Best PlacesBrunswick, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Brunswick metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Diane Picchiottino, Unsplash License, via unsplash
Brunswick ranks 318th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on empty homes and cell coverage. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Brunswick 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 Brunswick
The towns and districts of the Brunswick 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.
St. Simons
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and incomes run higher.
Nahunta & Spring Bluff
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Waynesville
More households have young kids and it is quieter.
Dock Junction & Country Club Estates
Tree cover is thinner and local pay stretches less far.
Hortense
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Darien & Townsend
Disaster risk is higher and heat risk is higher.
Downtown Brunswick
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Brunswick run from about the 1st to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Brunswick's strengths and weaknesses
Brunswick ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Fast internet is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Affordable childcare and quiet follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: empty homes, cell coverage, and disaster risk all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Brunswick ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$611 a month, better than 92% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 86% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 77% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Brunswick ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Brunswick
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brunswick home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,846; 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 Brunswick's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Brunswick
Brunswick runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brunswick.
Who works in Brunswick, and how
Work in Brunswick centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brunswick
Brunswick has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brunswick and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Brunswick growing, and who is moving in?
Brunswick has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Atlanta, GA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Brunswick go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Brunswick, month by month
Brunswick sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 56° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Brunswick
The nearest airport, Brunswick Golden Isles, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 51 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brunswick
Schools across Brunswick average a B−, better than 52% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- St. Simons Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Satilla Marsh Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Greer Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glynn MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Risley Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Jane Macon MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Glynn AcademyB · 50% proficient
- Brunswick High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Mcintosh AcademyC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brunswick school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brunswick 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 Brunswick against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Brunswick suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 59% of metro areas and it is quieter than 86%.
Common questions about living in Brunswick
Is Brunswick a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brunswick ranks 318th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on fast internet, affordable childcare, and quiet, and lowest on empty homes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brunswick expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,309. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $73,846 median income, cost of living beats 36% of metro areas.
Is Brunswick safe?
Brunswick is safer than 45% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brunswick?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 42. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Brunswick?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are St. Simons, Nahunta & Spring Bluff, and Waynesville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Brunswick good for families?
Schools beat 52% of metro areas, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $611 a month.
Is Brunswick good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 36% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 98% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Brunswick with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brunswick. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brunswick 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.
Brunswick detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brunswick: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brunswick: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brunswick: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brunswick: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brunswick 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.