What Is Mulberry, GA? A Local's Guide to Gwinnett's Newest City in 2026

If you've been house hunting around Hamilton Mill, Dacula, or Braselton and you keep seeing the word "Mulberry" show up on listings, road signs, and Facebook groups, and you're not totally sure whether that's a subdivision, a park, or an actual town, you're not alone. I get this question almost weekly.

Here's the short answer: Mulberry is a real city. Voters in northeastern Gwinnett County approved it in 2024, and it started operating in January 2025. It covers roughly 26 square miles in the area most of us have always just called Hamilton Mill, and it's home to somewhere around 41,000 people. It's one of the newest cities in the country, and it's still figuring out what it wants to be.

I live and work in this exact pocket of North Metro Atlanta, so let me give you the real, lived-in version of what that means if you own a home here or you're thinking about buying one.

Where is Mulberry, GA?

Mulberry sits in the far northeastern corner of Gwinnett County. Generally speaking, it runs east from Hamilton Mill Road, sits north of Dacula, and stops where Braselton and Auburn begin. Braselton Highway cuts right through the middle of it, and I-85 clips the northern edge.

If you want a landmark: Little Mulberry Park, the 890-acre Gwinnett County park off Fence Road, is inside the city limits. That's actually where the name came from.

One thing that trips people up constantly: your mailing address probably didn't change. Plenty of homes inside Mulberry still have a Hoschton, Dacula, Auburn, or Braselton mailing address, because the post office and the city limits are two different systems. So if a listing says Hoschton and a neighbor swears they live in Mulberry, they can both be right.

Why did Mulberry become a city?

The short version is control over growth. This part of Gwinnett has been building fast for years, and the decisions about what got built and where were being made at the county level in Lawrenceville. Incorporation moved planning, zoning, and permitting decisions to a local city council that lives out here.

Michael Coker is serving as mayor, and the council has spent its first couple of years standing up the basics: a planning and development department, a comprehensive plan, and in 2025, a downtown development authority.

What does the city of Mulberry actually do?

Since January 1, 2025, Mulberry has handled planning, zoning, code enforcement, permitting, and business licensing inside the city limits. That's it. Police, fire, parks, and public works are still coming from the county or through contracts with other providers, and state legislation set up a transition period so services didn't fall through the cracks while the city got on its feet.

So practically: if you're pulling a permit for a pool or a finished basement, you're now dealing with Mulberry instead of Gwinnett County. If you call 911, not much has changed for you.

Do you pay extra property taxes if you live in Mulberry?

Mulberry was set up as a city without a city property tax, funded through revenue already being collected in this area plus things like insurance premium taxes and business licenses, rather than a new millage rate stacked on your county bill. Tax questions deserve a current answer though, not a blog post answer. If you're buying here, ask me and I'll pull the numbers for the specific property.

What about schools?

Becoming a city did not create a new school system. Homes in Mulberry are still served by Gwinnett County Public Schools, and attendance zones work the way they did before incorporation. Always verify the assignment for the exact address, not the neighborhood. Zones in this fast-growing corner of Gwinnett have shifted before, and they'll shift again as new schools open.

What's being built in Mulberry right now?

Mulberry inherited a stack of projects that Gwinnett County had already approved before the city existed, so some of the construction you're watching go up right now was never really the new city's decision to make. Mayor Coker has been pretty candid about that with residents.

Meanwhile, newer proposals are getting a much louder reception. A proposal for close to 250 apartment units between Highway 124 and I-85 has been one of the biggest points of contention, and a proposed single-family development along Braselton Highway with homes on half-acre lots has drawn its own crowd to meetings. At nearly every community meeting I hear about, traffic comes up first. The roads out here were not built for the number of people now using them, and that's not a controversial opinion locally, that's just Tuesday at 5:15 on Braselton Highway.

On the more optimistic side, the downtown development authority is working on a future downtown district around portions of Highway 124, Doc Hughes Road, Sardis Church Road, and Spout Springs Road. Nothing there is built yet, and I'd caution anyone against buying based on a downtown that currently exists mostly on a map. But the intent is to give this area an actual center, which it has never really had.

Is Mulberry a good place to buy a house in 2026?

For a lot of the buyers I work with, yes. You get a mix of established neighborhoods with mature trees and true new construction, easy I-85 access, Chateau Elan and downtown Braselton fifteen minutes one way, Lake Lanier and the Mall of Georgia the other, and a park most metro Atlanta suburbs would love to have.

The Tradeoff: traffic, and uncertainty. Braselton Highway and Highway 124 get genuinely congested, and the road improvements have not caught up to the rooftops. And because the city is brand new, the rules about what can be built next to you are still being written. That cuts both ways. It means more local control than you had two years ago, and it also means less predictability than a town that settled these questions decades ago.

If you want to know what the street will look like in ten years, ask me to check what's zoned and pending around any address before you write an offer. That research takes me twenty minutes and it has changed people's minds more than once.

Mulberry, GA FAQ

When did Mulberry become a city?
Voters approved incorporation in 2024, and the city began handling its own planning, zoning, permitting, and code enforcement on January 1, 2025.

What county is Mulberry, GA in?
Gwinnett County. It's in the northeastern corner, bordering Braselton and Auburn, just north of Dacula.

Is Mulberry the same as Hamilton Mill?
Not exactly. Hamilton Mill is the name locals have used for this area for years, and the well-known golf community by that name is part of it. Mulberry is the official city that now covers much of that area.

Does living in Mulberry change my mailing address?
Usually not. Many Mulberry homes still carry Hoschton, Dacula, Auburn, or Braselton mailing addresses.

Did Mulberry change school zoning?
No. Homes are still served by Gwinnett County Public Schools. Always confirm the assignment for the specific address you're considering.

Thinking about buying or selling in Mulberry?

I've lived in this part of North Metro Atlanta for years, I drive Braselton Highway and Highway 124 constantly, and I follow what's happening at the city and county level because it directly affects what your home is worth and what it's like to live here.

If you want a current market snapshot for Mulberry, Hamilton Mill, Dacula, Hoschton, or anywhere nearby, or you just want to know what's being proposed near a specific street before you commit, reach out. No pressure at all, I'm happy to talk it through.

Sarah Pickell, eXp Realty
info@sarahpickellhomes.com
sarahpickellhomes.com