Social Circle is a city in southern Walton County, extending into Newton County, in the U.S. state of Georgia, east of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, Social Circle had a population of 4,974.
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".
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and 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.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,974 people, 1,598 households, and 1,301 families residing in the city.
, 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.
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.