Best PlacesMatthews, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Matthews, 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.
Matthews ranks 41,109th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Matthews
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.
Matthews' strengths and weaknesses
Where Matthews ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 74% of towns
Where Matthews ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Matthews
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Matthews home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,470, 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 Matthews' effective rate of 0.85%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Matthews
Matthews 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 Matthews.
Who works in Matthews, and how
Work in Matthews centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Matthews
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Matthews.
What the weather is like in Matthews, month by month
Matthews sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 47° | 34° |
| April | 81° | 65° | 49° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 71° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Matthews
The nearest airport, Augusta Regional at Bush Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Matthews
Schools across Matthews average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blakeney ElementaryD · 18% proficient
- Wrens Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Burke County Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
- Hephzibah Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Jefferson County Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Burke County High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Jefferson County High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Matthews school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Matthews 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 Matthews against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Matthews
Is Matthews a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Matthews ranks 41,109th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and quiet, and lowest on the schools and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Matthews expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,495. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $62,470 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Matthews safe?
Matthews is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Matthews with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Matthews. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Matthews 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.
Matthews detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Matthews: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Matthews: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Matthews: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Matthews: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Matthews 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.