Best PlacesThe Rock, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around The Rock, 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.
The Rock ranks 38,918th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on affordable childcare, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in The Rock
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 Rock's strengths and weaknesses
Where The Rock ranks high
- Cheap childcare$549 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 74% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 68% of towns
Where The Rock ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Household income$53,832 median, better than only 17% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Short commute33.7 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in The Rock
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median The Rock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $53,832; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 The Rock's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 The Rock
The Rock 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 The Rock.
Who works in The Rock, and how
Work in The Rock centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in The Rock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across The Rock.
What the weather is like in The Rock, month by month
The Rock sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of The Rock
The nearest airport, Middle Georgia Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around The Rock
Schools across The Rock average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Upson-lee Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Lamar County Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pike County Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Lamar County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Upson-lee High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Pike County High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Lamar County High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every The Rock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
The Rock 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 The Rock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in The Rock
Is The Rock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, The Rock ranks 38,918th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low disaster risk, and state finances, and lowest on a weak job market and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is The Rock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,028. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $53,832 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is The Rock safe?
Yes, The Rock is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $228 per resident a year.
Compare The Rock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to The Rock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in The Rock 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.
The Rock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for The Rock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in The Rock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of The Rock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in The Rock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
The Rock 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.