BEST City To Live In North Carolina? | Watch This Before Moving!
BEST City To Live In North Carolina? | Watch This Before Moving!
Are you considering relocating to North Carolina and you're asking yourself if Charlotte or Raleigh is the better city to live in? My family and I had the same question nearly six years ago when we relocated here from Southern California. Raleigh is nicknamed the city of Oaks. Due to the majestic and beautiful oak trees that line the street, also known as the triangle due to Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill connect points that make a triangle.
Charlotte, also known as Queen City, in honor of Charlotte, Queen Consort of Britain's King George III, Wife during the city's founding of 1768 when America was still under British rule. Today I'll be deep diving into the differences between these two cities and going into some of the pros and cons to help you decide which city is best for you and your family.
If you want to know more of that information, stay tuned because we're at it.
Hey y'all, welcome to the channel or welcome back. I'm Brandy Nemergut, a local real estate agent right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Your connection to all things real estate and all things Raleigh. If you haven't already subscribed to the channel yet, please click the button below and tap that little bell and you'll be notified every time we drop a new video.
Not only do I love making these videos to help y'all. I also love to help you with your real estate needs So if you're relocating to the area and looking to purchase a home, please feel free to reach out to us We would love to help you. All you have to do is give me a call Shoot me a text or send me an email.
My information is right here on the screen Okay, so let's just jump right on in And we're going to start with location. Raleigh is going to be located right in the center of North Carolina. And Charlotte is going to be located in the center of the state towards the southwest side. So between Raleigh and Charlotte, it's about a two and a half hour drive.
And it's a pretty easy drive. It's filled with beautiful majestic trees our state is known for. Now, Raleigh is going to be closer to the beaches. And the closest beach is actually going to be Wrightsville Beach. Now this is actually the first beach that my family and I visited when we moved here. And while it is an easy drive to get to the beach, it's definitely not like California.
When we lived in California, we were a six minute drive from the beach. So taking two to two and a half hours It's a bit of a drive, but the good news is you can still make a day trip of it. And to get to the mountains from Raleigh, it's not too bad. It'll take you roughly three to four hours, depending which mountains you're visiting.
Now, Charlotte is going to be closer to the mountains. You can get to the mountains from Raleigh. from Charlotte in about less than two hours. One of the first places we went was Sliding Rock. They have some absolutely beautiful places to hike. And as far as beaches, Myrtle Beach, which is South Carolina, is going to be the closest beach to Charlotte, which is roughly about three and a half hours.
And in saying that, a lot of people that live in the Raleigh and surrounding areas also enjoy going to Myrtle Beach, which takes us about a three hour drive from the Raleigh area. Now as far as population, Raleigh has about 472, 000 residents and is the second largest city in North Carolina. It was voted far and wide 2023 number one most livable city in the U.
S. The best place to live in the US in 2022 by Inc. rate.com. According to WRAL, the Raleigh metro area is experiencing an 11% growth, and it's estimated that roughly 70 people move here each day, and Charlotte has about 886,000 residents. And is the 15th largest city in the U. S. And Charlotte is thriving as it's in the top 20 most moved to cities in the nation according to pods.
com. Now while Charlotte is twice the size of Raleigh, it's still a metropolitan to metropolitan area. So for the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill area, is going to have about 1. 6 million people. And then for Charlotte Gastonia Concord is going to have roughly 2. 3 million people. And a fun fact, I was born just right outside of Charlotte in the town of Gastonia.
Next up, we have ratings. Now, according to niche. com, it gives Raleigh an overall rating of an A plus and schools an A. When it comes to commute, A B plus, cost of living, a B minus, weather, a B, and crime, a C. Raleigh ranks high in best cities to live, buy a house, and raise a family in America. Moving on to Charlotte, Niche.
com gives Charlotte an overall rating of an A. and schools a B plus. When it comes to commute, it gets a B plus. Cost of living is a B minus, weather's a B, and crime is a C. Charlotte also ranks in the top places for most diverse, best cities to live, and raise a family in America. Moving on, we have City Vibe.
