If you have ever thought about moving to Forsyth County, chances are that you’ve considered living in Cumming. It is the only incorporated city in Forsyth County and is very popular with families. So stick around until the end, so can familiarize yourself with the entire city!

Today we are going to talk about the pros and cons of living in Cumming, Georgia. This is the next video in a series of videos I’ve done on communities around Metro Atlanta, so check out my video playlist after this video to explore some of the other cities in the area. I also have a video on the top reasons for living in Forsyth County that I hope will be helpful if you are thinking about moving to Cumming. In fact, I have had the joy of working with clients moving to the area from across the country as well as local clients who are upgrading or downsizing. So, if you’re in that category, feel free to reach out by phone, text, email, or however you want to get a hold of me!

Here’s a quick statistical rundown on Cumming: Just over 7,000 people in the Cumming city limits. The population grew very quickly in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s and has had slow but steady growth since. We’ll talk about some more demographics in just a minute.

Let’s get to the pros and cons of living in Cumming, Georgia.  The first item on my list will be a pro to some people and a con to other people. Let’s look at the positive side first!

Pro #1: Location. As I’ve already said, Cumming in in Forsyth County, one of the northernmost counties in Metro Atlanta. Located up Highway 400, Cumming is a great place to live if you want the benefits of suburbia but also don’t want to be too far from the more open spaces of more rural areas.

If you love the outdoors or even just getting away for a day, Cumming makes getting up to the North Georgia mountains for a weekend or even just a daytrip really easy. It is only 1 hr and 17 minutes to the very popular mountain town of Blue Ridge. Cumming is only 1.5 hours or less from lots of awesome North Georgia locations like popular hiking spots, fishing, boating, wineries, shopping, and more.

While Lake Lanier is outside of the city limits, Cumming is only minutes away from the shores of Lake Lanier and Forsyth County has public boat ramps and public use areas only very short drive from Cumming. If you own a boat, plan to own a boat, or just want to rent a boat on occasion, you’ll be happy to know there are marinas located nearby as well.

Con #1: Location. If you regularly commute to downtown Atlanta, the commute from Cumming will probably not be your friend. I checked the distance on my GPS at 10:00 in the morning – well after the peak traffic of the morning rush and it was still a 47 minute commute thanks to what looked like some construction zones, which are all too common the closer you get to the city of Atlanta.

If you have a traditional work schedule and are trying to get downtown during the height of morning traffic, you can expect it to easily take you close to 1.5 hours, or more on days when there is a bad wreck or it is raining, and wrecks unfortunately aren’t uncommon.

The same is true if you travel often and will need to frequently drive to and from the airport. The airport is on the south side of Atlanta, which puts it about an hour away even in the best of traffic and weather conditions.

If you work in Atlanta or frequent the airport and a short commute is one of your priorities, you probably will want to look for a home elsewhere. If you need some suggestions, give me a call or send me an email!

Con #2: Affordability. Housing in Cumming tend to be expensive. In October 2022, the average closing price was $522,000 dollars. If your budget is under $400,000, you won’t have a ton of homes to choose from, but it is possible to find a home in Cumming, especially if you are willing to purchase a home that needs some TLC.  If your budget is under $300,000, I don’t want to say it is impossible to buy a home in Cumming, but you will need a lot of patience while you wait for the right house to hit the market and you and be willing to put a lot of work into your home. If you can spend $600,000 or more on your home, you will be in a great position to find a home you love.

Pro #2: Recreation and Parks Department. Cumming offers a lot of great things to residents via its Recreation and Parks Department. There is a fee, but the city offers everything from fitness classes to gymnastic classes to a competitive gymnastics team to art classes and even offers horseback riding classes and more. Not many cities offer horseback riding classes!

The city also offers a youth basketball league and has a popular aquatic center. The aquatic center offers swim lessons for all ages, fitness classes, competitive swimming and diving, summer camps, and has a large recreational pool too. There is a membership fee for the recreational pool, and right now the aquatic center’s website list the family fee as $151 for 90 days, which covers most of the summer swim season.

The city also offers residents a popular playground.

Con #3: Downtown Cumming. Now, Cumming does have a walkable downtown area, but it is pretty spread out and doesn’t have a lot of shopping or dining options, so there is a lack of development overall. You don’t have the same easily walkable concentration of shops and restaurants that you see in the downtowns of nearby Buford, Alpharetta, or Dawsonville.

