Moving to Georgia, Atlanta area. Need advice (Lawrenceville, Snellville: 2015, crime rate)

[Movingup7]

Hello. My husband and daughter and I are possibly moving to the Atlanta area. His new job will be in Stone Mountain. We are looking for an area with good schools as well as safe areas. We don't mind little amenities. We prefer a little land (over 1/2 acre.) We are trying to research, but there seems to be many questionable places. We are having a difficult time. We can't tell if they really are questionable because different sites say different things. It would be much easier if we knew people that lived there and knew the areas. Could anyone please advise us on a few places we could look?

[sedimenjerry]

If you want suburban look no further than Gwinnett County. Parkview HS is pretty good and is the closest. Brookwood HS is a little farther down Five Forks Trickum Road and US 78 but is one of the best in the metro area. East of Scenic Hwy (124) is Grayson HS. You could probably get a bit more land and the schools are really good. If you really want land you'd have plenty of options in the Archer HS district but you're starting to add a lot to the commute. US 78 has a lot of commercial options. Scenic Hwy north of 78 has just about everything you could possibly need. If not, you can find it within 15-30 minutes in the rest of Gwinnett County.

[Movingup7]

Thank you. We will look into that County. We did look into some cities there, but most had below a C for the crime rating. What do you think? We want somewhere we could take a walk at night and not have to worry

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by Movingup7

Thank you. We will look into that County. We did look into some cities there, but most had below a C for the crime rating. What do you think? We want somewhere we could take a walk at night and not have to worry

Here and in much of the metro area, it's really about the schools instead of the cities. Lawrenceville has something like 5 different zip codes and even in those zip codes there can be huge differences. Norcross has a nice downtown and to the north is a fairly affluent area known as Peachtree Corners with lots of office development. To the south of Norcross near I 85 and Jimmy Carter Blvd is more industrial with warehouses and has much higher crime.

My family has lived in the same subdivision north of Snellville since 98. The worst crime was when someone broke into the pool area and threw the chairs into the pool. That's it. Not even any graffiti. Our neighbor across the street has repeatedly left his GPS still attached to his windshield and ON overnight but still has not been broken into. We live in the Brookwood cluster.

[Movingup7]

I see. So, Snellville is safe? Is so hard when you don't know the area. We love in a very small town now, 1200 people. Hardly anything happens here. Our mayor is corrupt, lol but no real crimes happen here. No one gets physically hurt or robbed, etc... The only city we saw that was treated as an A in education and crime was Loganville... I really, really appreciate you taking the time to discuss this with me. Anything else you can provide, at any time is greatly appreciated.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by Movingup7

I see. So, Snellville is safe? Is so hard when you don't know the area. We love in a very small town now, 1200 people. Hardly anything happens here. Our mayor is corrupt, lol but no real crimes happen here. No one gets physically hurt or robbed, etc... The only city we saw that was treated as an A in education and crime was Loganville... I really, really appreciate you taking the time to discuss this with me. Anything else you can provide, at any time is greatly appreciated.

Most of it is safe. We frequent the entire Scenic Hwy corridor between Sugarloaf and 78. Parts of US 78 are sometimes iffy at night but that's closer to Stone Mountain really and depending on where you are, you may not even need to touch 78. We never do because Scenic Hwy or Sugarloaf Pkwy has the same thing but closer.

You'd probably like Grayson. Schools are quite as good as Brookwood but are still nice. It's a little less developed, especially east of 20. Still not a small town, it's solid suburbia, but not as hectic as to the west. It just makes for a longer commute. US 78 isn't too horrible though and you won't have to deal with 285 most likely.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Movingup7

I see. So, Snellville is safe? Is so hard when you don't know the area. We love in a very small town now, 1200 people. Hardly anything happens here. Our mayor is corrupt, lol but no real crimes happen here. No one gets physically hurt or robbed, etc... The only city we saw that was treated as an A in education and crime was Loganville... I really, really appreciate you taking the time to discuss this with me. Anything else you can provide, at any time is greatly appreciated.

In the Atlanta area, many suburban towns (like Norcross as sedimenjerry mentioned) encompass BOTH higher-crime lower-income transient areas and very low-crime affluent high-income areas.

Snellville is one of those suburban towns that encompasses both areas that more transient and very affluent.

The area of Snellville where the schools feed into Brookwood High School is a very safe, affluent area of households with high incomes.

The Parkview High School feeder zone (located largely in a part of Gwinnett County that has Lilburn and Stone Mountain mailing addresses) is also a very safe, affluent area of households with high incomes. Though the Parkview High School feeder zone is not necessarily as affluent as the Brookwood High School feeder zone.

The Loganville area straddles two counties (Gwinnett and Walton counties) and encompasses the school feeder zones for Grayson High School on the Gwinnett County side and Loganville High School on the Walton County side.

Loganville is not as affluent as the area inside the Brookwood and Parkview feeder zones, but Loganville is quiet and very safe and features many homes with larger yards because of the less-developed exurban location.

The schools on the Gwinnett County side of Loganville (schools which feed into Grayson High School) are better and more highly-regarded than the schools on the Walton County side of Loganville (which are still really good).

[Movingup7]

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for the advice. Maybe when we are ready, a realtor will be able to use these to help us find a house. Appreciate all the replies.

[cwkimbro]

The crime thing is an anomaly to an extent. The issue we have many unincorporated areas that are mostly bedroom areas with houses (ie. more people per capita compared to commercial and industrial uses). The cities/towns have stores, offices, industrial areas (is. fewer people per capita compared to commercial/industrial uses).

So crime averages for the cities themselves are higher than it actually is. If the cities filled up all of the unincorporated land, it would average lower. Be aware, this area has a few hundred thousand people and it is in a county of about 900,000 people and in a metro of 6 million. There will always be some crime headlines, but that doesn't necessarily affect the rates. It just means there are more people.

Just a note, if you really want land you will be looking out towards Archer and the Grayson districts, but your commute will creep up. If you want a suburban house look at Parkiew and Brookwood and you should find many options between 1/4 and 1/3 acre. There are many options that back up to flood plains on creeks that are safe, but have a permanent buffer from development. It is just the nature of our hilly terrain. That helps out sometimes.

This will help you make sense of the places we are talking about: https://publish.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/g...df?MOD=AJPERES

City names are useless, because school districts often split cities, but the school districts define area desirability here.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Movingup7

Thank you. We will look into that County. We did look into some cities there, but most had below a C for the crime rating. What do you think? We want somewhere we could take a walk at night and not have to worry

It's better to look at a site like Spotcrime to see the actual locations of crimes. In my opinion.

While a city might have a "high" crime rate as a whole, those crimes might be isolated to certain industrial areas which are miles from the houses you are considering.