You’re in luck if you’re searching for the most affordable places in Georgia.
To spot exactly where you’ll find the cheapest places to live the Peach State, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze Census data on home prices, rents, and incomes. It turns out this Southern state is full of peaches, boiled peanuts, and cheap places to live.
With cities like Savannah and Atlanta offering a lower cost of living than bigger coastal cities you dont sacrafice on quality of life for quality of wallet. You’ll find plenty of cheap things to do, like the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon or the Atlanta Jazz Festival.
$38,301 median income · $768 median rent · #7 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Ware County, Georgia
If you’re looking to buy a home in Georgia, you won’t find many cheaper places than Waycross. The median home price in Waycross is only $146,386, so if you’re moving to Waycross with a nest egg, you’re in luck. Folks in Waycross earn a median income of $38,301, giving Waycross the 37th best home price to income ratio in the state. The income to rent ratio isn’t nearly as impressive, so we’d suggest buying if you’re trying to take full advantage of Waycross’s affordability.
You can save even more money if you stick to hobbies like hiking around Okefenokee Swamp Park. Just watch out for alligators!
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,283 median income · $886 median rent · #12 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Peach County, Georgia
Next on our list is Fort Valley, a city In the middle of Peach County. A median rent of $886 won’t break the bank, allowing its 8,858 residents more to enjoy the perks of budget-friendly living.
A 30-minute drive to Warner Robins, Fort Valley’s cost of living is 12.0 points better than the state average. You’ll spend less on groceries and utilities and more on weekend trips to downtown Macon.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$39,176 median income · $834 median rent · #2 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Sumter County, Georgia
Americus, home to a population of 15,813, ranks as the third cheapest place to live in the Peach State. With a median home value of $128,313, buying here is considerably cheaper than in the rest of Georgia.
In the heart of Sumter County, the city’s cost of living index of 85 ensures residents enjoy a budget filled with extra peaches, pimento cheese, and boiled peanuts.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$33,800 median income · $786 median rent · #6 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Crisp County, Georgia
Cordele is a city in Crisp County, Georgia, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Crisp County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,137 median income · $794 median rent · #10 home prices in Georgia
Next up comes Camilla, Georgia. Although this town comes last on our list, don’t underestimate its affordability. You can rent apartments for under $400 a month in Camilla. Is that possible where you live now? We didn’t think so.
Camilla is also home to famous NFL player Danny Copeland of the Washington Redskins.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,750 median income · $836 median rent · #3 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Emanuel County, Georgia
In Georgia’s Emanuel County, you’ll find Swainsboro, the sixth most affordable city in Georgia. It ranks well thanks to its low 86 cost of living index, 9.5% lower than the state average.
The big driver in the cost of living across Georgia is home prices, and Swainsboro has an average home price you’ll swoon over – $129,027. Those prices leave more in your pocket for a weekend trip to Augusta or Savannah.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,833 median income · $811 median rent · #8 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Washington County, Georgia
Sandersville is a city of 5,601 located about 60 miles southwest of Augusta. It’s known as the Kaolin Capital of the World due to its vast deposits of kaolinite.
Locals celebrate their abundance of this important industrial mineral each year with the Kaolin Festival, but don’t worry; it’s not as boring as a bunch of gray rocks. It’s more of a live entertainment, great food, and parade-type deal. Oh, and a Miss Kaolin event, of course.
Sandersville is especially attractive for renters who want to try out the area, seeing as the city has the 18th lowest median rent in all of Georgia at $811. But the The cost of living in Sandersville is very affordable across the board.
Homes in Sandersville sell for a median price of $152,997, and your typical household earns $49,833 each year. As far as the quality of the homes goes, well, Sandersville is chock-full of impressive and distinct architecture.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$34,408 median income · $680 median rent · #22 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Coffee County, Georgia
Douglas is a city in Coffee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,589. Douglas is the county seat of Coffee County and the core city of the Douglas, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 50,731 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$34,754 median income · $896 median rent · #28 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Polk County, Georgia
Cedartown is a city in Polk County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,750. The city is the county seat of Polk County. Cedartown is the principal city of and is included in the Cedartown, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Georgia-Alabama Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,917 median income · $811 median rent · #19 home prices in Georgia
Located in
Upson County, Georgia
Thomaston is a city in and the county seat of Upson County, Georgia, United States. The population was 9,638 at the 2006 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Thomaston, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Atlanta – Sandy Springs – Gainesville – Alabama Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Georgia’s statewide median.
