Best PlacesMacon, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Macon, 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.
Macon ranks 22,134th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Macon
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.
Macon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Macon ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.5 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Macon ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Macon
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Macon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,115, 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 Macon's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Macon
Macon 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 Macon.
Who works in Macon, and how
Work in Macon centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Macon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Macon.
What the weather is like in Macon, month by month
Macon sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 66° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Macon
The nearest airport, Kearney Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 179 miles away.
The best schools in and around Macon
Schools across Macon average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Franklin Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Wilcox-hildreth Upper ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thunder Ridge Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Long Island Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Wilcox-hildreth Jr/sr High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Smith Center Jr Sr HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Macon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Macon 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 Macon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Macon
Is Macon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Macon ranks 22,134th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Macon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $118,223. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $66,115 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Macon safe?
Macon is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
Compare Macon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Macon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Macon 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.
Macon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Macon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Macon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Macon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Macon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Macon 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.