Best PlacesMarietta, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Marietta, 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.
Marietta ranks 48,504th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Marietta
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.
Marietta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Marietta ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 79% of towns
- Cheap childcare$624 a month, better than 76% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 74% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 67% of towns
Where Marietta ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$34,699 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Marietta
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marietta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $34,699, 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 Marietta's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Marietta
Marietta 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 Marietta.
Who works in Marietta, and how
Work in Marietta centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Marietta
Marietta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Marietta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Marietta, month by month
Marietta sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Marietta
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Marietta
Schools across Marietta average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Long Branch ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Rosenwald ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orrum MiddleD · 19% proficient
- Fairmont MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairmont HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marietta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marietta 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 Marietta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Marietta
Is Marietta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marietta ranks 48,504th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marietta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $78,546. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $34,699 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Marietta safe?
Marietta is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $561 per resident a year.
Compare Marietta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marietta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marietta 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.
Marietta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marietta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marietta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marietta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marietta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marietta 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.