Decatur holds top spot on list of best places to live in Georgia

The City of Decatur can set another trophy atop its mantle and stick another stellar report card to its fridge.

Once again, according to municipal ranking site Niche, the eastern ITP Atlanta city has topped a 454-community list as the best place to live in Georgia.

Decatur has its solid schools, family atmosphere, and nightlife to thank for its high marks, earning Niche’s A+ rating in each category.

And the city’s owner-strong housing market and population diversity didn’t hurt its score—A+ overall—either.

One area Decatur faltered in was crime and safety, which Niche scored a not-too-scary C+, even though the city’s crime rate is below the national average. It was also dinged for its C+-rated cost of living, which is no surprise.

Niche clocked the city’s median home value at $418,700 ($234,000 more than the national median) and its median rent at $866 ($83 less than the national median).

Jonathan Phillips, Curbed Atlanta

Decatur also earned praise for its walkability—a staple of any top-notch nightlife scene—and job opportunities.

Atlantans might not be shocked (maybe even proud) to hear the second-, third-, and fourth-place picks on Niche’s list are all ITP.

Those were Collier Hills North, North Buckhead, and Buckhead Forest, respectively.

The north Atlanta suburb Johns Creek claimed the No. 5 slot.

All of the above took home A+ ratings.

In fact, every community down the list until No. 80, North Fulton’s Sandy Springs, earned an A+ rating.

Sandy Springs—sandwiched between Avondale Estates, at No. 79, and Lookout Mountain, at No. 81—claimed C or C+ ratings for housing, cost of living, and crime and safety, yielding the city an overall A average.

And the Jenkins County community of Perkins took home the lowest score of any place in Georgia—a D, largely because Niche deemed it not good for families and lacking in diversity.

• 2019 Best Places to Live in Georgia [Niche]