Best PlacesMitchell County, GA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Mitchell 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

Mitchell County ranks 2,785th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.

#2,785
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 Mitchell County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Mitchell 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.

Mitchell County's strengths and weaknesses

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

Where Mitchell County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 90% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 118 pleasant days a year, better than 73% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 69% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than 68% of counties

Where Mitchell County ranks low

  • School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
  • Air qualityBetter than only 8% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of counties
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Mitchell County

A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mitchell County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,234, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$32,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$743
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $116,932 home
Median rent
$783
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$596
Property tax$107
Homeowners insurance$39

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 Mitchell County's effective rate of 1.10%, 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.

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

Who lives in Mitchell County

Mitchell County's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
19%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6419%
65 and older19%

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


Who works in Mitchell County, and how

Work in Mitchell County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
4%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.8%
about the national average
Job growth
−1.3%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing15%
Retail trade12%
Health care & social11%
Education10%
Agriculture & forestry9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 93%
  • Work from home 4%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in Mitchell County

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

Places to eat and drink
67
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 30.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 14% of counties
Coffee shops
6
about 2.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 16% of counties

Is Mitchell County growing, and who is moving in?

Mitchell County has lost about 10% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Atlanta, GA.

Population growth
-10%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
20,329
down from 22,715
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Atlanta, GA405 / yr
Albany, GA160 / yr
Albuquerque, NM143 / yr
Dallas County, AL78 / yr
Colquitt County, GA63 / yr

Where people leaving Mitchell County go

Albany, GA110 / yr
Colquitt County, GA88 / yr
Grady County, GA86 / yr
Lakeland, FL55 / yr
Detroit, MI48 / yr

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


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

Mitchell County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January63°50°40°
April79°66°55°
July91°80°72°
October82°68°58°

Flying in and out of Mitchell County

The nearest airport, Southwest Georgia Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 156 miles away.

Nearest airport
ABY
Southwest Georgia Regional, about 22 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
292nd-busiest in the US, 1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
31 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Mitchell County

Schools across Mitchell County average an F, better than 1% 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 Mitchell County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Mitchell 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 Mitchell County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Mitchell County suits

Families

Schools land around the 1st percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

4% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 73% of counties and it is quieter than 90%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Mitchell County

Is Mitchell County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mitchell County ranks 2,785th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and the weather, 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 Mitchell County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $116,932. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $57,234 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.

Is Mitchell County safe?

Mitchell County is safer than 15% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $456 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Mitchell County?

July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 118 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of counties.

Is Mitchell County good for families?

Schools beat 1% of counties, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $502 a month.


Compare Mitchell County with other counties


Sources and methodology

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

Mitchell County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

Mitchell 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.