What Is the 2026 Loan Limit for Buyers in Kennesaw, Acworth, and Marietta, GA?
For 2026, the conforming loan limit for a conventional mortgage on a one-unit home in Cobb County is $832,750. That is a separate number from the FHA limit for Cobb County, which is $718,750 for 2026, and it does not apply at all to most VA borrowers. If you have full VA entitlement, there is no county loan limit on your VA loan, a change that has been in effect since 2020.
TL;DR
- Cobb County's 2026 conventional (conforming) loan limit for a one-unit home is $832,750, the same baseline that applies across nearly all of Georgia.
- Cobb County's 2026 FHA loan limit for a one-unit home is $718,750, a separate, lower figure set by HUD, not by the agency that sets conventional limits.
- VA borrowers with full entitlement have no county loan limit at all since a 2020 law change. The $832,750 figure only comes into play for VA borrowers with reduced entitlement from a prior VA loan.
- USDA loans do not use a loan limit at all. Eligibility depends on household income and whether the property sits in a USDA-eligible area, which you will want to confirm for your specific address.
- These three numbers get mixed up constantly online. Knowing which one applies to your loan type matters before you set a search range.
Every year, mortgage loan limits reset, and every year I watch buyers in Kennesaw, Acworth, and Marietta get the three main loan types tangled together. Someone will tell me their "VA loan limit is $832,750," and that is not quite right, and it matters, because it can change how you shop.
Here is what each number actually means for financing a home in Cobb County in 2026, and why conflating them can cost you time or money.
The Three Numbers Cobb County Buyers Keep Mixing Up
Conventional (Conforming) Loans: $832,750
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sets the conforming loan limit every year. For 2026, the baseline limit for a one-unit home is $832,750, and that baseline applies in most of the country, including all of Georgia. Georgia has no FHFA-designated high-cost counties, so Cobb County, Fulton County, and the rest of the Atlanta metro use the same $832,750 figure as a small town in south Georgia.
A loan above that amount is a jumbo loan, which typically comes with its own underwriting rules, often a larger down payment and higher reserve requirements, since it is not eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
FHA Loans: $718,750
This is where the mix-up usually starts. FHA loan limits are set separately by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and they are not the same as the conforming loan limit, even though both numbers move every year. For 2026, most of the country sits at HUD's national floor of $541,287 for a one-unit home. Cobb County does not. Because it is part of the Atlanta metro area, HUD designates it a higher-cost area, which puts the 2026 FHA limit for a one-unit home at $718,750, well below the conventional figure.
If you are planning to use an FHA loan on a home priced closer to the $800,000s in Kennesaw or West Cobb, that gap between $718,750 and $832,750 is worth knowing before you fall for a listing.
VA Loans: It Depends on Your Entitlement
This is the one that causes the most confusion, and it is the reason this post exists. Since the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act took effect on January 1, 2020, VA loan limits no longer apply to veterans and servicemembers with full entitlement. If you have never used a VA loan, paid off a previous VA loan in full, or restored your entitlement after a prior sale, there is no county cap on what you can borrow with zero down. Your actual ceiling comes down to what a lender approves based on your income, credit, and debt, not a county number.
Loan limits only come back into play for a VA borrower with reduced, or remaining, entitlement, meaning you still have one or more active VA loans, or you defaulted on a VA loan in the past. In that case, the county figure (the same $832,750 used for conforming loans) determines how much you can borrow with no down payment at all. Above that zero-down ceiling, lenders typically require a down payment of roughly 25 percent of the amount over the line, not 25 percent of the full purchase price.
So when someone calls $832,750 "the VA loan limit," they are describing a number that, for most VA borrowers buying in Cobb County this year, does not apply to them at all.
USDA Loans: No Loan Limit, Different Restrictions
USDA loans skip this whole framework. There is no maximum loan amount tied to a county figure. Instead, USDA eligibility turns on your household income relative to the area median, and whether the property itself sits inside a USDA-eligible area, which tends to exclude denser, more urban parts of a metro. If you are considering a USDA loan anywhere in Cobb County, check the current USDA eligibility map for the specific address first, since eligible pockets can be narrow and change over time.
Why This Distinction Actually Matters When You Are Shopping
Knowing which number applies to your loan type is not trivia. It changes how you build your search and your offer strategy.
If you are financing with a VA loan and have full entitlement, do not let a lender or a listing description box you into a $832,750 ceiling. That number is not yours to worry about. Your real limit is what the lender's underwriting says you can support.
If you are comparing FHA and conventional financing on a home in the high $700,000s or more, the $114,000 gap between FHA's $718,750 and conventional's $832,750 limit is the difference between staying within FHA guidelines or needing a conventional loan, a jumbo loan, or a larger down payment to bridge the gap on the FHA side.
If you already have a VA loan on a home you are keeping and you are using remaining entitlement on a second purchase, the math gets more specific. Your remaining entitlement, your prior loan amount, and the $832,750 county figure all factor into how much you can finance with zero down. This is exactly the kind of question I walk buyers through before they ever make an offer, because getting it wrong after you are under contract is a much more expensive conversation.
What To Do With These Numbers
- Confirm your loan type first, before you confirm your budget. The right loan limit depends entirely on whether you are financing conventional, FHA, VA, or USDA.
- Ask your lender for your specific entitlement or limit figure in writing, especially if you are a repeat VA borrower. Entitlement calculations are not one-size-fits-all.
- Build your home search around your actual ceiling, not a number you saw in a headline or a generic article. A home priced at $820,000 is well within reach on a conventional loan, is not FHA-eligible without a larger down payment or a price adjustment, and is a non-issue for a VA buyer with full entitlement.
Every situation is different, and the only way to know your real number is to run it with a lender and confirm it against the current figures for the specific county and loan type you are using.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the conforming loan limit the same as the VA loan limit in Cobb County?
No. The 2026 conforming (conventional) loan limit in Cobb County is $832,750, but that figure only matters for a VA borrower with reduced entitlement. A VA borrower with full entitlement has no county loan limit at all, a change that has been in place since 2020.
Why is the FHA loan limit lower than the conventional loan limit in Cobb County?
FHA limits are set by HUD on a separate schedule from the conventional limit set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. For 2026, Cobb County's FHA limit for a one-unit home is $718,750, compared to $832,750 for a conventional loan, because the two agencies calculate their limits differently.
Does every Georgia county have the same conforming loan limit?
Yes, for 2026. Georgia has no counties designated as high-cost areas by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, so the $832,750 baseline applies statewide for conventional one-unit loans, whether you are buying in Marietta or a rural county across the state.
Can a VA loan amount exceed the county limit?
For a borrower with full entitlement, yes. There is no cap tied to the county figure, and the real limit is whatever the lender approves based on your financial profile. For a borrower with remaining entitlement from a prior VA loan, the county figure caps how much you can borrow with zero down, though financing above that line is still possible with a partial down payment. You can read more about financing options on Path2Sold.com.
Do USDA loans have a loan limit in Cobb County?
No. USDA loans do not use a county loan limit at all. Eligibility is based on your household income and whether the property is in a USDA-eligible area, which varies by address, so check the current eligibility map before assuming a Cobb County property qualifies.
If you are weighing financing options in Acworth, the lender you choose and the loan program you use will shape your search more than almost anything else.
Whether you are financing with a VA loan, an FHA loan, or a conventional mortgage, knowing your real number before you start touring homes in Kennesaw keeps you from falling for a listing you cannot actually finance, or walking away from one you could have. Schedule a consultation with me, Robert Masoudpour, Associate Broker in Cobb County, GA, and I will help you match your financing to the right search range from the start. Schedule a 15-minute consultation
