Best PlacesClayton County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Clayton County, 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.
Clayton County ranks 2,587th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on an overheated housing market and thin health care access. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Clayton 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 Clayton County
The parts of Clayton 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.
Lovejoy
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Fayetteville
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Jonesboro & Hampton
Fewer homes sit empty.
Morrow, Rex & Stockbridge
Scores close to Jonesboro & Hampton, except that streets are more walkable here.
Ellenwood & Conley
Prices have run up less and more residents vote.
Riverdale
Forest Park
Health care is harder to reach and crime runs higher.
Atlanta
Transit reaches more jobs, though homes cost more.
Scores across Clayton County run from about the 2nd to the 70th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Clayton County's strengths and weaknesses
Clayton County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Transit, big-city access, and fast internet carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: an overheated housing market, thin health care access, and noise all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Clayton County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of counties
- BikingBetter than 80% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 78% of counties
Where Clayton County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of counties
- Short commute31.6 minutes each way, better than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Clayton County
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clayton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,194, 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 Clayton County's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Clayton County
Clayton County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clayton County.
Who works in Clayton County, and how
Work in Clayton County centers on transportation & warehousing 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 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Clayton County
Clayton County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 73% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clayton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Clayton County growing, and who is moving in?
Clayton County has grown about 12% 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 Clayton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Clayton County, month by month
Clayton County sees roughly 73 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 Clayton County
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 7 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 Clayton County
Schools across Clayton County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kay R Pace Elementary School Of The ArtsC− · 27% proficient
- Callaway Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- River's Edge Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- M. D. Roberts Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Rex Mill Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Babb Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Elite Scholars Academy SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Martha Ellen Stilwell School For The Performing ArtsB− · 42% proficient
- Morrow High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clayton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clayton 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 Clayton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Clayton County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Clayton County
Is Clayton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clayton County ranks 2,587th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and fast internet, and lowest on an overheated housing market and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clayton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,459. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $67,194 median income, cost of living beats 45% of counties.
Is Clayton County safe?
Clayton County is safer than 13% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clayton County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 35. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Clayton County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lovejoy, Fayetteville, and Jonesboro & Hampton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Clayton County good for families?
Schools beat 12% of counties, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Is Clayton County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 45% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 88% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Clayton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clayton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clayton 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.
Clayton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clayton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clayton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clayton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clayton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clayton 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.