These Are The 10 Best Places To Retire In Georgia

When most people think of calling it quits on a career, they immediately think of a move to Florida.

But not everyone wants to spend their golden years in Florida; some of us want to stay close to friends and family and within the great state of Georgia.

But where exactly in Georgia? Well, there’s only one place to go for the answer — data.

To that end, we have tried to identify the places in Georgia that are safe, affordable, and have plenty of things to keep you busy well into retirement.

What did we find after pouring through all the data? Let’s just say we hope folks in Grovetown don’t mind us spreading the word. Here are our top ten places in the Peach State to retire:

1. Grovetown
2. Norcross
3. Decatur
4. Kennesaw
5. Albany
6. Smyrna
7. Camilla
8. Cordele
9. Powder Springs
10. Johns Creek

Why did Grovetown take the top spot? And where are Atlanta and Columbus? Read on to see see all the golden parachute level details.

How We Determined The Best Places To Retire In the Peach State

To create our list of the best places in Georgia to retire, we first used Census data to find all places in the Peach State with a population of at least 5,000 that aren’t townships.

This left us with 94 places from across the state.

For these 94, we looked at the following criteria taken from the Census, the FBI’s Crime Report, National Weather Service, and OpenFlights:

• Low cost of living
• Low crime
• Things to do (As measured by population density)
• Nice weather
• Distance to the closest international airport

We then ranked each of these places for each criteria from one to 94, with the lowest number being the best.

Finally, we took the average rank across these criteria. The place, in this case Grovetown, with the lowest average rank was crowned the best of the best, a place for you to start your second careers.

1. Grovetown

Population: 12,179
Cost Of Living: 91
Distance to Closest Airport: 108 miles
Crime Per 100k: 1,009
Grovetown ranked 1 overall thanks to its 55 place rank for cost of living and 2 place safety rank.

2. Norcross

Population: 15,799
Cost Of Living: 89
Distance to Closest Airport: 24 miles
Crime Per 100k: 4,778
Norcross ranked 2 overall thanks to its 41 place rank for cost of living and 46 place safety rank.

3. Decatur

Population: 19,888
Cost Of Living: 135
Distance to Closest Airport: 11 miles
Crime Per 100k: 3,283
Decatur ranked 3 overall thanks to its 91 place rank for cost of living and 29 place safety rank.

4. Kennesaw

Population: 31,358
Cost Of Living: 99
Distance to Closest Airport: 29 miles
Crime Per 100k: 1,737
Kennesaw ranked 4 overall thanks to its 74 place rank for cost of living and 8 place safety rank.

5. Albany

Population: 76,946
Cost Of Living: 82
Distance to Closest Airport: 129 miles
Crime Per 100k: 6,460
Albany ranked 5 overall thanks to its 8 place rank for cost of living and 66 place safety rank.

6. Smyrna

Population: 52,922
Cost Of Living: 102
Distance to Closest Airport: 16 miles
Crime Per 100k: 3,225
Smyrna ranked 6 overall thanks to its 77 place rank for cost of living and 28 place safety rank.

7. Camilla

Population: 5,078
Cost Of Living: 83
Distance to Closest Airport: 112 miles
Crime Per 100k: 4,037
Camilla ranked 7 overall thanks to its 15 place rank for cost of living and 36 place safety rank.

8. Cordele

Population: 11,177
Cost Of Living: 82
Distance to Closest Airport: 122 miles
Crime Per 100k: 6,754
Cordele ranked 8 overall thanks to its 8 place rank for cost of living and 69 place safety rank.

9. Powder Springs

Population: 14,271
Cost Of Living: 89
Distance to Closest Airport: 21 miles
Crime Per 100k: 5,437
Powder Springs ranked 9 overall thanks to its 41 place rank for cost of living and 54 place safety rank.

10. Johns Creek

Population: 80,979
Cost Of Living: 128
Distance to Closest Airport: 30 miles
Crime Per 100k: 768
Johns Creek ranked 10 overall thanks to its 89 place rank for cost of living and 1 place safety rank.

Maybe You’re Not Ready To Retire Yet…

So there you have it, the best place to retire in Georgia goes to Grovetown.

