Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Buford's standout: its schools rank ahead of 95% of Georgia towns. Overall it grades B, 49th of 258 graded towns in Georgia. Natural-hazard risk is low. 34% of residents are under 18 in Buford, above both the Georgia town median (24%) and the median of U.S. towns (22%). Buford has 6 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Bona Allen House and Bowman-Pirkle House.
Where Buford beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Buford Senior Academy | 3–5 | 1,368 |
| Buford Academy | 1–2 | 816 |
| Buford Elementary School | PK–K | 431 |
12,225 counted in 2010 and 17,144 in 2020; an estimated 18,780 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 9.7% since 2020, after 40.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Georgia), ordered by how far Buford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 896 in 1880, a low of 496 in 1890, 17,144 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1905 and 2 maps from 1964 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Buford. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi LakeLake Lanier
Big draw23 mi MountainStone Mountain
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaMercedes-Benz Stadium
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaState Farm Arena
32 mi Stadium & arenaTruist Park
34 mi Zoo & aquariumGeorgia AquariumLake Lanier: http://www.terraprints.com, CC BY 2.5 · Stone Mountain: KyleAndMelissa22, Public domain · Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Atlanta Falcons, CC BY 3.0 · State Farm Arena: Hermann Luyken, CC0 · Truist Park: Thechased at English Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 · Georgia Aquarium: Diliff, CC BY 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Buford, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Buford.
Buford has schools in the top 5% of Georgia, draws workers from Sugar Hill and beyond and has more 90° days than most of the country, though not than most of Georgia.
Its A+ ranks #4 of the 260 Georgia towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by the Buford City school district. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Buford High School, with 1,966 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buford Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,426 | A+ |
| Buford High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,966 | A− |
| Buford AcademyTop results in townGrades 1–2 | Grades 1–2 | 816 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within GA on state tests and graduation
23,637 jobs are based in Buford, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. Jobs based here grew from 14,724 in 2013 to 23,637.
Most working residents leave Buford for work: only 12% work in town. Jobs based in Buford grew to 23,637 in 2023, 8,913 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Atlanta (7%), Gainesville (5%) and Alpharetta (4%).
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 14% | 9.2% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 9% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 15% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Buford home is worth about $465,000, down 2.3% in a year, 41% above the Georgia typical home. The median rent in Buford is $1,357 a month.
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 58% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,357 a month | $1,152 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 83% of U.S. communities. Since 2013, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Buford.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Children under 18 are 34% of residents (23% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (23% statewide). Buford has grown 9.7% since 2020, to 18,780 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Buford’s median age is 34.4 years.
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.4 years | 36.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 12% | 15% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 29% | 25% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.7 points. Across Georgia, 51.2% of residents are women. Among residents 45 to 54, 61% are men (GA 49%).
| Buford | GA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 18% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.8% | 11.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.6% | 9.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.1% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.5% | 13.4% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.6% | 12.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.1% | 12.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.2% | 9.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 5.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 18.5% | 10.8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.6% | 26.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.7% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.9% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.3% | 21.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.1% | 13.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The Gainesville weather station, 15 miles away, records that about 33 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 92% of Georgia places with climate records. July afternoons average 87.9°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 93% of Georgia places with climate records; January nights average 32.4°.
Buford has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. About 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 32°F | 33°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 90°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.8% | 2.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Buford Nature Preserve | 0.7 mi | 16 |
| 2. Lake Lanier Park | — | 1 |
| 3. Bogan Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Buford beats the Georgia average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 18% of Buford adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Buford | Georgia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 8.1% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 20% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 79% | 79% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 39% | 33% |
| What stands out | Buford | GA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 18.2% | 13.1% |
| Fewer adults screened for colon cancer | 59.4% | 64.4% |
| Fewer adults seeing a dentist | 55.9% | 59.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
3 within 15 miles of the center of Buford
About 4 of every 100 Buford residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Georgia.
Where Buford’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 places in Buford on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Buford.
City in Georgia, United States
Buford is a city in Gwinnett and Hall counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,144. Most of the city is in Gwinnett County, which is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area. The northern sliver of the city is in Hall County, which comprises the Gainesville, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area and is part of the larger Atlanta-Athens-Clarke-Sandy Springs Combined Statistical Area. The city was founded in 1872 after a railroad was built in the area connecting Charlotte, North Carolina, with Atlanta. Buford was named after Algernon Sidney Buford, who at the time was president of the Atlanta and Richmond Air…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Buford.
| Town | GA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buford | #49 | B | C | — | A+ | B− |
| Sugar Hill | #62 | B | D | — | B+ | A− |
| Flowery Branch | #64 | B | D | B | B− | A− |
Buford and Sugar Hill report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Buford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Buford grades B overall, better than 62% of U.S. towns and #49 of 258 in Georgia. It grades B− for health and A+ for schools.
That is 5.2 years of the area's median household income ($89,724 across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
13 notable people were born here, including Cindy Brogdon and Brownie Wise.
