Living In Buford Georgia

Buford is located in the northern part of Gwinnett County and located in the north-metro Atlanta area. 

We are going to discuss schools, shopping, entertainment and parks, some restaurants - that aren't typical chains, and lastly, commute times

Let's start with schools - 

There are 4 high schools that Buford students are zoned for. Buford, Lanier, Mountain View and Mill Creek - but that will be replaced for many students with Seckinger high school in the fall of 2022 once that opens.

So, starting with Buford High School...

Buford City Schools are in their own school district in Buford and are not part of Gwinnett County Schools. This can be confusing, because not everyone living in Buford will be able to go to Buford city schools. Niche.com ranks Buford City Schools as the #1 school district in Georgia as the safest school district, best school district for athletes and best school district in Georgia, and gives it an A+ overall grade with an A for Diversity, and Resources and Facilities, with and A+ for Academics, Teachers, Clubs and Activities, Administration, Food, College Prep, Health & Safety, and Sports. Buford City Schools boasts a 17:1 student - teacher ratio. Buford City Schools is one of the top reasons why people with children move to Buford.

Next up is Lanier High School...

Lanier High School is part of Gwinnett County schools and is ranked #16 for the most diverse public high school in Georgia, #51 for the best public high school overall in Georgia and #64 for the best college prep public high school in Georgia and gives it an A overall grade with a B for Health & Safety, and Resources & Facilities, a B+ for Academics, Teachers, Food, and College Prep, an A- for Clubs & Activities and Administration, an A for Sports, and an A+ for Diversity. Lanier High School boasts an 18:1 student - teacher ratio. Lanier High School is actually located in Sugar Hill Georgia, but there is a section of Buford residents, primarily around the southern part of Lake Lanier, who are zoned for this school.

Next up is Mountain View high school...

Mountain View high school is part of Gwinnett County schools and Niche.com ranks it as #11 for Most Diverse public high school in Georgia, #44 for Best College Prep public high school in Georgia, and #50 for best overall public high school in Georgia and grades Lanier high school as an A overall, with a B- for Administration, Food and Resources & Facilities, a B for Teachers and Health & Safety, a B+ for Clubs & Activities and Sports, an A- for Academics and College Prep and an A+ for Diversity. Mountain View High School boasts a 20:1 student - teacher ratio. Mountain View high school is located in Lawrenceville, GA, but many Buford homes are zoned for this school. 

Last up for high schools is Mill Creek high school...

Mill Creek high school is part of Gwinnett County schools and Nice.com ranks it as #24 for the Best High School for Athletes in Georgia, #28 for the best overall public school in Georgia and #29 for the best high school teachers in Georgia and gives Mill Creek and overall grade of an A+ with a B for Food and Health & Safety, a B+ for Resources & Facilities, an A- for Teachers and Administration, an A for Academics, Clubs & Activities, Diversity and College Prep, and an A+ for Sports. Mill Creek high school has a 19:1 student to teacher ratio. Mill Creek high school is located in Hoschton Georgia but many Buford homes are zoned for this school. This will change in the fall of 2021 as Seckinger high school is opening up. The boundary lines are not official yet, but my understanding is that homes on the west side of I-85 will be zoned for Seckinger, and that is pretty much the edge of Buford. 

Here's what we know about Seckinger at this time...

It will be opening in the fall of 2022 and accommodate 2,900-3,000 students...depending on the article you read. The school will be a themed school that focuses its curriculum on teaching students about artificial intelligence. It will be located on the east side of Buford off of Sardis Church road and about a quarter mile north of Hamilton Mill. They will have a full set of sports programs and will have a football, baseball and softball stadium. 

Feel free to reach out to us for more information on these schools or any of the elementary or middle schools that feed them. If you need help setting up a search for homes that are located within a specific school district we are more than happy to set that up for you. 

The next subject we'll be covering is shopping. 

As far as big box stores go, Buford has a Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Sams Club, Costco, Target, Hobby Lobby, Staples, and many others that I'm probably failing to mention. 

For grocery stores, you mainly have Publix and Kroger, although Walmart and Target both have grocery sections in their stores. 