If you’re not ready to hang up your office apparel yet, then these places might be up your alley:

• Cumming
• Eatonton
• Vidalia

For more Georgia reading , check out:

• 10 Small Towns In Georgia Where You’d Never Want To Live
• These Are The 10 Dumbest Cities In Georgia
• These Are The 10 Drunkest Cities In Georgia

Detailed List Of Best Places To Retire In Georgia

City	Rank	Population	Cost Of Living	Distane To Airport	Crimes per 100k
Grovetown	1	12,179	91	108	1,009
Norcross	2	15,799	89	24	4,778
Decatur	3	19,888	135	11	3,283
Kennesaw	4	31,358	99	29	1,737
Albany	5	76,946	82	129	6,460
Smyrna	6	52,922	102	16	3,225
Camilla	7	5,078	83	112	4,037
Cordele	8	11,177	82	122	6,754
Powder Springs	9	14,271	89	21	5,437
Johns Creek	10	80,979	128	30	768
Duluth	11	27,821	108	29	2,242
Statesboro	12	29,630	89	39	3,935
Dublin	13	16,200	86	104	6,172
Sandy Springs	14	98,480	140	20	2,948
Mcdonough	15	22,560	94	20	3,927
Forest Park	16	18,783	83	4	6,165
Fairburn	17	13,520	86	11	4,289
Newnan	18	34,457	93	26	3,488
Americus	19	16,557	85	108	8,969
Fitzgerald	20	9,054	83	123	6,693
Roswell	21	92,364	123	28	2,055
Mcrae	22	5,762	82	98	1,839
Dallas	23	12,129	91	30	3,165
Hapeville	24	6,611	93	1	8,455
Fayetteville	25	16,323	103	13	2,995
Acworth	26	21,169	98	32	3,070
Auburn	27	7,388	89	42	1,610
Snellville	28	18,939	94	28	3,865
Adel	29	5,294	87	112	4,420
College Park	30	14,019	85	1	13,995
Dalton	31	33,336	82	84	3,995
Woodstock	32	25,672	102	32	2,648
East Point	33	35,070	83	3	12,033
Loganville	34	10,711	92	33	2,334
Dunwoody	35	47,182	135	22	4,756
Alpharetta	36	60,903	128	31	2,121
Douglasville	37	31,573	88	17	7,097
Marietta	38	58,436	106	22	5,060
Eastman	39	5,442	83	115	9,022
Tifton	40	16,589	89	127	7,173
Holly Springs	41	9,678	98	36	1,921
Douglas	42	11,738	81	116	10,342
Hinesville	43	34,253	92	32	4,636
Sandersville	44	5,839	86	103	5,840
Fort Valley	45	9,448	81	81	5,027
Conyers	46	15,456	89	25	6,340
Thomaston	47	9,068	78	51	5,249
Riverdale	48	15,496	90	5	6,375
Lilburn	49	12,162	98	24	6,051
Port Wentworth	50	6,189	84	4	2,068
Fort Oglethorpe	51	9,368	84	100	9,105
Carrollton	52	25,138	87	37	5,227
Villa Rica	53	14,266	89	28	5,390
Thomasville	54	18,558	94	110	7,091
Chamblee	55	15,835	114	19	7,969
Suwanee	56	16,648	116	35	2,895
Tyrone	57	7,028	112	14	1,365
Calhoun	58	15,837	84	65	4,937
Warner Robins	59	71,359	84	84	6,799
Flowery Branch	60	6,012	96	47	1,264
Kingsland	61	16,147	90	25	3,350
Waycross	62	14,363	81	63	7,470
Winder	63	14,495	90	47	4,484
Griffin	64	23,425	92	28	7,743
Canton	65	23,841	104	42	2,273
Centerville	66	7,468	88	81	6,414
Commerce	67	6,535	89	6	2,035
Waynesboro	68	5,820	82	81	6,718
Pooler	69	20,646	95	3	3,196
Moultrie	70	14,467	90	130	7,396
Commerce	71	6,535	89	67	2,035
Gainesville	72	34,938	90	56	4,645
Lafayette	73	7,105	82	88	5,193
Covington	74	13,342	84	33	7,442
Milton	75	34,874	148	35	1,066
Braselton	76	8,212	103	47	1,449
Atlanta	77	440,641	97	8	7,192
Bremen	78	6,204	96	41	2,949
Swainsboro	79	7,431	83	73	5,678
Locust Grove	80	5,573	89	27	6,800
Milledgeville	81	18,840	91	78	4,214
Brunswick	82	15,648	84	46	9,119
Morrow	83	6,837	90	6	11,657
Toccoa	84	8,327	86	90	5,992
Columbus	85	198,247	83	81	7,303
Jefferson	86	9,630	99	58	1,827
Cairo	87	9,750	92	99	4,071
Valdosta	88	56,324	94	97	6,166
Lagrange	89	30,138	89	54	6,284
Douglas	90	11,738	81	98	10,342
Jesup	91	10,275	85	54	8,360
Vidalia	92	10,596	89	70	7,672
Eatonton	93	6,489	100	63	4,731
Cumming	94	5,538	114	42	7,240