Best PlacesSpalding County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Spalding County, 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.
Spalding County ranks 2,048th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Spalding 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.
Spalding County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spalding County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 81% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 72% of counties
Where Spalding County ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 21% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Spalding County
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spalding County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,376, 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 Spalding County's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Spalding County
Spalding County'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 Spalding County.
Who works in Spalding County, and how
Work in Spalding County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Spalding County
Spalding County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Spalding County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Spalding County growing, and who is moving in?
Spalding County has grown about 10% 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 Spalding County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Spalding County, month by month
Spalding County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Spalding County
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 28 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 Spalding County
Schools across Spalding County average a D, better than 5% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Crescent Road Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Futral Road Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Jackson Road Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carver Road Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Rehoboth Road Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
- Kennedy Road Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Az Kelsey AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Spalding High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Griffin High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spalding County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spalding 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 Spalding County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Spalding County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Spalding County
Is Spalding County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spalding County ranks 2,048th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and low disaster risk, and lowest on the schools 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 Spalding County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,169. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $64,376 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Spalding County safe?
Spalding County is safer than 41% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Spalding County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 37. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
Is Spalding County good for families?
Schools beat 5% of counties, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $649 a month.
Compare Spalding County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spalding County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spalding 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.
Spalding County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spalding County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spalding County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spalding County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spalding County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spalding 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.