Best PlacesDalton, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Dalton 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 Wesb225 ( talk ), via wiki
Dalton ranks 288th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on biking and education levels. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Dalton 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 Dalton
The towns and districts of the Dalton 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.
Tunnel Hill
Tree cover is thicker, crime runs lower, and more adults hold degrees.
Rocky Face
It is noisier and more homes sit empty.
Crandall, Sumac & Eton
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Cohutta
More households have young kids and health care is easier to reach.
Chatsworth
Advertised internet is slower and commutes are longer.
Downtown Dalton
Biking is better, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Dalton run from about the 4th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Dalton's strengths and weaknesses
Dalton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Tree cover and affordable childcare follow.
The one real hole is biking, near the bottom of the country. Education levels and walkability also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Dalton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$649 a month, better than 86% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 79% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 77% of metro areas
Where Dalton ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Dalton
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dalton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,297, 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 Dalton's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dalton
Dalton runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dalton.
Who works in Dalton, and how
Work in Dalton centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Dalton
Dalton has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dalton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Dalton growing, and who is moving in?
Dalton has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Atlanta, GA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Dalton go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Dalton, month by month
Dalton sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, 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 | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Dalton
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dalton
Schools across Dalton average a C−, better than 16% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Tunnel Hill Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Brookwood Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Westside Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Whitfield Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Westside Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- New Hope Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwest Whitfield County High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Coahulla Creek High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Southeast Whitfield County High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dalton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dalton 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 Dalton against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Dalton suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Dalton
Is Dalton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dalton ranks 288th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on fast internet, tree cover, and affordable childcare, and lowest on biking and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dalton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,597. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $70,297 median income, cost of living beats 37% of metro areas.
Is Dalton safe?
Dalton is safer than 46% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $324 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dalton?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 34. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dalton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face, and Crandall, Sumac & Eton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Dalton good for families?
Schools beat 16% of metro areas, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $649 a month.
Is Dalton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 37% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 98% of metro areas. About 6% of workers already work from home.
Compare Dalton with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dalton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dalton 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.
Dalton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dalton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dalton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dalton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dalton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dalton 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.