Best PlacesLithonia, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lithonia, 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.
Lithonia ranks 1,939th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lithonia
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.
Lithonia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lithonia ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 83% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 74% of cities
Where Lithonia ranks low
- Short commute36.8 minutes each way, better than only 3% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lithonia
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lithonia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,205; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Lithonia's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lithonia
Lithonia's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lithonia.
Who works in Lithonia, and how
Work in Lithonia centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Lithonia
Lithonia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lithonia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lithonia, month by month
Lithonia sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Lithonia
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 18 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 51.5 million passengers in 2025, with 278 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lithonia
Schools across Lithonia average a C−, better than 17% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Museum School Avondale EstatesB · 46% proficient
- Annistown Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Browns Mill Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- General Ray Davis Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- The Champion Middle Theme SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Edwards Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Arabia Mountain High School - Academy Of Engineering- MedicC · 33% proficient
- Rockdale County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Shiloh High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lithonia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lithonia 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 Lithonia against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lithonia suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lithonia
Is Lithonia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lithonia ranks 1,939th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and fast internet, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lithonia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $275,410. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $72,205 median income, cost of living beats 40% of cities.
Is Lithonia safe?
Lithonia is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $487 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lithonia?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 32. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of cities.
Is Lithonia good for families?
Schools beat 17% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Compare Lithonia with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lithonia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lithonia 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.
Lithonia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lithonia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lithonia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lithonia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lithonia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lithonia 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.