Augusta Tops Georgia Cities for Family Living, Ranked No. 56 Nationwide
This Old House picked Augusta as the best place in Georgia to raise families, ranking it 56th out of 149 cities across America. They looked at things like school quality, crime rates, parks and recreation, and health care access.
Out west, Scottsdale grabbed the No. 1 spot nationally. Just behind Scottsdale were Overland Park in Kansas, Aurora in Illinois, Boise in Idaho, and Madison in Wisconsin.
Among Georgia’s cities, Atlanta landed at 61st while Columbus grabbed 59th place. No other Georgia city made the list.
The numbers show big differences between Georgia’s top cities. Augusta comes out safer with just 4.36 crimes per 1,000 people, while Atlanta sits at 47.91. But when it comes to schools, Atlanta scores double Augusta’s low 2 out of 10 rating.
Both cities have gaps in key services. Augusta has about three childcare spots for every thousand residents, while Atlanta offers more than eight doctors per thousand people. Augusta also has a scarcity of recreational and educational resources.
“Emerging as an essential need to local economies is access to quality child care — including recognition of the largest provider of childcare, the educational institutions,” said Dr. Tami James Moore, professor of family science at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, in the report shared with Patch. “Communities that don’t actively and continually strive to support and improve those two service providers are ignoring important obstacles to family success.”
At the bottom of the national list are several West Coast cities — Tacoma and Vancouver in Washington, San Bernardino and Oxnard in California — along with Memphis, Tennessee.
