Best PlacesJekyll Island, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jekyll Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jekyll Island ranks 21,639th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Jekyll Island
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.
Jekyll Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jekyll Island ranks high
- Short commute8.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Jekyll Island ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Jekyll Island
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jekyll Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,147, 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 Jekyll Island's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Jekyll Island
Jekyll Island 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 Jekyll Island.
Who works in Jekyll Island, and how
Work in Jekyll Island centers on construction and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 44%
- Work from home 54%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Jekyll Island
Jekyll Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Jekyll Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jekyll Island, month by month
Jekyll Island sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 79° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Jekyll Island
The nearest airport, Brunswick Golden Isles, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jekyll Island
Schools across Jekyll Island average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Durbin Creek Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- St. Simons Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Crooked River Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fruit Cove Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Saint Marys Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Glynn MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Creekside High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Camden County High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Glynn AcademyB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jekyll Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jekyll Island 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 Jekyll Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Jekyll Island
Is Jekyll Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jekyll Island ranks 21,639th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, an educated workforce, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jekyll Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $587,322. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $76,147 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Jekyll Island safe?
Jekyll Island is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $547 per resident a year.
Compare Jekyll Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jekyll Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jekyll Island 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.
Jekyll Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jekyll Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jekyll Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jekyll Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jekyll Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jekyll Island 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.