County Guide · DeKalb County
DeKalb has 13 incorporated cities, and four of them did not exist twenty years ago. Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Tucker and Stonecrest were each voted into existence between 2008 and 2017 — which is why old maps, mailing addresses and even long-time residents disagree about what counts as a city here.
Quick answer
DeKalb County, Georgia has 13 incorporated cities: Atlanta (only partly in DeKalb), Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur (the county seat), Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Stone Mountain, Stonecrest and Tucker. Four of them incorporated recently — Dunwoody in 2008, Brookhaven in 2012, Tucker in 2016 and Stonecrest in 2017. Nine well-known places, including Druid Hills, North Druid Hills, North Decatur and Redan, are unincorporated and are not cities at all.
| City | What to know | Moving there? |
|---|---|---|
| Decatur | The county seat, and the only part of DeKalb with its own school system — City Schools of Decatur | Decatur movers |
| Stonecrest | Incorporated 2017; the largest city located entirely within DeKalb, with 59,194 residents at the 2020 census | Stonecrest movers |
| Brookhaven | Incorporated 2012; the second-largest city located entirely within the county | Brookhaven movers |
| Dunwoody | Incorporated 2008 — the first of DeKalb’s modern cityhood wave | Dunwoody movers |
| Tucker | Incorporated 2016, after voters approved cityhood by roughly three to one in November 2015 | Tucker movers |
| Chamblee | A long-established city in north DeKalb | Chamblee movers |
| Doraville | A long-established city in north DeKalb | Doraville movers |
| Clarkston | Often called “the most diverse square mile in America” — a longtime refugee resettlement center that grew from 7,554 residents in 2010 to 14,756 in 2020 | Clarkston movers |
| Avondale Estates | A small city adjoining Decatur — a separate municipality despite the shared mailing identity | Avondale Estates movers |
| Stone Mountain | The city beside the state park of the same name — the two are not the same thing | Stone Mountain movers |
| Lithonia | A small, long-established city in southeast DeKalb | Lithonia movers |
| Pine Lake | The smallest city in DeKalb County — 752 residents at the 2020 census | — |
| Atlanta | Mostly in Fulton County, but its eastern side extends into DeKalb; only that portion is DeKalb territory | Atlanta movers |
Municipal roster per DeKalb County government and U.S. Census records. County population 764,382 at the 2020 census — Georgia’s fourth-most populous county. Retrieved September 2026.
Most Georgia counties have a municipal map that has barely moved in a century. DeKalb’s changed four times in nine years, each time by referendum, each time converting unincorporated county land into a new city with its own government.
| City | Referendum | Became a city |
|---|---|---|
| Dunwoody | July 15, 2008 | December 1, 2008 |
| Brookhaven | July 31, 2012 (55% in favor) | December 17, 2012 |
| Tucker | November 2015 (73.94% in favor) | Late August 2016 |
| Stonecrest | November 2016 | 2017, after March elections |
This is the single most useful thing to understand about DeKalb geography. If a map, a tax record or an old listing describes your address as “unincorporated DeKalb,” that may simply be out of date — the same parcel can now sit inside Brookhaven, Tucker or Stonecrest city limits.
DeKalb has nine census-designated places — areas with names, identities, ZIP codes and often strong reputations, but no city government: Belvedere Park, Candler-McAfee, Druid Hills, Gresham Park, North Decatur, North Druid Hills, Panthersville, Redan and Scottdale.
Two of those names cause most of the confusion. North Decatur is not the City of Decatur; it is unincorporated county that happens to carry a Decatur mailing address. And Druid Hills is genuinely two things at once: a census-designated place in unincorporated DeKalb, and a neighborhood inside Atlanta city limits. North Druid Hills is a third, separate place again.
The Emory University campus shows how live this boundary still is. Emory sat in the Druid Hills CDP until the City of Atlanta annexed the campus effective January 1, 2018 — Atlanta’s largest annexation in 65 years. Land that was unincorporated DeKalb on New Year’s Eve was inside Atlanta the next morning.
Why it matters when you move
Incorporation decides who polices your street, whether you pay city taxes on top of county taxes, and which school system you are zoned for. Three districts operate in DeKalb: DeKalb County School District covers most of the county, City Schools of Decatur covers the City of Decatur, and Atlanta Public Schools covers Atlanta’s DeKalb-side neighborhoods. A mailing address alone will not tell you which applies — check the county’s address lookup before you sign a lease or a contract.
From a crew’s perspective the county splits into two different kinds of job. The north end — Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Doraville — carries the county’s apartment and mid-rise stock, which means certificates of insurance, reserved freight elevators and loading-dock windows arranged days ahead. Decatur, Avondale Estates and Clarkston are older and tighter: narrow streets, on-street parking only, and stairs in houses built long before anyone designed for a moving truck. East and southeast, around Stone Mountain, Lithonia and Stonecrest, driveways and garages return and access stops being the constraint.
Pricing works the same way everywhere in the metro — hourly, by crew size and access rather than by city line. The full breakdown is in our Atlanta moving cost guide.
Licensed Georgia crews covering all 13 cities and the unincorporated county, with the quote in writing before you book.
Thirteen: Atlanta (only partly in DeKalb), Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Stone Mountain, Stonecrest and Tucker. Lists that give a higher number are usually counting unincorporated communities such as Druid Hills or Redan.
No. Druid Hills is a census-designated place in unincorporated DeKalb County and, separately, a neighborhood within the city of Atlanta. It has no city government of its own. North Druid Hills is a different unincorporated place again.
Stonecrest is the largest city located entirely within DeKalb County, with 59,194 residents at the 2020 census, followed by Brookhaven. Atlanta is far larger overall, but only its eastern portion lies in DeKalb.
Four communities incorporated by referendum in under a decade: Dunwoody in 2008, Brookhaven in 2012, Tucker in 2016 and Stonecrest in 2017. Each converted unincorporated county land into a city with its own government, which is why older maps and records can describe an address as unincorporated when it no longer is.
No. Decatur is an incorporated city and the county seat, with its own school system. North Decatur is an unincorporated census-designated place that carries a Decatur mailing address but is not inside the city limits and is not served by City Schools of Decatur.
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