It is named for William Yates Atkinson, Democratic governor of Georgia from 1894 to 1898.

The entire narrow western border area, in a line parallel to the western border and running through Willacoochee, is located in the Alapaha River sub-basin of the Suwannee River basin.

[21] Although its racial and ethnic makeup has been predominantly non-Hispanic white up to the 2010 census, in 2020 its non-Hispanic white population declined to 57.94%,[18] and its African American population also declined to 14.58%.

[24] In 2020, the county's median household income was an estimated $35,703 per the American Community Survey.

[27] As part of the Bible Belt, the majority of the county's religious or spiritual population professed Christianity.

Among the Christian population in 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives determined the largest single Christian denomination for Atkinson County was the Southern Baptist Convention, followed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church and United Methodist Church.

Historically, Atkinson County has primarily voted for Democratic Party candidates in U.S. presidential elections up to 1960.