Best PlacesNorth Decatur, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Decatur, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
North Decatur ranks 6,214th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Decatur
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.
North Decatur's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Decatur ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
Where North Decatur ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Decatur
A household needs to earn about $133,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Decatur home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,508, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 North Decatur's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North Decatur
North Decatur's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 North Decatur.
Who works in North Decatur, and how
Work in North Decatur centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in North Decatur
North Decatur has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of North Decatur and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Decatur, month by month
North Decatur sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of North Decatur
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 51.5 million passengers in 2025, with 278 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around North Decatur
Schools across North Decatur average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Museum School Avondale EstatesB · 46% proficient
- Laurel Ridge Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- International Community SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beacon Hill Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- The Champion Middle Theme SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Druid Hills Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Decatur High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Elizabeth Andrews High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Decatur school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Decatur 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 North Decatur against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Decatur
Is North Decatur a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Decatur ranks 6,214th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and transit, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Decatur expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $495,073. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $110,508 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is North Decatur safe?
North Decatur is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $507 per resident a year.
Compare North Decatur with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Decatur. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Decatur 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.
North Decatur detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Decatur: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Decatur: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Decatur: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Decatur: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Decatur 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.