Best PlacesSumter, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sumter, 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.
Sumter ranks 44,089th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sumter
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.
Sumter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sumter ranks high
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 74% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 103 pleasant days a year, better than 70% of towns
- QuietBetter than 54% of towns
Where Sumter ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sumter
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sumter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,357, 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 Sumter's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Sumter
Sumter runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Sumter.
Who works in Sumter, and how
Work in Sumter centers on manufacturing and real estate. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sumter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sumter.
What the weather is like in Sumter, month by month
Sumter sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 55° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 68° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Sumter
The nearest airport, Southwest Georgia Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sumter
Schools across Sumter average an F, better than 3% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Sumter County Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee High School 9th Grade CampusB · 49% proficient
- Webster County High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Terrell High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sumter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sumter 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 Sumter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sumter
Is Sumter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sumter ranks 44,089th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sumter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,100. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $66,357 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Sumter safe?
Sumter is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $616 per resident a year.
Compare Sumter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sumter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sumter 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.
Sumter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sumter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sumter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sumter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sumter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sumter 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.