Peachtree City vs Newnan, GA: which should you buy in?
This is a more genuine fork than Peachtree City against Fayetteville, because here the county changes. Different school system, different tax bill, different commute, different approach to growth. The two town centers are a short drive apart across the county line, and almost nothing else about them is shared.
The short answer
Buy in Peachtree City if you want the path network, Fayette County’s schools and a town that is close to finished. Buy in Newnan if you want more house for the money, a genuine historic downtown, new construction that still exists, and an I-85 commute with a commuter bus at the end of it.
The honest version is that Newnan is where the growth is and Peachtree City is where the scarcity is, and those two facts drive almost every other difference on this page.
Two counties, and why that is the whole story
Peachtree City is in Fayette County: 119,194 people at the 2020 census, up from 106,567 in 2010. Newnan is the seat of Coweta County: 146,158 people in 2020, up from 127,317 – a 14.8 percent decade, and Coweta has kept growing since.
Peachtree City has been growing toward a stop. Its planning commission adopted a build-out plan in the mid-1970s capped at 40,000 residents; the 2020 census counted about 38,000. Coweta has no such ceiling, and Newnan itself went from 33,039 residents in 2010 to 42,549 in 2020. If you want a brand-new house from a builder, that is the difference in one sentence.
What is on the market, and what it costs
Newnan carries roughly three times as many listings as Peachtree City and a median asking price around a third lower. Same query, same MLS, same day.
| Peachtree City | Newnan | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes for sale | 155 | 488 |
| Under contract | 48 | 133 |
| Median asking price | $659,900 | $434,900 |
| Median asking price per sq ft | $234.18 | $184.51 |
| Median size | 2,816 sq ft | 2,521 sq ft |
| Middle half of the market | $549,700 to $780,495 | $336,500 to $644,947 |
| Cheapest and dearest asking | $259,000 to $6,995,000 | $50,000 to $2,150,000 |
| New in the last 30 days | 61 | 159 |
| Median days on the market | 48 | 50 |
Where that price gap actually comes from
Some of it is land. Some of it is age and size mix – Newnan’s city limits hold everything from antebellum houses near the square to this year’s subdivisions off Highway 34, which widens the range at both ends. And some of it is simply that Peachtree City cannot make more of itself, so its supply is whatever happens to be listed that week.
Look at price per square foot rather than the headline median if you are trying to compare like with like, and look at the count if you are trying to predict how your search will feel. Both towns are tracked monthly on the Peachtree City and Newnan market reports.
Taxes: two different systems, not two different rates
Georgia taxes 40 percent of fair market value in both counties. After that, the two counties diverge – in what they charge, when they set it, and how they hand money back.
| Who taxes you | Peachtree City (2025) | Newnan (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| School board | 19.600 | 15.000 |
| County, general | 3.763 | 4.011 |
| County, 911 | 0.210 | 0.353 |
| County, EMS | not levied in Peachtree City | 0.411 |
| County, fire | not levied in Peachtree City | not levied in Newnan |
| County, parks and recreation | no separate levy | 0.414 |
| County and school total | 23.573 | 20.189 |
| The city itself | 5.840 | 3.082 in 2025; the council resolved to set it to 0.00 |
Both counties run fire and EMS as special tax districts that exclude certain cities: Fayette’s fire and EMS districts cover everywhere except Peachtree City and Fayetteville, and Coweta’s fire district excludes Newnan, Palmetto and Chattahoochee Hills. Rates are also not the whole story – the exemptions in the next section move the number you actually pay. Sources: the City of Peachtree City, the Fayette County 2025 millage resolution, The Citizen’s 5 November 2025 Fayette summary and its 3 and 10 August 2026 reports on Coweta. Confirm any of it with the relevant county tax commissioner.
The part of the tax comparison people get wrong
Coweta’s headline school rate is 15.000 mills against Fayette’s 19.600, and that gap is real. But the rate is not the bill. Three things move the bill:
FLOST. House Bill 581 let counties levy a floating local option sales tax of up to 1 percent for five years, countywide, with the proceeds usable only to cut property taxes. Coweta voters approved it on 4 November 2025 and collection began in January 2026. It is why Coweta’s 2026 general rate fell from 4.817 mills to 4.011, and why the City of Newnan council passed a resolution to take its own millage to 0.00 in August 2026. State law then limited first-year relief to five months of proceeds, so confirm the rate actually billed with the Coweta County Tax Commissioner rather than assuming zero.
Fayette’s HB 1166. Fayette has no FLOST, but it does have a homestead exemption approved by its voters in November 2020 that caps growth in the school-taxable value of a homesteaded property, with the base year rising by the lesser of 3 percent or inflation. Fayette’s school board opted out of the state’s HB 581 exemption specifically to keep it. Over ten years in the same house, that cap is worth more than several mills.
Age. Coweta voters approved enhanced senior school-tax exemptions in November 2025, effective from the fall 2026 tax season: owners aged 75 and over are exempt from the school tax entirely, 71 to 74 on the first $100,000 of assessed value, and 65 to 70 on the first $75,000. Fayette’s own senior exemptions cut the school tax by half at 65, and in full at 65 with household income under $15,000. If you are near those ages, the exemptions matter more than the millage.
Schools
Peachtree City is in Fayette County Public Schools; Newnan is in the Coweta County School System, whose three high schools are Newnan, Northgate and East Coweta in Sharpsburg. Coweta’s zones have shifted as the county has grown – a group of students between Highway 34 and I-85 moved from East Coweta to Northgate in 2022 – which is a good reason to confirm zoning by address rather than by neighborhood name.
