Best PlacesRichmond County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Richmond 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.
Richmond County ranks 2,761st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the schools and air quality. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Richmond 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.
Richmond County's strengths and weaknesses
Richmond County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Cell coverage, fast internet, and short commutes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the schools, air quality, and summer heat all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Richmond County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 78% of counties
- Short commute21.4 minutes each way, better than 70% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 69% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 68% of counties
Where Richmond County ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Richmond County
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Richmond County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,109, 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 Richmond County's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Richmond County
Richmond County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Richmond County.
Who works in Richmond County, and how
Work in Richmond County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Richmond County
Richmond County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 79% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Richmond County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Richmond County growing, and who is moving in?
Richmond County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Augusta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Richmond County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Richmond County, month by month
Richmond County sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 95° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Richmond County
The nearest airport, Augusta Regional at Bush Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Richmond County
Schools across Richmond County average an F, better than 1% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Walker Traditional Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Freedom Park ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Blythe Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hephzibah Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Tutt Middle SchoolF · 13% proficient
- Pine Hill Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Davidson Magnet SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Johnson MagnetB+ · 53% proficient
- Richmond County Technical Career Magnet SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Richmond County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Richmond 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 Richmond County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Richmond County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Richmond County
Is Richmond County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Richmond County ranks 2,761st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and short commutes, 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 Richmond County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,757. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $61,109 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Richmond County safe?
Richmond County is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $501 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Richmond County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 39. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of counties.
Is Richmond County good for families?
Schools beat 1% of counties, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $649 a month.
Is Richmond County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Richmond County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Richmond County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Richmond 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.
Richmond County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Richmond County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Richmond County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Richmond County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Richmond County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Richmond 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.