Best PlacesGeorgia, VT 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. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Georgia ranks 3,899th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
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
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
Where Georgia ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,322 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Georgia
A household needs to earn about $99,000 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 $106,531, 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 1.25%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Georgia
Georgia'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 Georgia.
Who works in Georgia, and how
Work in Georgia centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
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 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Georgia
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 193 miles away.
The best schools in and around Georgia
Schools across Georgia average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cumberland Head Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Georgia Elementary & Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stafford Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Plattsburgh Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Beekmantown High SchoolA+ · 94% 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 3,899th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, population health, and civic engagement, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. 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 $356,574. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $106,531 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Georgia safe?
Yes, Georgia is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $155 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.