Snellville, Georgia is a city located in southern Gwinnett County. Its town green is just down the street from the intersection of Highway 78 and Highway 124, which intersect in the heart of Snellville. Today, I am going to talk about the pros and cons of living in Snellville, Georgia. Some of these may surprise you, so stick around until the end to find out!
Hi, my name is Tim Trevathan, and I am a full-service Realtor in Metro Atlanta. I help people move here from all over the country as well as help families who are moving locally. I would love to hear how I can help you! So, please reach out however is most convenient for you!
Snellville is just one of the many cities in Gwinnett County as well as the larger North Metro Atlanta area. If you are still trying to decide where you want to focus your home search, I encourage you to head to my video list when this video is over and check out my videos on other cities in the area. Don’t forget to hit subscribe so you see my newest videos!
When you are moving to a new city, it can be a challenge to decide which part of the city is the best fit for you. My goal for these videos is to give my viewers a closer look at the city featured in each for them to be an aid as you search for your new home!
Let’s talk about Snellville. What are the pros and cons of living in Snellville, Georgia that you will want to know?
Pro 1: Affordability. Snellville is one of the more affordable cities in Gwinnett County. Generally speaking, the southern portion of the county has lower home prices than the northern part. As an example, the median sold price for December 2022 was $349,000 while up the road it was $400,000 and on the northern end of the county in Buford it was $420,000.
A little bit closer to home, Lawrenceville is minutes away and had a median sold price of $360,000 while Loganville, just down the road in Walton County it was $415,000.
Homes are still a good bit more expensive than they were a few years ago, but Snellville has some of the most affordable prices in the area.
Con 1: Schools. Many families choose to move to Gwinnett because of its school system. Snellville unfortunately is like the Tale of Two Cities when it comes to schools. The city limits is actually divided among four school zones. The city is served by Brookwood, Grayson, South Gwinnett, and Shiloh high schools.
Brookwood has an excellent reputation and last year was ranked the 2nd best high school in Gwinnett and the 22nd best public high school in Georgia by US News & World Report. Grayson also has a great reputation and ranked 8th best (out of 27 high schools) in Gwinnett and 47th in the state.
On the other hand, South Gwinnett was ranked 19th in Gwinnett and 173rd in Georgia while Shiloh ranked 21st in Gwinnett and 231st in Georgia.
As you would expect, homes in the Brookwood and Grayson clusters do tend to be more expensive than homes in the South Gwinnett and Shiloh clusters.
I say this in each video, but I always encourage clients to check out schools for themselves as numbers in reports don’t always give the full picture.
Pro 2: Shopping. For a lot of these videos I’ve done, lack of shopping has been a con. In Snellville, shopping is a pro! I doubt Snellville has everything you could ever want to buy, but you’ll undoubtedly find a lot of what you want to buy.
Just outside the city limits on Highway 124, you’ll find the Shoppes at Web Gin. This outdoor shopping venue has a mix of restaurants and retail like Carter’s, Barnes & Noble, DSW, and the Loft.
Inside the city limits, you’ll find Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Academy Sports, and Best Buy among other stores. There is also a great variety of chain restaurants as well as some locally owned spots too, like Provino’s Italian Restaurant and a Jamaican restaurant called Escovitchez.
If you move to Snellville, you will have a lot of your shopping needs located nearby, which is always a nice convenience!
Con 2: Traffic. Along with that shopping comes one of the biggest cons about Snellville: traffic on the Highway 78 and Highway 124 corridors. Because Snellville has so many shopping options, not only do Snellville residents do their shopping in Snellville, but residents from nearby Lilburn, Loganville, Stone Mountain and other areas without as many shopping options often head to Snellville. That puts a lot of cars on the road and can cause a lot of traffic.
Highway 124 tends to be extra congested on Saturdays due to shopping traffic, in addition to the normal rush hour traffic on weekdays. Highway 78 tends to see its peak congestion during rush hour, as it is the most direct route from Snellville down into Atlanta.
