The county was named for Button Gwinnett, one of the delegates to have signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence on behalf of Georgia.

This county is a part of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area (Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area). It contains many important suburbs of Atlanta, many of whose residents commute using Interstate 85. The county also has become widely known as the poster-child of suburban sprawl in America.[citation needed] Gwinnett is dominated by car-dependent strip malls, malls (Mall of Georgia), car dealerships, industrial warehouses, country clubs, and miles of low-density single family residential housing, all connected via an extensive network of surface streets and highways. Despite recent efforts of forming a public bus system, the average commute time in Gwinnett County is 30.8 minutes, ranking it the highest in metro Atlanta and 18th highest nationwide (2003 census).

Gwinnett County's population is approximately 18.3 percent of the total Atlanta region population and has captured 26% of the region's growth since 2000, growing faster numerically than any other county in the region for the past 25 years running. It is the fourth-largest county on the list of 100 fastest-growing counties in the nation; to see large counties have a high percentage growth is quite rare.

Gwinnett County Public Schools is the largest school system in Georgia and the fastest-growing in the entire Southeast, with 113 total school facilities and a projected 2007-08 enrollment of 159,258 students.

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Transportation
Gwinnett County is accessible by major interstates as well as several US Highways, but good luck trying to get anywhere on a Friday. Interstate 85 runs through Gwinnett from DeKalb County at its southwestern entry point, and Barrow County in the northeast. Interstate 985 branches off of Interstate 85 at Exit 113 near Suwanee.

Several U.S. Highways run through Gwinnett County as well. US Route 23 runs through Duluth and Suwanee. US Route 29 runs through Central Gwinnett through Lawrenceville. US Route 78 runs through the Southern portion of Gwinnett County. All of the U.S. Highways are east-west throughout Gwinnett County (although U.S. Routes 23 and 29 run north-south throughout most of its route).

Gwinnett County is served by several Georgia State Routes. Georgia Route 316 branches off of Interstate 85 at Exit 106 after the Pleasant Hill Exit 104. This highway connects metropolitan Atlanta with Athens, where the University of Georgia is located. A second route is State Route 124, also known as Scenic Highway. This serves as the main route between Lawrenceville and Snellville. A third highly used route is Georgia Route 120, which runs from Tallapoosa, Georgia (west of Atlanta) to Lawrenceville. A fourth major route is Georgia Route 20, which runs Northwest to Southeast in Gwinnett County through Grayson, Lawrenceville, Buford, Sugar Hill, and Cumming (in Forsyth County). And a fifth major route is State Route 8, which parallels Georgia Route 316, connects East to West between Auburn, Dacula, Lawrenceville (where it merges with US Route 29) and continues through Lilburn and eventually into Atlanta and Austell.