What the heck is “unincorporated Cobb”?

Have you ever heard the phrase “unincorporated Cobb” and wondered what the heck that even meant? Cobb County, GA is home to seven cities: Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Mableton, Marietta, Powder Springs, and Smyrna.

But what about East Cobb and Vinings? Close but no cookie. Those are just neighborhoods/areas within Cobb County but are not incorporated cities. That used to be Mableton—until they complained hard enough that “no one knows where Mableton is!” and went and got themselves all citified. If this sounds too confusing, don’t worry… we made a zine to explain all of it! 

So what makes you part of a city?

“My address says ‘Marietta, GA’ so I definitely live in the city of Marietta,” right? 

WRONG! The city on your address is assigned by the USPS and just reflects which post office your mail gets sorted at. Living within the city limits is what decides if you’re a citizen of that city. And Marietta’s are weird looking, so don’t feel too bad if you don’t know off the top of your head.

“Well, I have Acworth Power so that means I definitely live in the city of Acworth, right?”

WRONG! You lucked into getting cheap and reliable service from Acworth Power (good for you), but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily a resident of city proper and have any say in voting for mayor or city council.

“But I live next to Kennesaw Mountain/University, I definitely live in the city of Kennesaw, right?!”

WRONG! Kennesaw Mountain actually isn’t in the city of Kennesaw and neither is the main campus of Kennesaw State University.

Pro tip: Cobb County city boundaries are messy without weird cutouts and islands. The best way to check if you can vote for Mayor or City Council is by logging into the Georgia My Voter Page and scrolling all the way to the bottom. Under ‘Municipality’ it should either say City of Marietta/Kennesaw/etc. or unincorporated Cobb.

Check out this blog post to see how you can easily check which city you OFFICIALLY live in: https://abettercobb.com/cities/acworth/cobb-elections-2025-qualifying-931/

Who provides your public services?

Services provided by cities within Cobb County vary. If you are not in a city, your services are provided by the county government. If a city does not provide that service, then the County provides that service to city residents through what’s called a Service Delivery Agreement.

  • City residents pay both a city property tax and a county tax on their homes.
  • Unincorporated Cobb residents only pay county tax.

And for power? Cobb County doesn’t run its own utility—depending on where you live, you might have Cobb EMC, Georgia Power, GreyStone Power, or one of the city utilities.

Here’s a zoomed in version of the “City Services Matrix”:

Why Mableton matters

As of right now, Mableton has not announced any plans to offer city services beyond zoning and land use and will continue to rely on the county for most of the services. Which means that for the exact same service they were receiving prior to cityhood, Mableton residents will likely need to one day pay tax to the city (on top of their country property taxes) in order to continue to receive services from the county.

Elections and rules

  • City residents vote for mayor, city council, and county commissioners.
  • Unincorporated residents only vote for county commissioners.

Each city also sets its own zoning laws—so what’s legal in Marietta (like chickens, ADUs, or short-term rentals) may not be in Smyrna or in unincorporated Cobb.

Why this is confusing (but important)

Your city status changes:

  • Who you vote for
  • What rules you live under
  • How much you pay in taxes
  • Who provides your services

A Better Cobb

If you think all this is confusing and weird—you’re not alone.

A Better Cobb is working to make local government easier to understand and better serve regular people. We care about walkable neighborhoods, housing that regular people can afford, and public transit that gets you where you need to go.

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