You really can’t find anywhere to live in the metro area that doesn’t suffer from traffic in one way or another, so traffic isn’t a huge negative, but rather something to be aware of so you can consider how the traffic patterns of any cities you are considering calling home will affect your commute and day to day activities.
Pro 3: City Events. If you like being active in your city, Snellville may be a great place to call home. They host so many different activities throughout the year. There is the annual 4th of July event, outdoor concerts in the warm months, an e-sports league, and a summer camp for kids among other events.
If you are someone who loves to jump in and get involved in your city, Snellville makes that easy!
The town green is where Snellville gathers to relax and enjoy community events.
Con 3: No Downtown Area. Despite the many great events Snellville hosts, it does not have a walkable downtown area with shopping and dining. They do have a town green, on Highway 78, where most of the city-sponsored events are hosted. The senior city and city hall are also located within walking distance.
But, there is not really a downtown Snellville area where you could park, browse some shops, enjoy a drink, and then try a new restaurant (or visit a favorite!) for dinner. You’d have to head to Lawrenceville or Duluth if you wanted a night out on the town without driving from stop to stop.
Pro 4: Senior Center. Snellville has a very active senior center. Now, I understand this won’t be of interest to everyone, but if you are a senior or are planning to move to Snellville for the long haul, you will want to check this out. If you aren’t a senior or don’t plan to be here that long, bear with me for just a moment!
The center is open Monday – Friday and sends out a monthly newsletter with events. You’ll find exercise classes, guest speakers, group trips to cultural events, quilting classes, knitting groups, card games, computer classes, and many more opportunities to learn a new skill, meet new friends, or socialize with old friends.
At the time of this video, membership dues are only $15 a year for Snellville residents and $25 a year for Gwinnett residents who are outside of the city limits. That is a great deal for all the center offers.
Con 4: Lack of High End Homes. When I was putting together the content for this video, there were about 200 homes for sale in Snellville. Only 34 of them were $500,000 or more, and the vast majority of those were older, traditional two-story homes built in the 1980’s or 1990’s. If you want a fairly new home at a higher price point, it will be hard to find in Snellville.
The sweet spot for having a lot of home options in Snellville is the $300,000 to $500,000 range. There are about 130 homes in that range on the market at the time of this video, and they range from older ranches to pretty new two stories and everything in between.
Pro 5: The Farmer’s Market and Community Garden. Snellville has a community garden located in Briscoe Park, and plots are available for residents to rent for $35-65 a year, depending on the size of the plot. It is a fenced, locked garden and offers residents a great way to grow their own veggies or flowers even if they have no yard or a shady yard that is not conducive to growing much. It is entirely volunteer operated.
Snellville also has a farmer’s market that is very popular, with almost 20,000 visitors a year. It is open every Saturday morning from June through September, and then twice a month from October through May. Market volunteers visit each participating farm to ensure that the produce sold at the market is truly Georgia grown, and most of it is grown close to Snellville. If you move to Snellville, you will want to check it out!
Con 5: Foodie Scene. Because of its location in southern Gwinnett County, Snellville is a bit of a drive from the parts of Gwinnett and Metro Atlanta that have a reputation for having the trendy places to shop and eat, or the reputation for having awesome, fresh, farm to table type cuisine. I’m thinking places like Duluth, Roswell, Alpharetta, or Sandy Springs.
If you were to look at a list of the top restaurants in Metro Atlanta, most of them would be quite the drive from Snellville, especially considering traffic.
So, if you are a foodie, I would suggest checking out the restaurant scene in downtown Duluth and downtown Lawrenceville. If that will satisfy most of your food cravings, Snellville may be a good fit! If you think you’ll be heading over to Sandy Springs or Alpharetta and that side of the city often, be prepared to spend a good bit of your weekend in the car if you decide to move to Snellville.
I hope you know more about Snellville, Georgia now. If you’d like to check it out for yourself, please get in touch! I’d love to hear your home needs and help you sort through the market to find the best options. Even if you have decided to look elsewhere in the Atlanta area, I’d still love to hear from you. I work all over the city, and would love to hear what you are looking for and help you decide where you would like to start your search. Until next time!