Best PlacesDouglas County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Douglas County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Douglas County ranks 1,357th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $87,402, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are long commutes, air quality, and car insurance costs.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas 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 Douglas County
The parts of Douglas 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.
Winston
Crime runs lower, tree cover is thicker, and it is quieter.
Douglasville
Local pay stretches further and more households have young kids.
Villa Rica
Incomes run lower.
Lithia Springs
Fewer residents vote and schools score lower.
Douglas County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Douglas County's strengths and weaknesses
Douglas County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, what local pay buys, and a strong job market carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Long commutes, air quality, and car insurance costs hold the score down. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Douglas County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 89% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of counties
Where Douglas County ranks low
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 7% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas County
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,402, 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 Douglas County's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Douglas County
Douglas County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Douglas County.
Who works in Douglas County, and how
Work in Douglas County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Douglas County
Douglas County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Douglas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Douglas County growing, and who is moving in?
Douglas County has grown about 10% 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 Douglas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Douglas County, month by month
Douglas County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Douglas County
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 19 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 Douglas County
Schools across Douglas County average a C−, better than 21% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Holly Springs Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Winston Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- South Douglas Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chapel Hill Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mason Creek Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Fairplay Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Douglas County High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Alexander High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- New Manchester High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas 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 Douglas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Douglas County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Douglas County
Is Douglas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas County ranks 1,357th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, what local pay buys, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Douglas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,344. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $87,402 median income, cost of living beats 89% of counties.
Is Douglas County safe?
Douglas County is safer than 34% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $363 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 33. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Douglas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Winston, Douglasville, and Villa Rica. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Douglas County good for families?
Schools beat 21% of counties, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Is Douglas County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Douglas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas 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.
Douglas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas 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.