Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Forest Park grades D overall, 204th among Georgia's 258 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. Its police reported 108 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 94% of U.S. towns. Residents are less healthy than 94% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. What it does well: it is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Forest Park’s violent crime rate is 5.6 per 1,000 residents, above both Georgia’s towns (2.2) and U.S. towns (1.6). Only 30 of Georgia’s 373 towns score lower on history. Forest Park's schools rank behind 90% of the state's.
Where Forest Park beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Forest Park’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Georgia), ordered by how far Forest Park is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
![Florida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingham County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/2891/966de30d2cc5a4a1a72d-l.jpg)
Census counts: 173 in 1910, 19,932 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1940 and 5 maps from 1954 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forest Park. Close and well known come first.
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaMercedes-Benz Stadium
Big draw18 mi MountainStone Mountain
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaState Farm Arena
10 mi Zoo & aquariumGeorgia Aquarium
Big draw15 mi Theme parkSix Flags Over Georgia
8 mi Stadium & arenaCenter Parc StadiumMercedes-Benz Stadium: Atlanta Falcons, CC BY 3.0 · Stone Mountain: KyleAndMelissa22, Public domain · State Farm Arena: Hermann Luyken, CC0 · Georgia Aquarium: Diliff, CC BY 2.5 · Six Flags Over Georgia: hagerman, CC BY 2.0 · Center Parc Stadium: Southernkeith, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Forest Park, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Forest Park.
Forest Park draws workers from Atlanta and beyond, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Reported crimes fell from 994 to 532 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Forest Park’s property crime rate is 22.1 per 1,000 residents. Forest Park reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 94% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Clayton County school district. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Babb Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 881 | B− |
| Forest Park High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,711 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within GA on state tests and graduation
Against the 2,744 U.S. towns with household incomes like Forest Park’s, it is less healthy than 69%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
43% of adults feel lonely in Forest Park. Forest Park beats the Georgia average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21. 35% of adults worry about having enough food in Forest Park.
| Forest Park | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 38% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 22% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 29% | 25% |
| What stands out | Forest Park | GA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.7% | 7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 34.6% | 17.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
12,753 jobs are based in Forest Park, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Forest Park for work: only 6% work in town. 20% of Forest Park residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Forest Park grew to 12,753 in 2023, 1,807 more than in 2013.
| Forest Park | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 15% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $41,000 | $63,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.9% | 9.2% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 1.8 years of the Atlanta metro’s $90K median household income, the typical home (about $161K) costs less against local pay than in 97% of Georgia towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living. Its typical home is the least expensive on its borders; Lake City is next at $201K.
The typical Forest Park home is worth about $161,000, down 6.1% in a year, 51% below the Georgia typical home.
| Forest Park | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 40% | 58% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,189 a month | $1,152 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 77% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 11 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Forest Park.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Atlanta Hartsfield Intl Ap weather station, 5 miles away, records that about 47 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 76% of Georgia places with climate records.
Forest Park has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Forest Park is 90°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
21 within 15 miles of the center of Forest Park
About 4 of every 100 Forest Park residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Georgia.
4 notable people were born in Forest Park.
City in Georgia, United States
Forest Park is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. It is located approximately nine miles (14 km) south of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,932. In the 1800s, Forest Park was named Stump Town, due to the large number of stumps left behind from trees being cut for fuel for the trains passing to and from Atlanta. After being charted and incorporated in 1908, it became known as several names, such as Quick Station, Aster, and Forrest Station. Until the 1950s, Forest Park was spelled with two "R's" instead of just one.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Forest Park.
| Town | GA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Park | #204 | D | B+ | D | D | D |
| Conley | #206 | D | B | — | D | D− |
| Lake City | #118 | C | B | — | D | C− |
| Morrow | #236 | D− | B− | D− | D | D |
Conley and Lake City report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Forest Park with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Forest Park grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #204 of 258 in Georgia. It grades D for health, D for safety and D for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. That is 1.8 years of the area's median household income ($89,724 across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
4 notable people were born here, including Corey Johnson and Bill Lee.