Georgia statewide median: $332,063
Georgia statewide median: $77,353
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Georgia
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Peach State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Georgia boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Georgia using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Georgia to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 131 places in Georgia that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Georgia with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Waycross.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Georgia.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Georgia
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waycross | 13,756 | 83 | $38,301 | $146,386 | $768 |
| 2 | Fort Valley | 8,858 | 83 | $50,283 | $158,985 | $886 |
| 3 | Americus | 15,813 | 85 | $39,176 | $128,313 | $834 |
| 4 | Cordele | 9,994 | 85 | $33,800 | $134,690 | $786 |
| 5 | Camilla | 5,124 | 85 | $38,137 | $155,383 | $794 |
| 6 | Swainsboro | 7,571 | 86 | $49,750 | $129,027 | $836 |
| 7 | Sandersville | 5,601 | 86 | $49,833 | $152,997 | $811 |
| 8 | Douglas | 11,749 | 87 | $34,408 | $185,359 | $680 |
| 9 | Cedartown | 10,227 | 87 | $34,754 | $205,346 | $896 |
| 10 | Thomaston | 9,831 | 87 | $38,917 | $178,186 | $811 |
| 11 | Fitzgerald | 8,918 | 87 | $37,323 | $128,232 | $670 |
| 12 | LaFayette | 6,967 | 87 | $46,018 | $158,532 | $840 |
| 13 | Thomson | 6,821 | 87 | $42,180 | $202,124 | $848 |
| 14 | Jesup | 9,942 | 88 | $46,974 | $202,641 | $696 |
| 15 | Toccoa | 9,238 | 88 | $48,438 | $233,281 | $711 |
| 16 | Eatonton | 6,515 | 88 | $56,250 | $399,155 | $954 |
| 17 | Adel | 5,641 | 88 | $43,618 | $170,822 | $969 |
| 18 | Blakely | 5,238 | 88 | $49,821 | $129,945 | $765 |
| 19 | Albany | 67,224 | 89 | $47,240 | $129,374 | $931 |
| 20 | Forest Park | 19,504 | 89 | $41,211 | $165,626 | $1,189 |
| 21 | Tifton | 17,210 | 89 | $45,298 | $210,038 | $798 |
| 22 | Dublin | 16,136 | 89 | $42,988 | $192,482 | $847 |
| 23 | Vidalia | 10,752 | 89 | $49,370 | $184,385 | $794 |
| 24 | Jonesboro | 6,143 | 89 | $50,843 | $241,617 | $1,068 |
| 25 | Waynesboro | 5,644 | 89 | $41,620 | $188,665 | $746 |
| 26 | Eastman | 5,584 | 89 | $52,394 | $154,913 | $770 |
| 27 | Sylvester | 5,489 | 89 | $58,417 | $172,687 | $896 |
| 28 | Statesboro | 34,149 | 90 | $44,737 | $276,367 | $944 |
| 29 | Griffin | 23,761 | 90 | $43,632 | $240,028 | $1,110 |
| 30 | Brunswick | 15,307 | 90 | $40,288 | $254,063 | $951 |
| 31 | Moultrie | 14,588 | 90 | $43,670 | $170,768 | $790 |
| 32 | Fort Oglethorpe | 10,416 | 90 | $51,867 | $245,691 | $937 |
| 33 | Morrow | 6,364 | 91 | $73,693 | $216,943 | $1,515 |
| 34 | Rockmart | 5,204 | 91 | $56,828 | $254,776 | $986 |
| 35 | Milledgeville | 16,748 | 92 | $41,616 | $244,327 | $913 |
| 36 | Cairo | 10,055 | 92 | $40,920 | $178,784 | $778 |
| 37 | Glennville | 5,179 | 92 | $52,844 | $203,965 | $548 |
| 38 | Valdosta | 55,252 | 93 | $45,925 | $210,105 | $1,054 |
| 39 | Rome | 38,189 | 93 | $54,435 | $229,355 | $1,032 |
| 40 | Hinesville | 35,679 | 93 | $60,028 | $237,454 | $1,212 |
| 41 | Dalton | 34,538 | 93 | $63,577 | $242,582 | $996 |
| 42 | LaGrange | 32,078 | 93 | $43,708 | $236,813 | $1,073 |
| 43 | Riverdale | 14,792 | 93 | $63,455 | $214,168 | $1,360 |
| 44 | Bainbridge | 14,404 | 93 | $45,422 | $172,159 | $791 |
| 45 | Temple | 5,901 | 93 | $91,180 | $284,500 | $1,384 |
| 46 | Warner Robins | 82,990 | 94 | $66,970 | $212,129 | $1,212 |
| 47 | Perry | 23,001 | 94 | $76,909 | $273,009 | $1,132 |
| 48 | Monroe | 15,648 | 94 | $44,656 | $371,278 | $1,105 |
