Best PlacesDouglas, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Douglas, 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.
Douglas ranks 1,851st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas
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.
Douglas' strengths and weaknesses
Where Douglas ranks high
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 98% of cities
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 94% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 83% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of cities
Where Douglas ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of cities
- Household income$56,154 median, better than only 4% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,154, 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' effective rate of 0.64%, 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
Douglas runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Douglas.
Who works in Douglas, and how
Work in Douglas centers on manufacturing 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 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Douglas
Douglas has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Douglas and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Douglas, month by month
Douglas sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Douglas
The nearest airport, Valdosta Regional, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Douglas
Schools across Douglas average a C, better than 22% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Indian Creek ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Ambrose Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Irwin County Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jeff Davis Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Coffee Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Irwin County Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Irwin County High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Coffee County High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Jeff Davis High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas 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 against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Douglas suits
Common questions about living in Douglas
Is Douglas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas ranks 1,851st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and quiet, and lowest on health outcomes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Douglas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,588. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $56,154 median income, cost of living beats 14% of cities.
Is Douglas safe?
Douglas is safer than 26% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 43. That works out to about 137 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of cities.
Is Douglas good for families?
Schools beat 22% of cities, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $502 a month.
Compare Douglas with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas 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.