Best PlacesFolkston, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Folkston, 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.
Folkston ranks 42,349th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Folkston
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.
Folkston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Folkston ranks high
- Cheap childcare$506 a month, better than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 115 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 76% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of towns
Where Folkston ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Folkston
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Folkston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,951, 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 Folkston's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Folkston
Folkston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Folkston.
Who works in Folkston, and how
Work in Folkston centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Folkston
Folkston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Folkston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Folkston, month by month
Folkston sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 56° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Folkston
Jacksonville International sits about 31 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.7 million passengers in 2025, with 86 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Folkston
Schools across Folkston average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsland Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Folkston Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- St. George Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Camden Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Bethune Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Hilliard Middle-senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Camden County High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Charlton County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Folkston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Folkston 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 Folkston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Folkston
Is Folkston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Folkston ranks 42,349th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, clean air, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Folkston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,122. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $59,951 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Folkston safe?
Folkston is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $439 per resident a year.
Compare Folkston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Folkston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Folkston 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.
Folkston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Folkston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Folkston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Folkston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Folkston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Folkston 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.