| 49 | Centerville | 8,505 | 94 | $68,922 | $227,613 | $1,312 |
| 50 | Stone Mountain | 6,623 | 94 | $46,973 | $268,439 | $1,540 |
| 51 | Barnesville | 6,121 | 94 | $57,411 | $258,106 | $846 |
| 52 | Byron | 5,971 | 94 | $85,596 | $263,141 | $1,020 |
| 53 | Jackson | 5,741 | 94 | $46,191 | $283,113 | $817 |
| 54 | Social Circle | 5,217 | 94 | $88,591 | $361,857 | $1,083 |
| 55 | Columbus | 203,711 | 96 | $58,073 | $173,152 | $1,106 |
| 56 | Garden City | 10,426 | 96 | $47,814 | $272,348 | $1,282 |
| 57 | Auburn | 8,711 | 96 | $77,034 | $365,247 | $1,326 |
| 58 | Union City | 27,728 | 97 | $49,549 | $231,233 | $1,330 |
| 59 | Carrollton | 27,392 | 97 | $54,379 | $285,669 | $1,089 |
| 60 | Winder | 19,437 | 97 | $63,779 | $338,264 | $1,209 |
| 61 | Conyers | 18,512 | 97 | $63,140 | $297,597 | $1,318 |
| 62 | Calhoun | 18,183 | 97 | $58,750 | $273,432 | $873 |
| 63 | Oakwood | 5,862 | 97 | $67,917 | $322,538 | $1,560 |
| 64 | East Point | 38,335 | 98 | $68,598 | $231,600 | $1,364 |
| 65 | Fairburn | 16,831 | 98 | $91,897 | $321,971 | $1,479 |
| 66 | Clarkston | 14,557 | 98 | $48,564 | $267,836 | $1,422 |
| 67 | Commerce | 8,013 | 98 | $60,961 | $334,904 | $1,183 |
| 68 | Bremen | 7,488 | 98 | $93,780 | $290,337 | $951 |
| 69 | Hiram | 5,231 | 98 | $85,119 | $312,225 | $2,085 |
| 70 | Lawrenceville | 30,954 | 99 | $61,561 | $382,152 | $1,613 |
| 71 | Grovetown | 17,014 | 99 | $85,660 | $304,550 | $1,407 |
| 72 | Covington | 14,584 | 99 | $58,810 | $292,187 | $1,191 |
| 73 | Lovejoy | 11,508 | 99 | $71,612 | $279,096 | $1,481 |
| 74 | Hampton | 8,687 | 99 | $75,052 | $307,291 | $1,712 |
| 75 | Hapeville | 6,630 | 99 | $95,714 | $265,299 | $1,640 |
| 76 | Savannah | 147,898 | 100 | $57,137 | $326,509 | $1,382 |
| 77 | Douglasville | 37,536 | 100 | $79,107 | $301,700 | $1,582 |
| 78 | McDonough | 30,947 | 100 | $75,343 | $334,349 | $1,792 |
| 79 | Villa Rica | 18,551 | 100 | $87,803 | $311,754 | $1,547 |
| 80 | Dallas | 14,714 | 100 | $75,545 | $354,268 | $1,492 |
| 81 | Locust Grove | 10,532 | 100 | $75,083 | $324,432 | $1,573 |
| 82 | Austell | 8,447 | 100 | $72,938 | $292,181 | $1,494 |
| 83 | Stockbridge | 35,737 | 101 | $70,136 | $289,839 | $1,494 |
| 84 | Thomasville | 18,666 | 101 | $49,673 | $232,158 | $1,077 |
| 85 | Dacula | 7,444 | 101 | $100,821 | $448,400 | $1,836 |
| 86 | Powder Springs | 18,009 | 102 | $105,070 | $363,229 | $1,583 |
| 87 | College Park | 14,712 | 102 | $51,635 | $277,094 | $1,207 |
| 88 | Gainesville | 45,032 | 103 | $66,974 | $373,267 | $1,299 |
| 89 | Acworth | 22,473 | 103 | $83,539 | $409,265 | $1,664 |
| 90 | Kingsland | 19,627 | 103 | $77,944 | $297,403 | $1,275 |
| 91 | Lilburn | 15,390 | 104 | $63,581 | $397,448 | $1,778 |
| 92 | Cartersville | 24,074 | 105 | $84,437 | $323,100 | $1,229 |
| 93 | Snellville | 21,620 | 105 | $89,896 | $355,608 | $1,818 |
| 94 | Cumming | 8,469 | 105 | $85,868 | $603,209 | $1,705 |
| 95 | Kennesaw | 34,605 | 106 | $83,356 | $403,299 | $1,845 |
| 96 | Loganville | 15,527 | 106 | $83,605 | $392,226 | $2,018 |
| 97 | Jefferson | 14,990 | 106 | $109,828 | $416,353 | $1,074 |
| 98 | Port Wentworth | 12,892 | 106 | $79,731 | $290,499 | $1,812 |
| 99 | Fayetteville | 19,719 | 107 | $82,188 | $455,206 | $1,720 |
| 100 | Newnan | 44,235 | 108 | $82,292 | $363,872 | $1,542 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 131 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Georgia Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Georgia for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Georgia.
The cheapest cities in Georgia are Waycross, Fort Valley, Americus, Cordele, Camilla, Swainsboro, Sandersville, Douglas, Cedartown, and Thomaston.