When it comes to all of your other shopping needs, Buford offers the Mall of Georgia. In and around the Mall of Georgia, you will find just about every name brand store and chain restaurant you can imagine. For example, this includes stores like Apple, Belk, Bath and Body Works, Dillards, Macy's, Sears, Dick's Sporting Goods, Disney, Barne's and Noble, and JC Penney. As well as restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Hooters, Chili's and one of our family favorites, Ted's Montana Grill. 

Now, let's talk entertainment...

For entertainment, Buford recently opened a Top Gold and Andretti Racing. It also has The Complex, which is a sports and entertainment center with a ropes course, climbing wall, batting cage and more, there's a trampoline park, airsoft arena and more. 

Buford is also only about 20 minutes from Gas South Arena which has 2 sports teams, the Atlanta Gladiators, which is a minor league hockey team, and the Swarm, which is a major-league indoor box lacrosse team. They also have other entertainment, such as bands, Cirque du Soleil and Disney on Ice. It's also about 20 minutes from Coolray Field which hosts a minor league baseball team and other entertainment events.

Buford also connects to the southeast part of Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier is 59 square miles of water and has 692 miles of shoreline. It's a beautiful lake with lots of activities. You can go boating, hang out on the beach at many of the state parks or take the family to Margaritaville at Lanier Islands Water Park. We have purchased season passes for this park for several years. It's a great place to take the family and feel like you're on vacation and it's only about 15 minutes from Buford. 

Buford has some great parks as well. Gwinnett County overall is known for having some well done and maintained parks. Bogan Park is in the center of Buford and offers a recreation center with indoors pool, as well as baseball fields and walking trails. Buford also includes Buford City Park as well as being within 30 minutes of several other parks such as the skate park and Little Mulberry Park in Dacula. 

If all of that entertainment isn't enough for you, there are several rivers to kayak and waterfalls to hike within a 1 hour drive of Buford. 

Now, I know we discussed some chain restaurants that are located in Buford when we discussed the Mall of Georgia, but I want to mention some other restaurants in Buford that aren't chains that we highly recommend. So, for Pizza, I have to go with Italy's Pizza. They have a very good selection of pizza and pasta, and their garlic knots are amazing. My wife and I like to go in for their lunch specials to get a meatball or chicken parm sub, fries and a drink. If you're looking for a place to go that is family and budget friends, we like a place in downtown Buford called Tannery Row. They have a large area, good food and a large screen that they do movie night on. Another popular restaurant in downtown Buford is Rico's World kitchen. This place isn't my favorite personally, but that's because it focuses more on seafood, which I'm not a fan of. The locals in Buford love it though. So, being from California originally, I grew up loving Mexican food. I'm going to be honest and say that Georgia in general has a tough time keeping up with good Mexican food. Most of the restaurants love to put that melted cheese, or queso on everything. I've found that the best local, authentic Mexican food is in the Taquerias located in most of the gas stations. Sounds questionable, but trust me it's good. If you want a nice restaurant that is pretty good Mexican food and a little heavy on the poor with their Margaritas, I like Tacos and Tequila by the Mall of Georgia. You can't really go wrong ther. And last, but certainly not least, if you're looking for a good steakhouse for a date night or special occasion, we go back to downtown Buford and I highly recommend Bare Bones Steakhouse.  The food is amazing and so is the service. It's pricey, but most great steakhouses are. Plus, if you finish one of their larger steaks by yourself, you get a free shirt. I'm happy to say, I do own one of them.

Buford's city hall and Community Center are very nice and you can find great shows and events at the community center. It's just one more benefit of living in Buford.

So, last, but not least, let's talk about commute times...

Buford is about 38 miles to downtown Atlanta, which will take you about 45 minutes, depending on traffic. It's about 46 miles from the Atlanta airport and takes about 50 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. Now, let's talk about where you can get to in a day's drive that may interest you...Nashville, TN is about 4.5 hours, Greenville, SC is about 2 hours, Raleigh, NC is about 5 hours and 45 minutes, Savannah, GA is about 4.5 hours and Orlando, FL, for those Disney fans is about 7 hours. 

That's a solid overview of Buford.

Hopefully you found this helpful!