Best PlacesDecatur, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Decatur, 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.
Decatur ranks 285th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on empty homes and crime. It does better on tree cover, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Decatur
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.
Decatur's strengths and weaknesses
Decatur lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Tree cover, fast internet, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The one real hole is empty homes, near the bottom of the country. Crime and the weather also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Decatur ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 93% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of cities
Where Decatur ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of cities
- Short commute30.0 minutes each way, better than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Decatur
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Decatur home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $97,469; 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 Decatur's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Decatur
Decatur'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 Decatur.
Who works in Decatur, and how
Work in Decatur centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Decatur
Decatur has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Decatur and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Decatur, month by month
Decatur sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Decatur
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 12 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 Decatur
Schools across Decatur average a C+, better than 35% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Fifth Avenue Upper Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Talley Street Upper Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Museum School Avondale EstatesB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beacon Hill Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- The Champion Middle Theme SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Martin L. King Jr. Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Decatur High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Maynard Jackson High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Southwest Dekalb High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Decatur school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Decatur 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 Decatur against the other 444 cities.
Who Decatur suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Decatur
Is Decatur a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Decatur ranks 285th of 445 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, fast internet, and low disaster risk, and lowest on empty homes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Decatur expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,096. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $97,469 median income, cost of living beats 86% of cities.
Is Decatur safe?
Decatur is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $601 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Decatur?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 32. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of cities.
Is Decatur good for families?
Schools beat 35% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Is Decatur good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of cities. About 24% of workers already work from home.
Compare Decatur with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Decatur. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Decatur 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.
Decatur detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Decatur: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Decatur: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Decatur: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Decatur: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Decatur 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.
- 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.