Best PlacesYoung Harris, GA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Young Harris, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Young Harris ranks 18,995th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Young Harris
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.
Young Harris' strengths and weaknesses
Where Young Harris ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$502 a month, better than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Young Harris ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 35% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Young Harris
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Young Harris home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,685, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Young Harris' effective rate of 0.37%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Young Harris
Young Harris runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Young Harris.
Who works in Young Harris, and how
Work in Young Harris centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Young Harris
Young Harris has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Young Harris and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Young Harris, month by month
Young Harris sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Young Harris
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Young Harris
Schools across Young Harris average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Towns County Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Union County Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Towns County Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- Union County Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Union County High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Towns County High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Young Harris school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Young Harris 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 Young Harris against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Young Harris
Is Young Harris a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Young Harris ranks 18,995th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Young Harris expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,089. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $70,685 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Young Harris safe?
Yes, Young Harris is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $242 per resident a year.
Compare Young Harris with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Young Harris. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Young Harris 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.
Young Harris detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Young Harris: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Young Harris: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Young Harris: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Young Harris: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Young Harris 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.