Best PlacesHelen, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Helen, 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.
Helen ranks 27,452nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Helen
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.
Helen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Helen ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
Where Helen ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 20% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Helen
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,776, 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 Helen's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Helen
Helen runs older 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 Helen.
Who works in Helen, and how
Work in Helen centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Helen
Helen has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Helen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Helen, month by month
Helen sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Helen
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 78 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Helen
Schools across Helen average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Yonah Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Towns County Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Towns County Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- White County Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- White County High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Towns County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helen 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 Helen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Helen
Is Helen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helen ranks 27,452nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, affordable childcare, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Helen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $284,116. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $61,776 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Helen safe?
Helen is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $543 per resident a year.
Compare Helen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helen 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.
Helen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helen 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.