Best PlacesGeorgia, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Georgia, 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.
Georgia ranks 44,905th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Georgia
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.
Georgia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Georgia ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 130 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
Where Georgia ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,599 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Short commute38.7 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Georgia
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Georgia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,599, 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 Georgia's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Georgia
Georgia runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Georgia.
Who works in Georgia, and how
Work in Georgia centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Georgia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Georgia.
What the weather is like in Georgia, month by month
Georgia sees roughly 130 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 66° | 55° | 46° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Georgia
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Indianapolis International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Georgia
Schools across Georgia average a C+, better than 40% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Mitchell Jr High SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Mitchell High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Georgia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Georgia 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 Georgia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Georgia
Is Georgia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Georgia ranks 44,905th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, few empty homes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Georgia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,251. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $37,599 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Georgia safe?
Georgia is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
Compare Georgia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Georgia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Georgia 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.
Georgia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Georgia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Georgia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Georgia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Georgia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Georgia 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.