Commerce, Georgia

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Commerce census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30529. The Survey maps it on the Commerce quadrangle. 7,387 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 912 feet above sea level.

Commerce within Jackson County

On record in Commerce

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Commerce Commercial Historic Districtlisted 1989
Governor L. G. Hardman Houselisted 1988
Seaborn M. Shankle Houselisted 1979

Population over time

2 figures

Commerce grew from 6,544 to 7,387 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	6,544
2020	7,387	+843 (+13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1891 USGS Carnesville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
1954 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS Commerce quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
1979 USGS Commerce quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Photographs

3 photographs, 2017

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Small floral arrangements rather than headstones dot the Jackson Memorial Park cemetery in Commerce, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

As in many Southern U.S. cities, a railroad track runs right down the middle of Commerce, Georgia's, main street
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Downtown Commerce, Georgia
Highsmith, Carol M, 2017. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

66 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Commerce between 1992 and 2017, burning about 145 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	41
Equipment and vehicle use	8
Arson/incendiarism	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Smoking	3
Natural	2
Railroad operations and maintenance	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 1993	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
30 September 2011	Debris and open burning	1.7 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2012-BANKS-003
26 September 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2017-JACKSON-004
11 September 2002	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2003-BANKS-002
5 August 1993	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
4 August 2006	Natural	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
30 July 1993	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
15 July 1993	Smoking	5.7 acres	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jackson County

Storms near this place

25 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Commerce in 25 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 4 lightning, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2007	Hail	Commerce	$370,000	Numerous reports of large hail were received from the public across Jackson county. One piece of baseball-sized hail was observed in Jefferson, but most of the hail was quarter to golf ball-sized. Quarter to golf ball-sized hail was observed north of Commerce in the Banks Crossing area, just north of Commerce, and in Jefferson.
February 2012	Lightning	Commerce	$150,000	The Jackson County 911 Center reported a house fire sparked by lightning outside of Commerce. The house was an old Victorian home that had been converted into apartments. Seven residents escaped without injury, but the house was heavily damaged.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$75,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked over trees as well as the gate-ticket building at the Atlanta Dragway. A gate was also destroyed.
August 2010	Lightning	Commerce	$25,000	The Athens Banner Herald reported that lightning struck a tree next to a home on State Street in Commerce. The tree subsequently fell onto the roof of the adjacent garage, causing damage to the structure.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$25,000	The public reported that a number of trees were blown down throughout the county. One tree fell on and damaged a truck in Commerce.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$15,000	The Jackson county 911 center reported that one tree was blown down in Commerce and a utility pole was down on an 18-wheel truck on Interstate-85 just north of Commerce. A few other trees were also down in the same general area.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$15,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked down two large trees as well as a 100 foot by 20 foot wall.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$10,000	The Jackson County 911 Center reported trees and power lines down in the Commerce area, including around the intersection of U.S. Highway 441 and State Highway 334.
June 1994	Tornado (F0)	Commerce	$5,000	A short lived and weak tornado touched down along U.S. Highway 441 and downed several pine trees and power lines before dissipating.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$3,000	A spotter for the National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina reported that a number of trees were down. Winds were estimated at 70 mph.
June 2011	Lightning	Commerce	$2,000	The Jackson County 911 Center reported that lightning struck a home on Windmill Drive causing minimal damage to the structure. No fire was observed from this incident.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$1,000	Tree reported down on a home near Spring St and Willow St.
November 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$1,000	Report from the emergency manager of trees and power lines down near tara place in commerce, ga.
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$1,000	Tree and powerlines down at Hwy 98 and Hwy 441.
June 2006	Flood	Commerce	$1,000	The Banks County Emergency Management Director also reported flooding in extreme eastern Jackson county near the Banks county line in the Banks Crossing area north of Commerce along Interstate-85. Ridgeway Church Road was closed because of flooding and water was flowing across other roads in the same area. Some individuals had to be rescued from high water in the area. Radar estimated rainfall of 2-4 inches was noted in a 2-3 hour period across this area.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	$500	The Jackson county 911 center reported that a couple of trees had been blown down.
November 2010	Lightning	Commerce	$250	A CoCoRaHS observer reported that a nearby lightning strike damaged his outdoor Christmas holiday lighting.
July 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Commerce	-	A tree came down on a home on North Bowden Street.
April 2009	Hail	Commerce	-	The public observed quarter-sized hail near Commerce.
July 2008	Hail	Commerce	-	Two separate thunderstorm cells produced severe hail. The first cell occurred south-southeast of Commerce around 710 pm EDT where the public observed nickel-sized hail. The second cell moved along the Banks/Jackson county line north of Commerce where the public observed quarter-sized hail in the Banks Crossing area around 720 pm EDT.
June 2005	Hail	Commerce	-	The public reported golf ball-sized hail.
May 2001	Hail	Commerce	-	The public reported half-dollar size hail.
April 1997	Hail	Commerce	-	no account filed
May 1996	Hail	Commerce	-	no account filed
May 1993	Hail	Commerce	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jackson County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Grove Level	4.1 miles	14
Apple Valley	4.2 miles	13
Hurricane Shoals (historical)	4.7 miles	13
Thyatira	5.9 miles	13
Brockton	6.1 miles	14
Dry Pond	6.3 miles	13
Nicholson	6.4 miles	14
Jefferson	8.6 miles	12

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Commerce	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2689380	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 355254. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.