For the class of 2025 both districts beat the state, and Fayette was ahead of Coweta.
| School | District | Class of 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Starr’s Mill High School | Fayette | 98.5% |
| McIntosh High School | Fayette | 98.2% |
| Whitewater High School | Fayette | 95.9% |
| Northgate High School | Coweta | 94.0% |
| Sandy Creek High School | Fayette | 93.4% |
| East Coweta High School | Coweta | 92.3% |
| Newnan High School | Coweta | 91.9% |
| Fayette County High School | Fayette | 89.5% |
| Fayette County, all schools | Fayette | 95.3% |
| Coweta County, all schools | Coweta | 92.4% |
| State of Georgia | 87.2% |
A graduation rate is one measure and a coarse one. It says nothing about whether a particular school fits a particular child, and it is not the same thing as a school zone: which school a house is zoned for depends on the address, and only the district can tell you.
The commute, which is genuinely different
Newnan sits on I-85 at Exits 41, 44 and 47, about 40 miles from downtown Atlanta and about 25 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson. If your job is downtown, Newnan has something Fayette County does not have at all: a commuter bus. Xpress route 453 runs Monday through Friday from the Newnan Park & Ride at 70 Hollz Parkway to the Lakewood/Ft McPherson MARTA station, at Blue Zone fares of $4 one way, $7 round trip, or $125 for a 31-day pass.
Peachtree City has no bus. The route out is Highway 74 north through Tyrone to I-85, and the airport is about 25 miles away. Neither county is in MARTA’s service area – MARTA is funded by Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton – so in Fayette County the answer is that you drive.
One thing that has just changed for Peachtree City drivers: GDOT rebuilt the Highway 54 and Highway 74 junction as a displaced left turn, cutting the signal from eight phases to four. The new pattern went live on 30 July 2026, and the $18 million cost was funded entirely by the state. It is the busiest junction in the county, and it now works differently from however anyone described it to you.
Paths: 100 miles against 5
Peachtree City has more than 100 miles of shared-use path and roughly 15,000 golf carts across Fayette County to use it. Newnan has the LINC, a 12-foot-wide paved multi-use path that is planned to reach 26 miles and has about 5 miles open, with further phases still going out to bid. The LINC is a good thing and it is growing. It is not the same proposition as buying a house that already connects to a hundred miles of path.
Everyday services
Newnan is simpler in one respect: Newnan Utilities, formally the Newnan Water, Sewerage and Light Commission, handles water, sewer and electricity inside the city. In Peachtree City your water comes from Fayette County Water System, your sewer from the Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority, your stormwater bill from the city, and your garbage from a private hauler you choose yourself – every one of which is required to include recycling in the base rate.
Both towns have a Piedmont hospital. Piedmont Newnan reached 217 licensed beds after a $65 million, 50-bed tower opened in 2024; Piedmont Fayette had 310 beds and is building a $275 million tower to take it to 400. Newnan’s main shopping is Ashley Park at I-85 Exit 47; it also has Chattahoochee Bend State Park, about 2,900 acres with roughly five miles of river frontage, in the northwest of the county.
Before you choose between them
- Drive I-85 from the Newnan exit you would use, at the hour you would use it, and then drive Highway 74 north from Peachtree City at the same hour.
- If a commuter bus would change your life, look at the Xpress 453 schedule before you rule Newnan out – and note there is no equivalent from Fayette County.
- Ask the tax commissioner in the relevant county what last year’s bill was on that exact parcel, and which exemptions the seller was carrying.
- In Newnan, ask whether the house is in one of the seven historic districts and what design review applies to exterior changes there.
- In Peachtree City, ask which village the house is in and whether the lot connects to the path network.
- Confirm the zoned schools by address with Fayette County Public Schools or the Coweta County School System – Coweta’s zones were redrawn in 2022.
Common questions
Is Newnan cheaper than Peachtree City?
Yes, on asking prices. On September 22, 2026 the Georgia MLS showed a median asking price of $434,900 inside Newnan against $659,900 in Peachtree City, and $184.51 per square foot against $234.18. Newnan also had 488 homes listed against 155. These are asking prices on one date, not sale prices.
Are taxes lower in Coweta County than Fayette County?
The school rate is lower: Coweta charged 15.000 mills for 2026 and Fayette 19.600 for 2025. But Coweta funds part of its relief through FLOST, a 1 percent sales tax approved in November 2025, while Fayette homeowners have HB 1166, which caps growth in the school-taxable value of a homesteaded property. Which is better depends on how long you stay and how old you are. Confirm any figure with the county tax commissioner.
Can you commute to Atlanta by bus from Newnan or Peachtree City?
From Newnan, yes. Xpress route 453 runs Monday through Friday from the Newnan Park & Ride at 70 Hollz Parkway to the Lakewood/Ft McPherson MARTA station, with Blue Zone fares from $4 one way. There is no equivalent service from Peachtree City or anywhere else in Fayette County, and neither county is in MARTA’s service area.
Where can you still buy new construction, Peachtree City or Newnan?
Newnan, mostly. Peachtree City has been building toward a planned finish since its planning commission adopted a build-out cap of 40,000 residents in the mid-1970s, and the 2020 census counted about 38,000, so most of what trades there is resale. Coweta County has no such ceiling and Newnan grew from 33,039 people in 2010 to 42,549 in 2020.
Read next
- Peachtree City homes for sale
- Newnan homes for sale
- Peachtree City vs Fayetteville
- Moving to Peachtree City
- Living in Fayette County
Deciding between Peachtree City and Newnan
Rayshell Scott is a Peachtree City-based agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers and works both towns and the county line between them and the surrounding south metro Atlanta towns. You can search every listing in the MLS, see her current listings, get a valuation of your own home, or meet Rayshell. Call or text 678-761-0949, or send a message.
Rayshell Scott, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers. 1218 N Peachtree Pkwy, Peachtree City, GA 30269.
Data services provided by IDX Broker
