Best PlacesCarroll County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Carroll County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carroll County ranks 1,481st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a strong job market and affordable childcare. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, long commutes, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Carroll 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.
The best areas in Carroll County
The parts of Carroll County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Bowdon
It is quieter, local pay stretches further, and health care is easier to reach.
Villa Rica & Temple
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Whitesburg
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Carrollton
Incomes run lower and crime runs higher.
Scores across Carroll County run from about the 4th to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Carroll County's strengths and weaknesses
Carroll County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A strong job market, affordable childcare, and big-city access carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. An overheated housing market, long commutes, and air quality hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Carroll County to another than it does between Carroll County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Carroll County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 91% of counties
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of counties
Where Carroll County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Short commute29.7 minutes each way, better than only 17% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 22% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Carroll County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carroll County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,901, 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 Carroll County's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Carroll County
Carroll County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carroll County.
Who works in Carroll County, and how
Work in Carroll County centers on manufacturing 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Carroll County
Carroll County has more late-night spots per resident than 89% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Carroll County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Carroll County growing, and who is moving in?
Carroll County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Atlanta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Carroll County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Carroll County, month by month
Carroll County sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Carroll County
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 35 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 Carroll County
Schools across Carroll County average a C+, better than 45% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bremen 4th & 5th Grade AcademyA+ · 72% proficient
- Jones Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Ithica ElementaryA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Carrollton Upper Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Bowdon Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Bremen High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Central High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Carrollton High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carroll County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carroll 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 Carroll County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Carroll County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Carroll County
Is Carroll County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carroll County ranks 1,481st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, affordable childcare, and big-city access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carroll County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $267,460. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $74,901 median income, cost of living beats 65% of counties.
Is Carroll County safe?
Carroll County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Carroll County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 34. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Carroll County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bowdon, Villa Rica & Temple, and Whitesburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Carroll County good for families?
Schools beat 45% of counties, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $502 a month.
Is Carroll County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 65% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Carroll County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carroll County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carroll 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.
Carroll County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carroll County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carroll County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carroll County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carroll County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carroll 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.