Best PlacesMeriwether County, GA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Meriwether County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Meriwether County ranks 2,690th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.

#2,690
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Meriwether County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Meriwether County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Meriwether County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Tree cover
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Meriwether County with other counties.

Where Meriwether County ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 94% of counties
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 78% of counties
  • Big-city accessBetter than 74% of counties
  • QuietBetter than 71% of counties

Where Meriwether County ranks low

  • School gradeD, better than only 4% of counties
  • Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 5% of counties
  • BikingBetter than only 9% of counties
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 15% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Meriwether County

A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Meriwether County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,574, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$46,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,075
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $175,148 home
Median rent
$931
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$893
Property tax$124
Homeowners insurance$58

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 Meriwether County's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Meriwether County

Meriwether County runs older than the country.

Median age
44
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6420%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Meriwether County.


Who works in Meriwether County, and how

Work in Meriwether County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.4%
about the national average
Job growth
+2.1%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing20%
Health care & social11%
Transportation & warehousing11%
Education10%
Construction9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 91%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Meriwether County

Meriwether County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Meriwether County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
64
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 31.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 14% of counties
Coffee shops
9
about 4.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 39% of counties
Parkland
71 acres
about 3.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 42% of counties

Is Meriwether County growing, and who is moving in?

Meriwether County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Atlanta, GA metro.

Population growth
+1%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
21,439
up from 21,208
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Atlanta, GA metro783 / yr
Columbus, GA109 / yr
Pottawatomie County, OK58 / yr
Troup County, GA44 / yr
Rome, GA41 / yr

Where people leaving Meriwether County go

The rest of the Atlanta, GA metro777 / yr
Baton Rouge, LA176 / yr
Troup County, GA68 / yr
Columbus, GA49 / yr
Upson County, GA48 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Meriwether County, month by month

Meriwether County sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January57°46°38°
April76°63°52°
July90°79°71°
October78°66°56°

Flying in and out of Meriwether County

The nearest airport, Columbus, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 45 miles away.

Nearest airport
CSG
Columbus, about 38 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
299th-busiest in the US, 2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
54 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Meriwether County

Schools across Meriwether County average a D, better than 4% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Meriwether County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Meriwether 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 Meriwether County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Meriwether County suits

Families

Schools land around the 4th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

7% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 71%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Meriwether County

Is Meriwether County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Meriwether County ranks 2,690th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and a strong job market, and lowest on the schools and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Meriwether County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $175,148. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $58,574 median income, cost of living beats 20% of counties.

Is Meriwether County safe?

Meriwether County is safer than 35% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $346 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Meriwether County?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 38. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of counties.

Is Meriwether County good for families?

Schools beat 4% of counties, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $649 a month.


Compare Meriwether County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Meriwether County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Meriwether 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.

Meriwether County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Meriwether County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Meriwether County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Meriwether County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Meriwether County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Meriwether County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.