Social Circle

• Official Name — Social Circle, Georgia • Settlement Type — City • Motto — "Georgia's Greatest Little Town" • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — United States • Subdivision Type1 — State • Subdivision Name1 — Georgia • Subdivision Type2 — Counties • Subdivision Name2 — Walton, Newton • Leader Title — Mayor • Leader Name — David Keener • Established Title2 — named: • Established Date2 — 1826 • Established Title3 — Incorporated • Established Date3 — 1832 • Unit Pref — Imperial • Area Total Km2 — 38.04 • Area Land Km2 — 37.76 • Area Water Km2 — 0.28 • Area Total Sq Mi — 14.69 • Area Land Sq Mi — 14.58 • Area Water Sq Mi — 0.11 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Total — 4974 • Population Density Km2 — 131.73 • Population Density Sq Mi — 341.18 • Timezone — Eastern (EST) • Utc Offset — -5 • Timezone Dst — EDT • Utc Offset Dst — -4 • Elevation M — 270 • Elevation Ft — 886 • Postal Code Type — ZIP code • Postal Code — 30025 • Area Code — 470/678/770 • Blank Name — FIPS code • Blank Info — 13-71660 • Blank1 Name — GNIS feature ID • Blank1 Info — 0333086

It is unclear why the name "Social Circle" was applied to this place. According to tradition, Social Circle was named from an incident in which a group of people living in the settlement offered water to a weary traveler, whose response was "This certainly is a social circle". The city also officially notes that a citizen of another village community which was already known by the name of Social Circle joined the settlement in its early days. Social Circle was incorporated as a town in 1869, and as a city in 1904. The city includes a 132 acre historic district. In 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acquired a one-million square foot warehouse in the city. According to city officials, ICE plans to use the structure as an immigrant detention center holding "anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees". The city shut off and padlocked the water meter to the proposed site until "ICE indicates how water and sewer will be served without exceeding our limited infrastructure capacity". Later, plans were scrapped, yet the warehouse is still there.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.3 sqmi, of which 11.2 sqmi are land and 0.04 sqmi is water. A CSX Transportation line maintenance facility operates in the city's railroad station. The city's railyard contained one of the relatively few remaining concrete coaling towers in the southeastern United States. The coaling tower was removed sometime after June 2022 as it is no longer visible on Google Maps as of February 2023.

of the 4,974 people in Social Circle, at least 4,221 people lived in Walton County and at least 41 lived in Newton County.

As of the 2020 census, Social Circle had a population of 4,974. The median age was 36.7 years. 26.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 84.7 males age 18 and over. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas. There were 1,769 households in Social Circle, of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.1% were married-couple households, 15.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 1,891 housing units, of which 6.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.0%.

The Social Circle City School District includes all of the city. The district holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 90 full-time teachers and over 1,448 students. • Social Circle Elementary School • Social Circle Middle School • Social Circle High School

• Through highways: • Nearby highways: • (Unsigned Designation for I-20)

• Kyle Chandler – actor • Alonzo F. Herndon – Georgia's first African-American millionaire • Jay C. (Jack) Higginbotham – jazz trombonist • Eddie Mapp – country blues harmonicist • Danny McDevitt – former baseball pitcher, retired here • Emma Sansom – assisted Nathan Bedford Forrest cross the Black Creek River in Gadsden, Alabama • Wylly Folk St. John – journalist and novelist

• A season 5 episode of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting, called The Exorcism of Cindy Sauer, takes place in Social Circle in 2010. • Paramount+ Movie: Jerry and Marge Go Large was filmed mainly in Social Circle.