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To live in Georgia'smost expensive places, you're going to need a couple things to fall into place: a heavy piggy bank, a job that pays the big bucks, and a list of the top ten most expensive places in Georgia for 2021.
Yes, since you can't pay for the Empire State of the South's crazy expensive cost of living in homegrown Georgia peaches and peanuts, you're going to need a job that pays $27,308/year. To get that heavy piggy bank, you're going to want to commit to one of Georgia's highest paying jobs: we recommend healthcare, law, or finance. And if that doesn't work, there are currently 17 Fortune 500 companies and 26 Fortune 1000 companies that include Home Depot, Coca-Cola, and Alfac. More importantly, to get a list of the top ten most expensive places in the Peach State, we recommend that you take a look at HomeSnacks' list below.
Incidentally, if you choose one of Georgia's most expensive places to live, you could find yourself living next to famous Georgia faces like the Cincinnati Bengals player Brandon Thompson who hails from one of the state's most expensive places, Thomasville and the Weather Channel's Mike Bettes who hails from Sandy Springs.
Want to know more? Grab a slice of peach pie from the in Pooler, find a sunny spot on the beach in Savannah and keep reading.
Here are the 10 most expensive places to live in Georgia for 2021:
What's the most expensive place to live in Georgia? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that College Park is the most expensive place to live in Georgia.
So hopefully Eatonton (the cheapest place to live in Georgia) can show these guys how to live on a budget in the coming years. Read on for how these places had costs rise faster than inflation.
And if you already knew these places were expensive, check out some more reading about Georgia and the most expensive cities in the country:
The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Georgia For 2021
/10
Population: 14,501
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.2x (5th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 39.9x (10th most expensive)
More on College Park: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in College Park comes in at $35,470 and the median home value is $183,700 for 2021.
/10
Population: 6,773
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.2x (most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 46.6x (4most expensive)
More on Dahlonega: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Dahlonega comes in at $46,118 and the median home value is $285,700 for 2021.
/10
Population: 18,539
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 5)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.0x (6th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 37.8x (5th most expensive)
More on Thomasville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Thomasville comes in at $32,378 and the median home value is $163,500 for 2021.
/10
Population: 29,232
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.6x (12th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 47.8x (44th most expensive)
More on Chamblee: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Chamblee comes in at $61,797 and the median home value is $283,300 for 2021.
/10
Population: 6,309
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.0x (7th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 48.4x (47th most expensive)
More on Cumming: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Cumming comes in at $47,273 and the median home value is $237,600 for 2021.
/10
Population: 488,800
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.8x (10th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 52.0x (58th most expensive)
More on Atlanta: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Atlanta comes in at $59,948 and the median home value is $290,400 for 2021.
/10
Population: 60,544
Rank Last Year: 7 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.0x (8th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 52.1x (60th most expensive)
More on Marietta: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Marietta comes in at $57,452 and the median home value is $287,600 for 2021.
/10
Population: 6,650
Rank Last Year: 29 (Up 21)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.6x (3rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 41.8x (18th most expensive)
More on Barnesville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Barnesville comes in at $27,308 and the median home value is $151,800 for 2021.
9. Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (Balance)
/10
Population: 124,719
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.5x (14th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 44.8x (32nd most expensive)
More on Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (Balance): Real Estate | Data
The median income in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (Balance) comes in at $38,311 and the median home value is $171,000 for 2021.
/10
Population: 107,072
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.0x (2nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 59.2x (90th most expensive)
More on Sandy Springs: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Sandy Springs comes in at $78,613 and the median home value is $471,800 for 2021.
How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Peach State For 2021
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:
- How much do money do I make?
- How much do I have spend to live there?
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2015-2019 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Georgia to figure out which is the most expensive.
What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 127 places in Georgia that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Georgia according to the data is College Park. You can download the data here.
Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Georgia For 2021
Well there you have it, the places in Georgia that have the highest cost of living, with College Park ranking as the most expensive city in the Peach State.
