2 GA Towns Are Among Money’s 50 Best Places To Live

GEORGIA — Two cities in Georgia are among the 50 Best Places to Live in America, according to a recent report from Money.

Money said the 50 places on the list, released earlier this month, offer affordability, good schools and strong job markets, and are places with “a palpable spirit, nurtured and sustained by engaged citizens and receptive public officials.”

In a departure from previous years, Money did not rank the places but instead grouped them into five categories highlighting their strengths: suburbs with soul, best-kept secrets, new boomtowns, not just college towns, and culture hubs.

In Georgia, Atlanta was recognized as a culture hub. Money said the Georgia capital is “an award-winning foodie city” that offers a variety of eateries.

“The capital of Georgia has plenty to do when you’re not eating, too. Whether admiring the 1,300 works on display at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia or strolling through the thirty acres at the Atlanta botanical garden, the city has ample activities for all ages (and interests). While Atlanta’s understandably become a tourist destination, particularly during popular events like the annual jazz festival, locals find that it’s still easy to discover underrated (and less crowded) gems, like live performances on the Broad Street Boardwalk during lunchtime,” Money said.

Thomasville is Georgia’s best kept secret with a “robust history and a big personality,” Money said. The South Georgia community is perfect for families, Money said.

“Located on the state’s border with Florida, Thomasville is both incredibly appealing and remarkably affordable, with a median home price of just under $300,000. And soon, it will have even more to offer residents: The city is just over halfway through its Thomasville Blueprint 2028 plan, which was adopted in 2018 to help revitalize grow the downtown — in part, by including transforming parking lots into an amphitheater — and develop eight walkable centers in nearby areas,” Money said.

Collectively, the cities and towns on the list are a “blueprint for the future,” Money said.

The report is based on data on such things as the health of the job market, average housing costs, the percentage of residents living in poverty and the quality of public schools, as well as reader polls. But, the editors acknowledged, things that make a town or a city worth living in can’t always be quantified.

To expand the report, Money also considered a breadth of research from public policy and advocacy groups, such as the American Planning Association, Brookings, Main Street America and the Project for Public Spaces, supplemented by data from Moody’s Analytics, SchoolDigger, Realtor.com, the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and others.