Norcross, Georgia
Seal of Georgia
Norcross · Gwinnett County, Georgia
Population 17,669 (est. 2026: ~18,800)
Source: Census ACS 2023 · ACS 2023 + 1.91% annual growth projection

Norcross, Georgia

Gwinnett County, Georgia · Population 17,209

Norcross sits about 20 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, tucked inside Gwinnett County — one of the most populous counties in the Southeast at 957,062 residents. What makes Norcross stand out is the density of its cultural mix packed into a relatively small city. With a population of 17,209 and a median age of just 34.2, this is a young, working community where Spanish, Hindi, and Korean are as common on the street as English. The historic downtown along Lawrenceville Street has survived suburban sprawl largely intact, with preserved late-19th-century commercial buildings that set it apart from the strip-mall corridors surrounding it. Norcross is not a suburb pretending to be a city — it has its own charter, its own identity, and a neighborhood texture that draws people who want proximity to Atlanta without living inside it.

People & Demographics

The 2022 ACS count puts the population at 17,530. The Hispanic and Latino population — 6,413 people — is the single largest demographic group, representing roughly 37% of residents. White residents number 4,891, Black residents 4,823, and Asian residents 2,443. That distribution is unusual even by Gwinnett County standards, which itself ranks among the most diverse counties in the country. The average household size is 2.69 across 6,488 occupied households, and 4,454 of those are family households. There are 4,685 children under 18, a figure that explains the scale of the school system serving this area.

Economy & Employment

The median household income in Norcross is $74,921, and the per capita income is $36,090. Of the 9,839 residents in the labor force, 182 are unemployed — a low unemployment rate by any measure. Poverty affects 2,283 residents, worth noting in a city where income distribution is uneven across its diverse demographic groups. Norcross functions economically as part of the broader I-85 corridor, where logistics, light manufacturing, technology, and healthcare employment cluster. The city is close enough to Atlanta's major employment centers that many residents commute south, but Gwinnett County itself has matured into a significant job market independent of the core city.

Housing

There are 6,741 total housing units in Norcross, with 253 vacant — a vacancy rate of just under 4%, indicating a tight market. Owner-occupied units number 3,672; renters occupy 2,816. The median home value is $337,100, and median rent runs $1,580 per month. At that rent level, a household would need to earn roughly $63,200 annually to stay within the conventional 30% housing cost threshold — below but close to the city's median income, leaving limited margin for lower-wage earners.

Schools

Norcross falls within Gwinnett County Public Schools, one of the largest school districts in the country. The school footprint serving this city and surrounding area is substantial:

High Schools - Meadowcreek High School — Grades 9–12, 2,663 students - Norcross High School — Grades 9–12, 2,608 students - Paul Duke STEM High School — Grades 9–12, 1,222 students - Gwinnett Intervention Education Center (GIVE) West — Grades 6–12, 220 students

Middle Schools - Summerour Middle School — Grades 6–8, 1,465 students - Brookhaven Innovation Academy — Grades K–8, 501 students

Elementary Schools - Graves Elementary School — 1,071 students - Rockbridge Elementary School — 1,033 students - Beaver Ridge Elementary School — 983 students - Baldwin Elementary — 917 students - Meadowcreek Elementary School — 839 students - Norcross Elementary School — 806 students - Stripling Elementary School — 787 students

Paul Duke STEM High School draws students interested in science and technology pathways and operates as a magnet-style option within the district. Altierus Career College maintains a campus in Norcross (770-921-1085) for post-secondary vocational and career training.

Getting Around

Of 8,948 workers, 6,061 drive alone and 1,123 carpool. Only 108 use public transit, and 67 walk to work. A notable 1,414 people work from home. The aggregate commute time across all workers is 218,550 minutes, which works out to roughly 24 minutes per commute on average — reasonable by Atlanta-metro standards, but still car-dependent. Gwinnett County has historically had limited MARTA rail access; bus service connects some corridors, but a car is effectively required for most daily life in Norcross.

Healthcare

Several hospital systems serve the Norcross area. Northside Hospital Gwinnett and Northside Hospital Duluth both operate within the county. Piedmont Eastside Medical Center and Emory Johns Creek Hospital provide additional acute care options to the east and north. Summitridge Center specializes in psychiatry and addictive medicine. For a full directory of individual licensed providers in Norcross, the NPI Registry search covers active clinicians: NPI Registry — Norcross, GA.

Library

The Norcross Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library serves the city directly. Contact: 770-978-5154.

Parks & Recreation

Three National Park Service units are accessible from Norcross:

Natural Hazards

Gwinnett County has accumulated a long federal disaster record. The hazards are varied and recurring:

Residents should maintain flood awareness; parts of the county near creek corridors have flooded repeatedly.

Government & Municipal Code

Norcross operates under a city charter with its own municipal government. The municipal code is published through Municode and is publicly accessible at library.municode.com/ga/norcross. The city does not have a locally adopted building code on record in the available data — building and construction regulation may default to county or state standards.

Weather

Current forecasts for Norcross are available from the National Weather Service: NWS Forecast — Norcross, GA. Active alerts: NWS Alerts. The nearest official weather observation station is the Norcross station, 0.6 miles from the city center.

References

The law belongs to the people. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 590 U.S. (2020)