Here's a look at the most affordable cities in Georgia according to the data:
- Eatonton
- Toccoa
- Jesup
For more Georgia reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Georgia
- Cheapest Places To Live In Georgia
- Most Dangerous Places In Georgia
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Georgia
- Safest Places In Georgia
- Worst Places To Live In Georgia
Detailed List Of The Most Expensive Cities In Georgia
| Rank | City | ExpensiveScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | College Park | 17.0 |
| 2 | Dahlonega | 19.33 |
| 3 | Thomasville | 21.67 |
| 4 | Chamblee | 24.67 |
| 5 | Cumming | 25.67 |
| 6 | Atlanta | 27.0 |
| 7 | Marietta | 27.33 |
| 8 | Barnesville | 28.33 |
| 9 | Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (Balance) | 31.33 |
| 10 | Sandy Springs | 32.0 |
| 11 | Covington | 32.0 |
| 12 | Monroe | 34.33 |
| 13 | Doraville | 37.33 |
| 14 | Dallas | 38.0 |
| 15 | Peachtree Corners | 38.67 |
| 16 | Savannah | 38.67 |
| 17 | Milledgeville | 39.0 |
| 18 | Gainesville | 39.33 |
| 19 | Brookhaven | 39.67 |
| 20 | Statesboro | 41.33 |
| 21 | Dunwoody | 43.0 |
| 22 | Brunswick | 43.0 |
| 23 | Canton | 44.33 |
| 24 | Valdosta | 44.67 |
| 25 | Hawkinsville | 45.0 |
| 26 | Duluth | 46.33 |
| 27 | Decatur | 46.67 |
| 28 | Lagrange | 46.67 |
| 29 | Calhoun | 47.0 |
| 30 | Loganville | 47.0 |
| 31 | Buford | 48.67 |
| 32 | Carrollton | 49.0 |
| 33 | Milton | 49.0 |
| 34 | Smyrna | 49.0 |
| 35 | Richmond Hill | 49.33 |
| 36 | East Point | 49.67 |
| 37 | Cartersville | 50.33 |
| 38 | Lawrenceville | 50.67 |
| 39 | Rome | 51.0 |
| 40 | Suwanee | 51.33 |
| 41 | Roswell | 51.67 |
| 42 | Norcross | 51.67 |
| 43 | Alpharetta | 52.0 |
| 44 | Cairo | 52.0 |
| 45 | Moultrie | 52.33 |
| 46 | Woodstock | 52.33 |
| 47 | Fairburn | 53.33 |
| 48 | Fort Valley | 53.33 |
| 49 | Cordele | 54.67 |
| 50 | Conyers | 55.33 |
| 51 | Winder | 55.67 |
| 52 | Sylvester | 56.67 |
| 53 | Clarkston | 57.33 |
| 54 | Peachtree City | 57.67 |
| 55 | Stockbridge | 58.33 |
| 56 | Stone Mountain | 58.67 |
| 57 | Johns Creek | 58.67 |
| 58 | Fitzgerald | 59.0 |
| 59 | Lilburn | 61.0 |
| 60 | Newnan | 61.0 |
| 61 | Flowery Branch | 62.67 |
| 62 | Thomson | 63.33 |
| 63 | St. Marys | 64.0 |
| 64 | Douglasville | 65.0 |
| 65 | Columbus | 65.67 |
| 66 | Jefferson | 66.0 |
| 67 | Fayetteville | 66.33 |
| 68 | Locust Grove | 67.0 |
| 69 | Kennesaw | 67.0 |
| 70 | Union City | 67.33 |
| 71 | Acworth | 68.33 |
| 72 | Palmetto | 68.33 |
| 73 | Braselton | 68.67 |
| 74 | Waynesboro | 71.0 |
| 75 | Griffin | 71.0 |
| 76 | Douglas | 71.0 |
| 77 | Perry | 71.33 |
| 78 | Kingsland | 71.33 |
| 79 | Lafayette | 71.67 |
| 80 | Thomaston | 71.67 |
| 81 | Tifton | 73.0 |
| 82 | Snellville | 73.33 |
| 83 | Holly Springs | 74.33 |
| 84 | Hinesville | 74.67 |
| 85 | Dalton | 75.33 |
| 86 | Pooler | 76.0 |
| 87 | Mcdonough | 76.17 |
| 88 | Adel | 76.33 |
| 89 | Bremen | 76.67 |
| 90 | Tyrone | 76.67 |
| 91 | Lovejoy | 77.0 |
| 92 | Sugar Hill | 77.33 |
| 93 | Dublin | 77.67 |
| 94 | Austell | 79.33 |
| 95 | Byron | 80.17 |
| 96 | Powder Springs | 81.0 |
| 97 | Swainsboro | 81.67 |
| 98 | Villa Rica | 82.33 |
| 99 | Rincon | 82.67 |
| 100 | Albany | 83.33 |
