Best PlacesBaker County, GA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Baker County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Baker County ranks 2,842nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.

#2,842
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Baker County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Baker County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Baker County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Quiet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Baker County with other counties.

Where Baker County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 99% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 120 pleasant days a year, better than 74% of counties
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 69% of counties

Where Baker County ranks low

  • School gradeD−, better than only 2% of counties
  • BikingBetter than only 2% of counties
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 2% of counties
  • Health outlookBetter than only 4% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Baker County

A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Baker County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,026, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$29,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$676
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $110,455 home
Median rent
$615
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$563
Property tax$76
Homeowners insurance$37

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 Baker County's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Baker County

Baker County runs older than the country.

Median age
50
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
25%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3417%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6421%
65 and older25%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Baker County.


Who works in Baker County, and how

Work in Baker County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.4%
about the national average
Job growth
−1.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing16%
Health care & social16%
Agriculture & forestry12%
Hospitality & food8%
Public administration8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 84%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 6%

Life in Baker County

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Baker County.


Is Baker County growing, and who is moving in?

Baker County has lost about 17% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Coffee County, GA.

Population growth
-17%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
2,732
down from 3,288
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Coffee County, GA23 / yr
Miller County, GA20 / yr
Atkinson County, GA16 / yr
Mitchell County, GA16 / yr
Atlanta, GA11 / yr

Where people leaving Baker County go

Albany, GA57 / yr
Ben Hill County, GA46 / yr
Pike County, AL27 / yr
Athens, GA11 / yr
Wilcox County, GA11 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Baker County, month by month

Baker County sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January62°49°38°
April79°65°53°
July92°80°71°
October82°67°56°

Flying in and out of Baker County

The nearest airport, Southwest Georgia Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 161 miles away.

Nearest airport
ABY
Southwest Georgia Regional, about 21 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
292nd-busiest in the US, 1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
30 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Baker County

Schools across Baker County average a D−, better than 2% of counties.

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Baker County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Baker County 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 Baker County against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Baker County

Is Baker County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Baker County ranks 2,842nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and the weather, and lowest on the schools and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Baker County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $110,455. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $50,026 median income, cost of living beats 14% of counties.

Is Baker County safe?

Baker County is safer than 19% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.


Compare Baker County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Baker County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Baker County 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.

Baker County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Baker County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Baker County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Baker County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Baker County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Baker County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.