Best PlacesEllijay, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellijay, 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.
Ellijay ranks 27,788th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ellijay
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.
Ellijay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellijay ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$503 a month, better than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 74% of towns
Where Ellijay ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 32% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ellijay
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellijay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,443; 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 Ellijay's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 Ellijay
Ellijay runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ellijay.
Who works in Ellijay, and how
Work in Ellijay centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ellijay
Ellijay has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ellijay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ellijay, month by month
Ellijay sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Ellijay
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ellijay
Schools across Ellijay average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Robinson Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Clear Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Mountain View ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Fannin County Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Bagley Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Fannin County High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- North Murray High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Pickens County High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellijay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellijay 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 Ellijay against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Ellijay suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ellijay
Is Ellijay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellijay ranks 27,788th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on empty homes 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 Ellijay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,550. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $73,443 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Ellijay safe?
Ellijay is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $326 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ellijay?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 34. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of towns.
Is Ellijay good for families?
Schools beat 50% of towns, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $503 a month.
Compare Ellijay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellijay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellijay 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.
Ellijay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellijay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellijay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellijay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellijay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellijay 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.