Best PlacesDuluth, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Duluth, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Duluth ranks 1,104th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on low disaster risk, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Duluth
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.
Duluth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duluth ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 83% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 81% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 74% of cities
Where Duluth ranks low
- Short commute30.3 minutes each way, better than only 23% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 25% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 26% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Duluth
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duluth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,815, 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 Duluth's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 Duluth
Duluth'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 Duluth.
Who works in Duluth, and how
Work in Duluth centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Duluth
Duluth has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Duluth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Duluth, month by month
Duluth sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 55, 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 | 55° | 44° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Duluth
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 29 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 Duluth
Schools across Duluth average a C, better than 25% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Johns Creek ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- Yi Hwang Academy Of Language ExcellenceA · 65% proficient
- Mason Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverwatch Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Hull Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Coleman Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Lambert High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Mcclure Health Science High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Peachtree Ridge High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duluth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duluth 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 Duluth against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Duluth suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Duluth
Is Duluth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duluth ranks 1,104th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, population health, and state finances, and lowest on long commutes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duluth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $449,189. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $95,815 median income, cost of living beats 68% of cities.
Is Duluth safe?
Duluth is safer than 28% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Duluth?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 33. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of cities.
Is Duluth good for families?
Schools beat 25% of cities, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Compare Duluth with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duluth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duluth 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.
Duluth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duluth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duluth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duluth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duluth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duluth 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.