Best PlacesDial, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dial, 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.
Dial ranks 25,228th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dial
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.
Dial's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dial ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
Where Dial ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dial
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dial home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,008, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Dial's effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dial
Dial runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dial.
Who works in Dial, and how
Work in Dial centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dial
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dial.
What the weather is like in Dial, month by month
Dial sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Dial
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dial
Schools across Dial average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clear Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Blue Ridge Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- East Fannin Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Fannin County Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Fannin County High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Gilmer High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dial school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dial 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 Dial against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dial
Is Dial a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dial ranks 25,228th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dial expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $398,107. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $79,008 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Dial safe?
Dial is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
Compare Dial with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dial. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dial 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.
Dial detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dial: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dial: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dial: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dial: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dial 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.