Best PlacesStone Mountain, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stone Mountain, 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.
Stone Mountain ranks 392nd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on cell coverage and long commutes. It does better on tree cover, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Stone Mountain
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.
Stone Mountain's strengths and weaknesses
Stone Mountain ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Tree cover is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Low disaster risk and fast internet follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: cell coverage, long commutes, and crime all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Stone Mountain ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 75% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 73% of cities
Where Stone Mountain ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of cities
- Short commute33.3 minutes each way, better than only 7% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 10% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Stone Mountain
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stone Mountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,976, 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 Stone Mountain's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain'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 Stone Mountain.
Who works in Stone Mountain, and how
Work in Stone Mountain centers on retail trade and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of cities and more parkland per resident than 99% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Stone Mountain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stone Mountain, month by month
Stone Mountain sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Stone Mountain
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International sits about 18 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 Stone Mountain
Schools across Stone Mountain average a C−, better than 18% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Museum School Avondale EstatesB · 46% proficient
- Shiloh Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- New Life Academy Of ExcellenceC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Trickum Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- The Champion Middle Theme SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Shiloh Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Dekalb Early College AcademyA− · 62% proficient
- Dekalb Alternative SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Parkview High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stone Mountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stone Mountain 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 Stone Mountain against the other 444 cities.
Who Stone Mountain suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Stone Mountain
Is Stone Mountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stone Mountain ranks 392nd of 445 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and fast internet, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stone Mountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $288,557. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $76,976 median income, cost of living beats 54% of cities.
Is Stone Mountain safe?
Stone Mountain is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $540 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stone Mountain?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 32. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of cities.
Is Stone Mountain good for families?
Schools beat 18% of cities, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $919 a month.
Is Stone Mountain good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 54% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of cities. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Stone Mountain with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stone Mountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stone Mountain 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.
Stone Mountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stone Mountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stone Mountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stone Mountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stone Mountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stone Mountain 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.