Best PlacesPrior, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prior, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Prior ranks 29,023rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Prior
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.
Prior's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prior ranks high
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Prior ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prior
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prior home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,207, 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 Prior's effective rate of 0.63%, 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.
Who lives in Prior
Prior's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Prior.
Who works in Prior, and how
Work in Prior centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Prior
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prior.
What the weather is like in Prior, month by month
Prior sees roughly 84 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 Prior
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 58 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 Prior
Schools across Prior average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherokee Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Northside ElementaryD · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cedartown Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Harpst AcademyD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prior school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prior 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 Prior against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prior
Is Prior a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prior ranks 29,023rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and quiet, and lowest on thin health care access and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prior expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,075. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $60,207 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Prior safe?
Yes, Prior is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Prior with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prior. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prior 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.
Prior detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prior: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prior: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prior: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prior: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prior 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.