Best PlacesLowndes County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lowndes County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lowndes County ranks 1,716th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and short commutes. The weaker spots are air quality, thin health care access, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Lowndes County
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.
The best areas in Lowndes County
The parts of Lowndes County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hahira
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Lake Park
Schools score higher, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Valdosta
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Lowndes County run from about the 1st to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lowndes County's strengths and weaknesses
Lowndes County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Short commutes and population health follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, thin health care access, and noise hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Lowndes County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of counties
- Short commute19.5 minutes each way, better than 81% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 73% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 71% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 70% of counties
Where Lowndes County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 17% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 18% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lowndes County
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lowndes County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,527, 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 Lowndes County's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lowndes County
Lowndes County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lowndes County.
Who works in Lowndes County, and how
Work in Lowndes County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lowndes County
Lowndes County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 96% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lowndes County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lowndes County growing, and who is moving in?
Lowndes County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Valdosta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lowndes County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lowndes County, month by month
Lowndes County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 52° | 39° |
| April | 83° | 68° | 53° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Lowndes County
The nearest airport, Valdosta Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lowndes County
Schools across Lowndes County average a C+, better than 57% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hahira Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Scintilla Charter AcademyA− · 61% proficient
- Westside Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hahira Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Pine Grove Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Lowndes Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Lowndes High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Valdosta High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lowndes County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lowndes County 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 Lowndes County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lowndes County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lowndes County
Is Lowndes County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lowndes County ranks 1,716th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, short commutes, and population health, and lowest on air quality and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lowndes County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,143. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $65,527 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Lowndes County safe?
Lowndes County is safer than 50% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lowndes County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 39. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lowndes County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hahira, Lake Park, and Valdosta. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lowndes County good for families?
Schools beat 57% of counties, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $649 a month.
Is Lowndes County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 98% of counties. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lowndes County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lowndes County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lowndes County 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.
Lowndes County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lowndes County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lowndes County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lowndes County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lowndes County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lowndes County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.