But, on the positive side, Cumming does have a lot of shopping options within city limits.You’ll find a Super Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Lows, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, plus a variety of grocery stores and more.

What Cumming lacks in downtown shopping and dining, it makes up for by offering residents a large variety of shopping and dining options that aren’t in a walkable downtown, but are still only a short drive from home.

Pro #3: Great schools. The city limits of Cumming is largely served by Forsyth Central High School. Forsyth County has a very strong school system.

Forsyth Central, which serves Cumming, is ranked the 43^rd best high schools in the state for the 2021-2022 school year per US News and World Report. It has a graduation rate of 95% and is ranked 2,071 out of almost 24,000 public high schools. That is impressive.

The middle schools and elementary schools that are in the Forsyth Central cluster are also well regarded. Otwell Middle School, which is in the cluster, is ranked the 62^nd best middle school out of the hundreds in Georgia.

Con #4: Lack of diversity. Cumming, and really Forsyth County, don’t have nearly the racial diversity that you’ll see in neighboring Fulton or Gwinnett Counties. Gwinnett has been called the most diverse county in the Southeast and over 100 languages are spoken in Gwinnett.

In contrast, the demographic estimates for 2021 by the federal government show Cumming is about 64% White, 19.8% Hispanic, 7.3% Black and about 4.1% Asian.

In some ways, Cumming’s demographics mirror Forsyth County as a whole, but there are also some notable differences. Forsyth County as a whole is 17.9% Asian, 9.8% Hispanic and 4.9% Black.

Both Cumming and Forsyth County are more diverse than neighboring Hall County, Dawson County, and Cherokee County.

As Cumming has grown in popularity over the past 15-20 years and started its transformation from rural to suburban, the racial demographics are slowly but surely changing and becoming more diverse.

Pro #4: The Cumming Fairgrounds. Not everywhere has the fair in their backyard! Okay, so the Cumming Country Fair & Festival is only one week a year, so you won’t always have a fair just minutes away. But, the fair is very popular and is a highlight of the year for many Cumming residents.

The fairgrounds don’t sit idle the rest of the year either. Each spring, there is a great event called The Taste, where restaurants from Cumming and all over Forsyth County give visitors a taste of their food. The best part? Its free! What a great way to check out your local restaurants and enjoy a taste of your favorites while scoping out some new places to try. I don’t know of any other city in the area that hosts an event like this each year!

There’s also an annual 4^th of July Celebration, Christmas parade and festival, and a professional rodeo visits each Labor Day and puts on a really fun show that is also really affordable!

Having easy access to the fairgrounds and the events hosted there is definitely goes on the list of pros about living in Cumming.

There you have it! Cumming, Georgia is a great place to live. You’ve got easy access to the lake and the beauty of North Georgia, fantastic schools, and lots of shopping and dining options.

The downsides are Cumming is not very diverse, housing is expensive, and the commute into Atlanta, or past Atlanta to the airport is not a quick one.

There are a lot of HOA neighborhoods in Cumming that offer swim and tennis memberships, but there are also still homes on more land and outside of neighborhoods thanks to its fairly recent rural past.

If Cumming caught your attention and sounds like a place you’d like to call home, give me a call or send me an email! I’d love to hear your housing dreams and help you sort through the inventory and housing market craziness to find a great fit for your family.

From a pristine lake to mountain peaks, you can find adventure at every altitude in nature-loving Cumming, Georgia. The city is located north of Atlanta on GA 400’s Hospitality Highway. The jewel of this community is Sawnee Mountain Preserve, a 963-acre preserve with hiking trails, Indian Seats, tree canopy classroom, playground, picnic pavilions, climbing area, amphitheater and Visitor Center. A pleasant drive out of town, Poole’s Mill Park and historic covered bridge straddles Nail Creek. Bald Ridge and Habersham Marinas are situated on Lake Sidney Lanier where there is plenty of year-round fishing, boating, swimming and camping.

At night, the Cumming Playhouse comes alive with live performances throughout the year. Balloons Over Georgia is based in Cumming, but offers a variety of ballooning trips at many locations in Georgia. Golfers will find Lanier and Country Land Golf Clubs both affordable and challenging. The Cumming Fairgrounds hosts annual events such as antique car shows, antique tractor shows, rodeos, Indian Festival, 4th of July Celebration, Quarter Midget Racing, and Christmas Arts & Crafts Show and Celebration, but the highlight is the 10-day Cumming Country Fair & Festival in October.

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