How Much Does an Asphalt Driveway Cost in Georgia?

Published national cost guides put a new asphalt driveway at about $7 to $15 per square foot installed. Several separate guides land on that same band. One puts the common range lower, at $6 to $9 per square foot, with simple work starting near $3.

Those guides publish totals too. One reports a national average of $4,740, with most driveways between $4,200 and $9,000. Another reports an average of $5,258 and a range of $3,128 to $7,391. A third lists $3,000 to $10,000 for a 24 by 24 foot driveway.

Read all of that as market numbers, not as a price list. What an asphalt driveway costs on your property comes down to the ground under it. Base work, grading and access move a total more than the asphalt itself does.

What does an asphalt driveway cost per square foot?

The table runs those published per square foot ranges out to four common sizes. New install means a stone base built up from bare ground, then hot mix asphalt on top. Overlay means a fresh layer over old pavement that is still sound. Removal and replacement means the old driveway comes out first.

Those rows line up with what the guides publish on their own. One national cost guide lists $2,800 to $4,000 for a 20 by 20 driveway. Another lists $3,600 to $5,400 for a 600 square foot drive. A third puts a 1,500 square foot drive at $7,635 using its average rate.

Bigger driveways usually land toward the low end per foot. Setup costs the same whether the paver runs 400 feet or 4,000. Spread over more square feet, that setup lands lighter.

What drives the price of a driveway in Georgia?

Size and shape. Square footage sets the starting number. Curves, turnarounds and parking pads add hand work along the edges. Edge work costs more per foot than a straight run.

The base and the red clay under it. Georgia red clay ruts and loses strength when it is wet. Soft spots get dug out and replaced before anything is paved. The Asphalt Institute’s driveway guidance calls for 6 to 8 inches of crushed aggregate base. One cost guide puts base material at $2 to $4 per square foot installed. Another adds about $2 per square foot where soil conditions are poor.

Grading and drainage. Cartersville averages about 48 inches of rain a year, by NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 station normals. The National Asphalt Pavement Association tells homeowners that standing water is the leading cause of driveway failure. Sloping the site takes time. So does cutting a ditch or setting a pipe under the drive.

Thickness. More compacted asphalt costs more. The same trade guidance describes a common residential section: a 2 inch bottom course under a 1.5 inch surface course.

Access. A paver, rollers and loaded dump trucks need room to work. Tight gates, soft yards, low limbs and steep grades all slow the work down.

Distance from the asphalt plant. Hot mix has to reach the site hot. Georgia DOT requires mix delivered within 20 degrees Fahrenheit of the job mix formula temperature. A long haul means fewer loads a day, and that trucking sits in the price.

Liquid asphalt prices. Georgia DOT publishes a monthly asphalt cement price index, the Georgia Base Asphalt Price. It is what the state pays on eligible projects. The index ran $559 a ton in March 2026 and $721 a ton in June 2026. Binder is a commodity, so estimates written months apart can differ for that reason alone.

Small job setup. Moving equipment out costs about the same for a little pad as for a long drive. That is why the per foot number climbs on small jobs.

Does an asphalt driveway cost less than concrete?

Up front, usually. National cost guides put concrete at $8 to $20 per square foot against $7 to $15 for asphalt. One guide reports a typical concrete driveway at $6,400 against $5,258 for asphalt.

Service life runs the other way. That same guide gives asphalt 15 to 20 years and concrete an average of 27.5 years before repair. A separate post sets asphalt and concrete side by side. Concrete is a different trade, and we pave in asphalt.

What moves the total up or down?

Say the old surface is worn but the base under it is solid. An asphalt overlay then costs less than tearing the drive out. Published overlay ranges run $3 to $7 per square foot against $8 to $15 for removal and replacement. Trade guidance puts a driveway overlay at 1.5 to 2 inches of surface mix.

An overlay is not always the answer. Georgia DOT is blunt about it. Widespread cracking in the wheel paths is clear evidence of inadequate structural strength. Overlaying that distress is not cost effective. Where the base has failed, the money goes into rebuilding it.

On a long rural drive, tar and chip paving is worth pricing next to hot mix. Georgia DOT lists bituminous surface treatment, the same thing, as a surface for low volume roads. Its guide also notes the total can pass a hot mix overlay once heavy leveling is needed. The shape of what is there now decides that.

What should a good driveway estimate spell out?

The National Asphalt Pavement Association tells homeowners what the written contract should carry. It names the thickness of the pavement and the responsibilities for site preparation and drainage. Square footage belongs on the page too. Without those four items, two estimates cannot be compared.

Ask what happens to soft spots if the ground is wet the week of paving. Ask where the water goes. Ask how thick the asphalt is after compaction, not before. Trade guidance says a well designed driveway can hold up for as long as 20 years. That record starts underneath.

Ready to price your own driveway?

Every number above is a published market range. Your driveway has its own square footage, its own slope and its own dirt. We come out, look at the site, measure it and write the estimate from what is there. Call or text (706) 844-2123 to talk about new driveway paving.