Best PlacesBurke County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Burke 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.
Burke County ranks 2,705th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Burke County
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.
Burke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Burke County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of counties
- QuietBetter than 71% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 69% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 68% of counties
Where Burke County ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 13% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Burke County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,399, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Burke County's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Burke County
Burke County'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 Burke County.
Who works in Burke County, and how
Work in Burke County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Burke County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Burke County.
Is Burke County growing, and who is moving in?
Burke County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Augusta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Burke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Burke County, month by month
Burke County sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 47° | 34° |
| April | 81° | 65° | 49° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 71° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Burke County
The nearest airport, Augusta Regional at Bush Field, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Burke County
Schools across Burke County average a D−, better than 4% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Blythe Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Jenkins County Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Carver Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Burke County Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Burke County High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Hephzibah High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burke 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 Burke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Burke County suits
Common questions about living in Burke County
Is Burke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burke County ranks 2,705th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and quiet, and lowest on the schools and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Burke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,606. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $57,399 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Burke County safe?
Burke County is safer than 32% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Burke County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 34. That works out to about 82 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of counties.
Is Burke County good for families?
Schools beat 4% of counties, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $502 a month.
Compare Burke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burke 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.
Burke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burke County 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.