Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Georgia (2026)

Start with Brunswick. It is the lowest entry price on this list, $166,500 at the median, and its $1,800 median asking rent turns that into 13.0 percent gross, the best return the state's measurable cities offer. Volume and yield part ways: Columbus closes about 201 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks fifteenth on yield at 8.2 percent. Two cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Augusta has the largest close sample, 122, with a median of $1,350, 3 percent below the $1,395 asking median; the samples are separate, so this is not evidence that the same homes leased above or below their advertised rent. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $245,406 here against $357,000 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 88 Georgia cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. Two more cities clear the closings bar but not the rental one and appear in a second table with entry price only.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Brunswick, 13.0 percent gross

At $166,500 to buy and $1,800 a month to rent, Brunswick yields 13.0 percent gross on 188 tracked closings. See the Brunswick page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Conyers, 10.0 percent gross

Conyers ranks second on yield but only ninth on entry price: the $1,890 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $226,250 to buy and $1,890 a month to rent, Conyers yields 10.0 percent gross on 224 tracked closings. See the Conyers page for the property mix and the price band.

3. Riverdale, 9.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Riverdale third here; on price alone it would sit seventh of 20. The numbers: $218,500 median closed price across 122 closings, $1,770 median asking rent across 1,358 listings, 9.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $135 per square foot. See the Riverdale page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Warner Robins, 9.0 percent gross

Homes in Warner Robins closed at a median of $200,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 9.0 percent. Houses there closed at about $130 per square foot. See the Warner Robins page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Lithonia, 9.0 percent gross

Rent is what puts Lithonia fifth here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 20. Homes in Lithonia closed at a median of $250,007 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,870, a gross yield of 9.0 percent. Full detail is on the Lithonia market page.

6. Jackson, 8.7 percent gross

Jackson ranks sixth on yield but only eleventh on entry price: the $1,805 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Jackson closed at a median of $247,939 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,805, a gross yield of 8.7 percent. Full detail is on the Jackson market page.

7. Thomasville, 8.7 percent gross

The numbers: $225,000 median closed price across 217 closings, $1,622 median asking rent across 162 listings, 8.7 percent gross. Full detail is on the Thomasville market page.

8. Hinesville, 8.6 percent gross

At $242,874 to buy and $1,750 a month to rent, Hinesville yields 8.6 percent gross on 324 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Hinesville market page.

9. Hampton, 8.5 percent gross

Hampton ranks ninth on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $2,049 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $289,000 median closed price across 168 closings, $2,049 median asking rent across 946 listings, 8.5 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $150 per square foot. Full detail is on the Hampton market page.

10. Fairburn, 8.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Fairburn tenth here; on price alone it would sit eighteenth of 20. Homes in Fairburn closed at a median of $324,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,275, a gross yield of 8.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $154 per square foot. The Fairburn market page carries the monthly figures.

11. Milledgeville, 8.3 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Milledgeville far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and eleventh on yield, with rent of $1,400 against a $201,500 median price. Homes in Milledgeville closed at a median of $201,500 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,400, a gross yield of 8.3 percent. Houses there closed at about $113 per square foot. The Milledgeville market page carries the monthly figures.

12. Auburn, 8.3 percent gross

Rent is what puts Auburn twelfth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $331,500 to buy and $2,290 a month to rent, Auburn yields 8.3 percent gross on 133 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $189 per square foot. The Auburn market page carries the monthly figures.

13. McDonough, 8.2 percent gross

McDonough ranks thirteenth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $2,131 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in McDonough closed at a median of $310,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,131, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $142 per square foot. See the McDonough page for the property mix and the price band.

14. Jasper, 8.2 percent gross

Jasper ranks fourteenth on yield but only nineteenth on entry price: the $2,250 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $327,495 to buy and $2,250 a month to rent, Jasper yields 8.2 percent gross on 108 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $183 per square foot. The Jasper market page carries the monthly figures.

15. Columbus, 8.2 percent gross

Columbus is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: third on price, fifteenth on yield, because a $190,000 home there rents for only $1,300. The numbers: $190,000 median closed price across 1,207 closings, $1,300 median asking rent across 2,830 listings, 8.2 percent gross. See the Columbus page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Augusta, 8.2 percent gross

Augusta also carries a confirmed-close median: 122 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,350, 3 percent below the $1,395 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. Homes in Augusta closed at a median of $205,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,395, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. The Augusta market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Macon, 8.1 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Macon far: it is second cheapest on this list and seventeenth on yield, with rent of $1,200 against a $177,000 median price. Homes in Macon closed at a median of $177,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,200, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $108 per square foot. Full detail is on the Macon market page.

18. Stockbridge, 8.1 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Stockbridge far: it is thirteenth cheapest on this list and eighteenth on yield, with rent of $1,897 against a $280,000 median price. At $280,000 to buy and $1,897 a month to rent, Stockbridge yields 8.1 percent gross on 271 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $144 per square foot. See the Stockbridge page for the property mix and the price band.

19. Grovetown, 8.1 percent gross

In Grovetown the two samples agree: 95 confirmed lease closes have a median of $1,935, within a few percent of the $1,895 asking median, though the samples are separate rather than paired. Homes in Grovetown closed at a median of $280,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,895, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. The Grovetown market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Rincon, 8.0 percent gross

Rincon is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: sixteenth on price, twentieth on yield, because a $300,000 home there rents for only $2,000. The numbers: $300,000 median closed price across 217 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 299 listings, 8.0 percent gross. Full detail is on the Rincon market page.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

These cities cleared 100 tracked closings but fewer than 50 rental listings carried their name in the last twelve months, so no yield is printed for them.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Georgia city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 88 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $357,000 across 82,394 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Georgia rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Georgia ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Georgia cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Georgia housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Georgia markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.