Best PlacesAtlanta, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Atlanta metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Chuck Koehler from Cartersville, GA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Atlanta ranks 173rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $101,907, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are long commutes, air quality, and crime.
The best neighborhoods in the Atlanta metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Atlanta
The towns and districts of the Atlanta metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Marietta, Roswell & Sandy Springs
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Lawrenceville, Cumming & Duluth
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Acworth, Kennesaw & Cartersville
Scores close to Lawrenceville, Cumming & Duluth, except that tree cover is thicker here.
Newnan, Carrollton & Peachtree City
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Downtown Atlanta
Streets are more walkable and transit reaches more jobs.
McDonough, Covington & Conyers
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Douglasville, Powder Springs & Austell
More households have young kids, though schools score lower.
Stone Mountain, Snellville & Loganville
Commutes are longer.
Jonesboro, Riverdale & Fayetteville
Health care is harder to reach and prices have run up more.
Atlanta shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Atlanta's strengths and weaknesses
Atlanta lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. High incomes and a strong job market follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and crime also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Atlanta ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Household income$101,907 median, better than 89% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 81% of metro areas
Where Atlanta ranks low
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 22% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Atlanta
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atlanta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $101,907; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Atlanta's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Atlanta
Atlanta's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Atlanta.
Who works in Atlanta, and how
Work in Atlanta centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Atlanta
Atlanta has less parkland per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Atlanta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Atlanta growing, and who is moving in?
Atlanta has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Atlanta go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Atlanta, month by month
Atlanta sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 45° | 35° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Atlanta
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 51.5 million passengers in 2025, with 278 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Atlanta
Schools across Atlanta average a C, better than 25% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Daves Creek Elementary SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Sharon Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Big Creek Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kittredge Magnet SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Dickerson Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Riverwatch Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Gwinnett School Of Mathematics- Science And TechnologyA+ · 91% proficient
- Elite Scholars Academy SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Cambridge High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atlanta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atlanta measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Atlanta against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Atlanta suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Atlanta
Is Atlanta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atlanta ranks 173rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Atlanta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $398,633. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $101,907 median income, cost of living beats 98% of metro areas.
Is Atlanta safe?
Atlanta is safer than 22% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Atlanta?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 35. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 37% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Atlanta?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Marietta, Roswell & Sandy Springs, Lawrenceville, Cumming & Duluth, and Acworth, Kennesaw & Cartersville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Atlanta good for families?
Schools beat 25% of metro areas, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $871 a month.
Is Atlanta good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Atlanta with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atlanta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atlanta represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Atlanta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atlanta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atlanta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atlanta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atlanta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atlanta detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.