Top Ten Best Places to Live

Population: 11,200

Typical Single-Family Home: $250,000

Estimates Property Taxes: $3,800

Pros: Green space, affordable housing

Cons: Traffic, I-85 interchange

Six years ago the residents of Suwanee voted to more than double their property taxes. The payoff: a boost from 28 acres of green space to more than 270, and a feeling of investment in their hometown. “People here participate in the community in a very thorough way,” says resident Dave Williams, 40, a partner in a marketing company and father of two. “They don’t just live here and work or play somewhere else.”

That’s abundantly clear at the newly developed Town Center. Built on a heavily trafficked downtown corner, it meshes park space, retail and office properties and housing into one multiuse plaza - and residents have embraced it in a big way. On summer afternoons kids of all ages splash in the park’s interactive fountains. On weekends Town Center Park’s outdoor amphitheater holds concerts and other events. Behind the appealing row of restaurants and shops are townhouses and single-family homes. Housing is reasonable - you can get into a nice four-bedroom for $250,000 - and schools are topnotch.

As for jobs, Dish Network and Southeastern Freight are the area’s biggest employers, but Google, Hewlett-Packard and other tech concerns also have offices nearby. Surrounding Gwinnett County and Atlanta (30 miles away) provide even more opportunities. Suwanee offers a tax break to companies that bring in more than 25 high-paying jobs.

Though the town has planned recent development deliberately, the area around Interstate 85, which runs through Suwanee’s southeastern corner, lacks for aesthetics but not for congestion. Still, the rest of the city has a lot to offer.

“We’re blanketed with parks to use,” says Brenda Everson, a mother of three boys. “We’re very nature-y. Instead of going to a movie, we’d rather be out hiking or playing ball. It’s nice to have those options.”