Best PlacesTelfair County, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Telfair 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.
Telfair County ranks 3,054th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Thin health care access pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Telfair 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.
Telfair County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Telfair County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 116 pleasant days a year, better than 72% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 69% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 68% of counties
Where Telfair County ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of counties
- Household income$47,699 median, better than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Telfair County
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Telfair County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,699, 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 Telfair County's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Telfair County
Telfair County runs older than the country, 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 Telfair County.
Who works in Telfair County, and how
Work in Telfair County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Telfair County
Telfair County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Telfair County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Telfair County growing, and who is moving in?
Telfair County has lost about 33% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Atlanta, GA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Telfair County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Telfair County, month by month
Telfair County sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 79° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 81° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Telfair County
The nearest airport, Middle Georgia Regional, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Telfair County
Schools across Telfair County average a D+, better than 9% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Broxton-mary Hayes ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Telfair County ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jeff Davis Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Telfair County Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Ben Hill County Middle SchoolD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Jeff Davis High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Hurricane Transition AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Telfair County High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Telfair County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Telfair 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 Telfair County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Telfair County
Is Telfair County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Telfair County ranks 3,054th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and the weather, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Telfair County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $100,154. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $47,699 median income, cost of living beats 4% of counties.
Is Telfair County safe?
Telfair County is safer than 8% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Telfair County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Telfair County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Telfair 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.
Telfair County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Telfair County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Telfair County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Telfair County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Telfair County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Telfair 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.