Best PlacesPaulding County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Paulding County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Paulding County ranks 522nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $102,987, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are long commutes, walkability, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Paulding County
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.
The best areas in Paulding County
The parts of Paulding County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Dallas
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Acworth
More residents vote and more adults hold degrees.
Hiram & Douglasville
Prices have run up less and fewer homes sit empty.
Temple
It is quieter and tree cover is thicker.
Powder Springs
Homes cost less.
Rockmart
Fewer households have young kids and health care is harder to reach.
Paulding County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Paulding County's strengths and weaknesses
Paulding County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys, few empty homes, and a strong job market carry most of that.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Walkability and air quality also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Paulding County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 94% of counties
- Household income$102,987 median, better than 94% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of counties
Where Paulding County ranks low
- Short commute39.6 minutes each way, better than only 1% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Paulding County
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paulding County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,987, 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 Paulding County's effective rate of 0.84%, 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.
Who lives in Paulding County
Paulding County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paulding County.
Who works in Paulding County, and how
Work in Paulding County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Paulding County
Paulding County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Paulding County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Paulding County growing, and who is moving in?
Paulding County has grown about 27% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Atlanta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Paulding County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Paulding County, month by month
Paulding County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 44° | 37° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Paulding County
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 29 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 Paulding County
Schools across Paulding County average a C+, better than 45% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Burnt Hickory Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Roland W. Russom ElementaryB · 49% proficient
- Floyd L. Shelton Elementary School At CrossroadB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sammy Mcclure Sr. Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Lena Mae Moses Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- East Paulding Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Harrison High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Paulding County High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- North Paulding High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paulding County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paulding 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 Paulding County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Paulding County suits
Families
Schools land around the 45th percentile and crime safety beats 87%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Paulding County
Is Paulding County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paulding County ranks 522nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paulding County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $333,889. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $102,987 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Paulding County safe?
Yes, Paulding County is safer than 87% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Paulding County?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 37. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Paulding County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Dallas, Acworth, and Hiram & Douglasville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Paulding County good for families?
Schools beat 45% of counties, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Is Paulding County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Paulding County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paulding County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paulding 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.
Paulding County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paulding County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paulding County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paulding County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paulding County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paulding County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.