GA Towns Graded From A+ To D-: How Did Your Community Do?

ATLANTA, GA — Here's a Georgia community report card you should pay attention to. And you may want to think twice about living in a place that was graded with a D.

Niche has come out with its new 2018 rankings of the "Best Places to Live" in Georgia, but for at least second year in row, it took a bit of a unique approach: The consumer rankings service assigned a grade, on an A+ to D- scale, to almost every town in the state.

More than 70 communities received A+ grades, topped with towns and neighborhoods such as Decatur, Alpharetta, Midtown, Roswell, Duluth, Smyrna, and Sandy Springs. Only two communities received D- grades. The list included sections of towns and city neighborhoods.

"Midtown Atlanta is surely the pulse of the city! With immediate access to top ranked public schools, dining, shopping and nightlife it makes for a very walkable neighborhood. Diversity and culture are eminent! The fabulous Fox Theater, Piedmont Park (Central Park of the South), Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Peachtree St. all call Midtown Atlanta Home. Midtown has a little but of everything for everyone, single family homes, luxurious high rise condos and rentals to quaint and affordable vintage charmers to claim as home! Home many large employers an just a second away from CNN and the new Mercedes Benz Stadium it's a professional or recreational commuters' life saver," one reviewer said of Midtown, which earned an A+ score.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche.com took several factors into consideration, such as the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities.

Niche created a standardized score for each factor, and after weighting each factor, an overall score was calculated, which was again given a new standardized score.

Finally, Niche.com created a numerical ranking and assigned grades for each place. Click here to read more about the methodology.

Here are the highest- and lowest-rated Georgia towns, and how they were graded:

A+

• Decatur
• Sherwood Forest
• Johns Creek
• Alpharetta
• Buckhead Forest
• Hanover West
• Collier Hills North
• Midtown
• Ansley Park
• Cross Creek
• North Buckhead
• Brookwood
• Buckhead Heights
• Atlantic Station
• Suwanee
• Morningside/Lenox Park
• Brookwood Hills
• Ridgedale Park
• Roswell
• Bolton
• Peachtree Park
• Druid Hills
• Chastain Park
• Lindbergh/Morosgo
• Woodfield
• Pine Hills
• Berkeley Lake
• Underwood Hills
• Lake Claire
• Virginia Highland
• Colonial Homes
• Hills Park
• Brookhaven
• Home Park
• Tuxedo Park
• Milton
• Buckhead Village
• Peachtree Heights East
• Garden Hills
• Riverside
• East Chastain Park
• Tyrone
• Ardmore
• Whittier Mill Village
• Peachtree Corners
• North Decatur
• Piedmont Heights
• Candler Park
• Duluth
• Vinings
• Inman Park
• Smyrna
• Mt. Paran/Northside
• Druid Hills
• Poncey-Highland
• Avondale Estates
• Peachtree City
• Peachtree Hills
• Wildwood (NPU-C)
• Dunwoody
• Collier Hills
• Peachtree Heights West
• Atkins Park
• Berkeley Park
• Kennesaw
• Woodstock
• Channing Valley
• Sandy Springs
• Lookout Mountain
• Old Fourth Ward
• Whitewater Creek
• Mountain Park
• Pleasant Hill
• West Paces Ferry/Northside

A

• Paces
• Argonne Forest
• Ormewood Park
• North Druid Hills
• Sugar Hill
• Blandtown
• Lindridge/Martin Manor
• Peachtree Battlelliance
• Watkinsville
• Cabbagetown
• Grant Park
• Fayetteville
• Buford
• Brookhaven
• Reynoldstown
• Evans
• Grayson
• Acworth
• Loring Heights
• Sweetuburn
• Holly Springs
• Braselton
• St. Simons
• Martinez
• East Lake
• Lilburn

A-

• Scottdale
• Westminster/Milmar
• Kirkwood
• Mableton
• Bremen
• Senoia
• Dacula
• Tucker
• Harlem
• Carrollton
• Ball Ground
• Kingsland
• Lawrenceville
• Stockbridge
• Norcross
• Grovetown
• Athens
• Winterville
• Whitemarsh Island
• St. Marys
• Tybee Island
• Chamblee

D+

• Phillipsburg
• Fort Gaines
• Cherry Log
• Damascus

D-

• Lincoln Park
• Perkins

See more than 500 Georgia towns and neighborhoods and their letter grades on Niche.com.

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Image via city of Decatur

Patch Editor Tom Davis contributed to this story.