Document and Entity Information	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Apr. 30, 2013 Voting Common Stock	Apr. 30, 2013 Non-Voting Common Stock
Entity Registrant Name	UNITED COMMUNITY BANKS INC
Entity Central Index Key	0000857855
Trading Symbol	ucbi
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		43,071,080	14,703,636
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2013
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2013
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1