Sugar Hill, Georgia

Area Profile

26,128 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sugar Hill, in Gwinnett County.

78out of 100
Area Score
Top 3% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 1% of 3,904 published cities91
GrowthTop 11% of 2,973 published cities74
Housing affordabilityTop 44% of 4,223 published cities84
ClimateTop 17% of 4,223 published cities80
Physical resilienceTop 47% of 4,182 published cities62
Access3620th of 4,226 published cities72
Economic stabilityTop 18% of 4,226 published cities75
The quick read

Sugar Hill ranks in the top 1% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.1% and median household income of $107,389.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 221 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 29% on the prior year.

Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.8 times that income.

At a glance

Population
26,128
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$107,389
Top 15% nationally
Density
2,315/sq mi
11.3 sq mi of land
Median age
35.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Gwinnett County
Georgia
Metro area
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
Nearest major airport
ATL
38 mi · Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Intl
Median home value
$413,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.1% is lower than 94% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 14,658 employed residents.

48% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,778$107,389Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,736$42,359Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.3%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute35.6 minTop 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher48.5%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment14,658Bottom 14%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)11.0%Top 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.2%Top 11%June 2026
Labor force15,133Bottom 13%June 2026
Labor force participation69.1%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$71,900Top 38%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,170Bottom 49%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.1%Bottom 6%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.02.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.1% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024107k90k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $107,389 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons84,970$32,850
Fast Food and Counter Workers80,730$27,780
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand78,460$39,020
General and Operations Managers69,320$111,410
Customer Service Representatives59,990$42,710
Registered Nurses56,460$100,490

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,862 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,862
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$413,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.85Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate79.9%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3728,978Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$137$1,862Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$23,032$413,400Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.8%Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.5%Bottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
74/ 100
Top 11% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 14% since 2020, reaching 28,598 in 2024.

At 8.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
221
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.5
Top 17% nationally
Year over year
+29%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
31.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202429k25k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202220232024202587493
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+116%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 52.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 53, in the Moderate band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GAINESVILLE GILMER AP, 17.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index70.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation52.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index53.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
53
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
70
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

62 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, earthquake and hail.

LightningModerate
TornadoModerate
HailModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, ice storm, cold wave, strong wind, heat wave, hurricane, winter weather, drought, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Gwinnett County records 5.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.4 per 100,000 residents in Gwinnett County.

Homicide
5.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Gwinnett County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Sugar Hill rather than Sugar Hill itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 38 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta IntlATL38 mi12,390 ft
Donaldson FldGYH105 mi8,000 ft
Mc Ghee TysonTYS119 mi10,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
78
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Other cities in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AtlantaFulton County505,26871vs Sugar Hill
South FultonFulton County110,47168vs Sugar Hill
Sandy SpringsFulton County107,08778vs Sugar Hill
RoswellFulton County92,62180vs Sugar Hill
Johns CreekFulton County81,98876vs Sugar Hill
MabletonCobb County77,678vs Sugar Hill
AlpharettaFulton County66,85584vs Sugar Hill
MariettaCobb County62,26372vs Sugar Hill
StonecrestDeKalb County60,50160vs Sugar Hill
BrookhavenDeKalb County57,85573vs Sugar Hill
SmyrnaCobb County56,63374vs Sugar Hill
DunwoodyDeKalb County51,75874vs Sugar Hill

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.