[4] The county is named for Lyman Hall,[5] a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Georgia as both colony and state.

[6] The county is located in the upper Piedmont region of the state in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north.

[7] The Chattahoochee River gathers strength in Hall County, as immortalized in Sidney Lanier's poem, "Song of the Chattahoochee": OUT of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall, I hurry amain to reach the plain, Run the rapid and leap the fall, Split at the rock and together again, Hall County remains extremely rural and many of its residents reside in unincorporated areas, accounting for more than half of the county's population.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 203,136 people, 65,625 households, and 48,776 families residing in the county.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 179,684 people, 60,691 households, and 45,275 families residing in the county.

[26] Hall County had voting patterns similar to the Solid South, voting Democrat in all presidential elections until 1968, with the exception of narrowly supporting Herbert Hoover against Catholic Democrat Al Smith in 1928.

Since then, it has been won by the GOP by landslide margins, in stark contrast to nearby inner suburban counties of Atlanta, with the exception of segregationist George Wallace in 1968 and favorite son Jimmy Carter in both of his campaigns.

As a measure of how rapidly it turned to the GOP, Carter’s 21-point victory in 1980 is the last time a Democrat managed even 40 percent of the county's vote.

In 2022, local media reported that Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard was under investigation for allegations of theft and misuse of public funds.