DeKalb County, Georgia

DeKalb County, Georgia
Old DeKalb County courthouse in Decatur
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 9, 1822
Named for	Johann de Kalb
Seat	Decatur
Largest city	Brookhaven
Area
• Total	271 sq mi (702 km2)
• Land	268 sq mi (694 km2)
• Water	3.6 sq mi (9 km2), 1.3%
Population (est.)
• (2013)	713,340
• Density	2,586/sq mi (998/km²)
Congressional districts	4th, 5th, 6th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.co.dekalb.ga.us

DeKalb County (/dəˈkæb/ də-KAB) is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 691,893, making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.

DeKalb County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta (the other 90% lies in Fulton County). It is Georgia's most diverse county. DeKalb is primarily a suburban county, and is the second-most-affluent county with an African-American majority in the United States, behind Prince George's County, Maryland, in suburban Washington D.C.

In 2009, DeKalb earned the Atlanta Regional Commission's "Green Communities" designation for its efforts in conserving energy, water and fuel; investing in renewable energy; reducing waste; and protecting and restoring natural resources.

In recent years, some communities in North DeKalb have incorporated, following a trend in other suburban areas around Metro Atlanta. Dunwoody and Brookhaven are now the largest cities entirely within the county.

DeKalb County, formed in 1822 from Henry, Gwinnett and Fayette counties, took its name from Baron Johann de Kalb (1721-1780), a Bavarian-born former officer in the French Army, who fought for the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The oldest existing house in the county is the 1831 Goodwin House along Peachtree Road in Brookhaven.