Best PlacesWheeler County, GA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Wheeler 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Wheeler County ranks 2,993rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.

#2,993
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Wheeler County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Wheeler County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Wheeler County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Quiet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Wheeler County with other counties.

Where Wheeler County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 97% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 90% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than 84% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than 83% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 119 pleasant days a year, better than 74% of counties

Where Wheeler County ranks low

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Household income$37,800 median, better than only 1% of counties
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Wheeler County

A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wheeler County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,800, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$27,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$627
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $102,297 home
Median rent
$629
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$522
Property tax$71
Homeowners insurance$34

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 Wheeler County's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Wheeler County

Wheeler County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
32
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3433%
35 to 4917%
50 to 6414%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wheeler County.


Who works in Wheeler County, and how

Work in Wheeler County centers on admin & support services and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
2%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.8%
below the national average
Job growth
+7.2%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Admin & support services23%
Manufacturing13%
Public administration12%
Health care & social11%
Other services8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 92%
  • Work from home 2%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 6%

Life in Wheeler County

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wheeler County.


Is Wheeler County growing, and who is moving in?

Wheeler County has lost about 11% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dodge County, GA.

Population growth
-11%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
7,076
down from 7,984
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Dodge County, GA135 / yr
Valdosta, GA47 / yr
Telfair County, GA47 / yr
Atlanta, GA27 / yr
Irwin County, GA21 / yr

Where people leaving Wheeler County go

Tattnall County, GA189 / yr
Montgomery County, GA172 / yr
Atlanta, GA133 / yr
Toombs County, GA117 / yr
Savannah, GA45 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Wheeler County, month by month

Wheeler County sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January65°51°40°
April81°68°55°
July94°82°74°
October83°70°58°

Flying in and out of Wheeler 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 130 miles away.

Nearest airport
MCN
Middle Georgia Regional, about 64 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
373rd-busiest in the US, 3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
92 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Wheeler County

Schools across Wheeler County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wheeler County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Wheeler 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 Wheeler County against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Wheeler County

Is Wheeler County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wheeler County ranks 2,993rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and a strong job market, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Wheeler County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $102,297. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $37,800 median income, cost of living beats 1% of counties.

Is Wheeler County safe?

Wheeler County is safer than 12% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $458 per resident a year.


Compare Wheeler County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wheeler County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wheeler 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.

Wheeler County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Wheeler County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Wheeler County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Wheeler County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Wheeler County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Wheeler County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.