Best PlacesSavannah, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Savannah metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by RCraig09, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Savannah ranks 321st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. It does better on affordable childcare, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Savannah metro
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 Savannah
The towns and districts of the Savannah metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Richmond Hill
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Pooler, Guyton & Springfield
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Wilmington Island & Skidaway Island
More adults hold degrees, though heat risk is higher.
Downtown Savannah
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer residents vote.
Rincon & Port Wentworth
Prices have run up less and disaster risk is lower.
Whitemarsh Island
Streets are more walkable, though incomes run lower.
Garden City
Commutes are shorter, though health care is harder to reach.
Savannah shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Savannah's strengths and weaknesses
Savannah ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Affordable childcare is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Fast internet and a strong job market follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: disaster risk, an overheated housing market, and the schools all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Savannah ranks high
- Cheap childcare$524 a month, better than 98% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 92% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 77% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 77% of metro areas
Where Savannah ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- School gradeC−, better than only 13% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Savannah
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Savannah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,421, 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 Savannah's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Savannah
Savannah's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Savannah.
Who works in Savannah, and how
Work in Savannah centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Savannah
Savannah has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 73% of metro areas. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Savannah and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Savannah growing, and who is moving in?
Savannah has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Atlanta, GA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Savannah go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Savannah, month by month
Savannah sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 51° | 40° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Savannah
The nearest airport, Savannah/Hilton Head International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Savannah
Schools across Savannah average a C−, better than 13% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Mcallister Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Blandford Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Richmond Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- The Stem Academy At BartlettA− · 54% proficient
- Ebenezer Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Coastal Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Savannah Arts AcademyA− · 62% proficient
- Richmond Hill High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Savannah Early College High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Savannah school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Savannah 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 Savannah against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Savannah suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Savannah
Is Savannah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Savannah ranks 321st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on affordable childcare, fast internet, and a strong job market, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Savannah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,051. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $84,421 median income, cost of living beats 75% of metro areas.
Is Savannah safe?
Savannah is safer than 25% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Savannah?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 40. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Savannah?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Richmond Hill, Pooler, Guyton & Springfield, and Wilmington Island & Skidaway Island. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Savannah good for families?
Schools beat 13% of metro areas, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $524 a month.
Is Savannah good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Savannah with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Savannah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Savannah 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.
Savannah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Savannah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Savannah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Savannah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Savannah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Savannah 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.