Bleckley County High School made news in March 2010 for allowing a same-sex couple to attend its senior prom, after another same-sex couple in Mississippi were denied attendance at another senior prom.[5]
Bleckley County is one of eight remaining counties in Georgia that operates under asole commissioner form of government, with a singlecounty commissioner acting as the county executive and legislative branches. The current County Commissioner is Mike Davis, the Sheriff is Daniel Cape, the Fire Chief is Brock Wilcher, the Clerk of Superior Court is Dianne C. Brown, the Tax Commissioner is Paige Baggs, and the Probate Judge is Hon. Jonathan Fordham.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 219 square miles (570 km2), of which 216 square miles (560 km2) is land and 3.3 square miles (8.5 km2) (1.5%) is water.[10] The county is located in the upperAtlantic coastal plain region of the state.
The eastern quarter of Bleckley County, roughly in a line from west ofDanville running southeast, is located in the LowerOconee River sub-basin of theAltamaha River basin. The central quarter of the county, betweenCochran and the previous line, is located in the LittleOcmulgee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin. The western half of the county, west of Cochran, is located in the Lower Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the same larger Altamaha River basin.[11]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 12,583, with 4,547 households and 2,727 families. Of the residents, 23.6% were under the age of 18 and 17.4% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 37.3 years. For every 100 females there were 99.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.4 males. 48.9% of residents lived in urban areas and 51.1% lived in rural areas.[24][25][26]
There were 4,547 households in the county, of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 30.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[25]
There were 5,176 housing units, of which 12.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 70.6% were owner-occupied and 29.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.3%.[25]
