A slow-paced Gwinnett County suburb
Just under 40 miles north of Atlanta, the Gwinnett County city of Dacula has kept its slow-paced, suburban lifestyle even as surrounding areas have grown with urban sprawl. “As the bigger cities have gotten even bigger, people have wanted to move somewhere that’s not so focused on growth where they can just rest, and that’s become Dacula’s identity,” says Christian Jolly, owner of the local cafe TradeWind Coffee and a Dacula resident of 19 years. “We’ve got good schools, great community organizations, churches, business associations — we’ve got a lot of that stuff but just on a smaller scale.” In central Dacula, a tiny downtown area is home to a large park, the local high school and a scattering of small businesses. Hebron Baptist Church has a large presence in the city’s northern end, where locals can also find the Dacula Village Shopping Center. South of downtown and in unincorporated areas of Dacula are bountiful suburban neighborhoods. “People don’t really move to Dacula for the city; they move for the communities in it, because they know they’re good places to raise a family,” says Billy Johnson, a Dacula native and experienced agent with Lantern Real Estate Group.
The city of homes
In the central downtown area, a public mural coins Dacula as “The City of Homes,” and for Johnson, this encapsulates the housing market here. “If that isn’t the city slogan, it should be. Dacula really is just suburbs,” Johnson says. New Traditional homes from the 1990s to 2000s can be found in great numbers throughout Dacula, particularly to the north in neighborhoods like Hamilton Mill; a 2,600-square-foot home here can cost $450,000, while one with 6,800 square feet can exceed $1 million. Newer single-family homes are common south of Downtown Dacula; a four-bedroom New Traditional home from 2010 can sell for $470,000, while a brand-new one can cost $780,000. In the central downtown and northern Hebron Church areas, there’s a scattering of historic ranch-style homes; a two-bedroom from 1900 can cost $275,000, while a 4-bedroom from 1890 can exceed $435,000. Dacula lacks multifamily options, but the Inman Pass development that’s currently underway will bring 500 apartments to the city once completed.
Big-box stores and local businesses
In the city’s northern end, the Dacula Village Shopping Center is home to a variety of chain retailers and fast-food restaurants, as well as a Kroger grocery. Scattered among these establishments are a few locally owned businesses that serve as the community’s gathering places. “As a cafe, we at TradeWind Coffee get to know everyone in this town. We get a mix of students and parents heading to and from school, retirees, and local businesses who use our meeting room,” Jolly says. “At Friends, the food’s really good and the service kind of snarky, so it’s a great environment to be in. They’re one of the only other places that you can just meet up with people.” Further north on Braselton Highway, sprawling shopping plazas like Hamilton Mill Village and Hamilton Mill Town Center sit side by side and are filled with big-box retailers, grocery stores and chain restaurants. “There’s almost every fast-food restaurant you can think of; Raising Cane’s even opened a store here recently,” Johnson says. The Mall of Georgia only 10 miles away fulfills additional shopping and dining needs and is the state’s largest mall.
Sprawling greenspaces and golf courses
Unlike in other Gwinnett County cities, many areas of Dacula are not yet developed, so the small town is surrounded by greenspace. Just north of City of Dacula proper, the 890-acre Little Mulberry Park is home to a fishing lake and 15 miles of multiuse trails that run through the thick Georgia wilderness. “You can go back there in the woods and feel like you’re somewhere in the Appalachian trails,” Newton laughs. “There’s also another section that’s for equestrian-use only, but a lot of people like to ride their BMX bikes on it because it’s pretty fun.” On the west side of town, the 109-acre Rabbit Hill Park is home to numerous multi-use fields, and the central Dacula Park provides additional sports facilities for baseball, football and swimming. Several golf courses sit in the northern areas of unincorporated Dacula, including the Trophy Club of Apalachee and the Hamilton Mill Golf Club.
Developing knowledge and cultural centers
Although Dacula prides itself in the untouched greenspaces that surround it, the city is home to one of Georgia's biggest developments: the Rowen Project. Situated on the northeastern edge of Dacula’s city limits, the Rowen Project will establish a mixed-use knowledge community that specializes in the studies of health, agriculture and the environment; according to the Rowen Foundation, the Rowen Project could bring 100,000 jobs to the area and create $10 billion of annual revenue for Georgia.
As part of its 2050 Comprehensive Plan, the City of Dacula also intends to redevelop the central downtown area as a commercial and cultural hub. The city is very early in this process, as Dacula lacks a downtown development authority and venue space to host cultural festivals. Community-led efforts to create events have been successful in the past, though. “I started the Christmas in Dacula Festival that we held from 2014 to 2019,” Jolly says. “We had 10,000 people attending in a town of only 10,000 people.” Although the pandemic and budget issues resulted in the festival’s cancellation, Jolly is confident there will be future events to come. “While there’s nothing like the Christmas festival right now, someone’s definitely going to pick up that mantel at some point to create more opportunities for people to gather during Christmas or summertime,” Jolly says.
A highly rated and diverse public school system
Gwinnett County Schools earns an A-minus from Niche and is the largest, most diverse school district in Georgia. Students here are zoned to their schools with little flexibility. Northern areas of the city are zoned to Mill Creek High, southern areas to Archer High, and central areas to Dacula High. Hebron Christian Academy in the northern reaches of Dacula is a popular, private option connected to the Hebron Baptist Church.
Easy access to Athens and Atlanta
State Route 316 runs through the southern end of Dacula, connecting residents to Athens 36 miles east and Atlanta 37 miles south. Traffic toward Atlanta can become congested throughout the day; the transportation analytics company Inrix ranks Atlanta as the city with the 10th worst traffic in the country. The Georgia Department of Transportation is amid the Transforming State Route 316 Project to reduce traffic and the frequency of accidents on the roadway.
Low crime rates in Gwinnett County
Gwinnett County has lower crime rates than neighboring counties in the Atlanta metro area. According to FBI statistics for 2022, Gwinnett’s violent crime rate is 2.7 reported incidents per 1,000 people, compared to Dekalb County to the south at 6.1. Gwinnett’s property crime is similarly lower at 8.2 reported incidents per 1,000 people, compared to Dekalb at 23.4. In 2023, the Gwinnett County Police Department reported falling violent crime rates and launched a Gun Crimes Unit to further limit gun violence in the area.
