knowing. Cobb's basic homestead exemption takes $10,000 off the assessed value for county and school general taxes. Homeowners who are 62 by January 1 can apply to be exempt from school taxes entirely, which is often the largest line on the bill. You apply through the Cobb County Tax Commissioner, and the exemption must be in place by the appeal deadline on your assessment notice.
Take it from Mary: if you're comparing a home in East Cobb with one inside a city's limits, ask me for a side-by-side tax estimate. Two homes a mile apart can have very different bills. See more on the East Cobb 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
- Top East Cobb 2022 stories: Cityhood referendum defeated (East Cobb News)
- Georgia measures to create 3 new cities fail in primary vote (WABE)
- Cobb County Commissioners Approve $1.4 Billion FY27 Budget (Cobb County Courier)
- Notice of property tax increase (Cobb County School District)
- 5-year history of levy (Cobb County School District)
- Property overview (Cobb County Tax Commissioner)
- Exemptions (Cobb County Tax Commissioner)
Photo: Thomson200 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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