Raleigh seems just to have a big city. flow where all the surrounding cities kind of just start to merge together. So if you're in Raleigh, for example, you can bleed into Cary, Garner, Durham, and Chapel Hill. I feel like when you're new here, sometimes it's hard to tell which city you're in because all of a sudden you're in a different city.
But in comparison to Charlotte, it definitely has a much smaller city vibe and it's more spaced out. And you also have Durham. Chapel Hill and some of the other surrounding suburbs, downtowns with plenty of stuff to do versus more centralized to Charlotte's uptown area. And yes, I did say uptown versus downtown.
They like to be referenced as uptown instead. And here in Charlotte, it's going to feel like the buildings are just much closer together. Now, when it comes to culture, I'd say North Carolina across the board is known for its southern hospitality, which is one of the big draws to this area. I mean, who doesn't love Friendly people and towns.
Now you will have to get used to a few sayings when you move here that you just might not be familiar with. Things like saying y'all instead of you or you guys. Or you'll hear someone say bless or bless your heart or bless their heart. They're really not blessing you. They're basically saying they did something dumb or sometimes it could be a term of endearment that They feel sorry or bad for you A few other things that our daughter actually has picked up on and is trying to use now is right quick Let me go do that right quick.
I reckon so I ain't gonna do that and the infamous Sir and ma'am. I still won't forget the first time she came home from preschool My husband asked her to do something and she looked at him and said yes, sir And he was like, did she just call me sir? Welcome to the South y'all and then there are staples like sweet tea versus unsweet tea So if you're like me, I came from California and our tea was We had to sweeten ourself here.
If you order tea, you're going to get a glass of water basically filled with sugar. That's what it tastes like to me. And there's definitely a lot of comfort food here from hush puppies to fried okra, grits, shrimp and grits are huge here. Biscuits. Southern people definitely love their biscuits, biscuits and gravy, collard greens, and of course, barbecue.
Now, depending where you come from, um, Barbecue is not what we were used to in California or like in Texas. We were used to our red sauce and not vinegar based. So the first time I asked for barbecue sauce with the red stuff, not vinegar, they looked at me like I was crazy and said, I don't know what you're talking about.
But the good news is there are a handful of barbecue places you can find. And the owners are from other parts of the states as well. So they bring in different types of barbecue. So if you don't like vinegar based, don't fret. We have a lot of amazing barbecue places here. Let's move on to colleges.
Raleigh is known for some of its prestigious colleges. There are three major universities in the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill triangle area, including NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, and Duke University. According to the U. S. News, Duke University was ranked 10th in National Universities in 2022, and the two other colleges ranked in the top 100.
Raleigh also has Wake Tech Community, and that's actually where my son attended to get his IT degree when he Wake Tech has several campuses in many of the surrounding towns, and it's considered the largest community college in the state. Charlotte's largest university is going to be the University of North Carolina of Charlotte, and they have other local community colleges as well.
Next, we're going to talk about things to do. Raleigh is often referred to as the Smithsonian of the South. Due to its quality and quantity of free museums within the Triangle area. My daughter's favorite museum is Marvel's Kids Museum. It's an interactive place where they can play, they can build, there's a garden outside, and they even have an IMAX theater.
Some of the most visited museums here are the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, NC Museum of Art, and NC Museum of History. There's also Duke Performing Arts Center, also known as EPAC. And there you can catch a Broadway show, anything like La Miserable, to Wicked, to Jersey Boys, Frozen, even Peppa Pig for the kids.
And Charlotte also has some wonderful museums as well. You can visit Discovery Place Science, that's hands on, and they even have an IMAX feed. There's the Fetchler Museum of Modern Art, the Mint Museum, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture, and the Carolina Aviation Museum, which is on the grounds of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
And for all you NASCAR fans out there, The NASCAR Hall of Fame. Charlotte also has the Belk Performing Arts Center, where you can see Broadway shows like The Book of Mormon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Funny Girl, and more. Raleigh also has the State Fair in the fall. And a fun fact, in the 11 days that the fair is open here, over a million people from across the straight and beyond come and enjoy our fair.
And a not so fun fact, I've been here about six years and I have yet to visit the fair. Maybe this will be my year. I've definitely heard there's some amazing food to try, especially if you love fried food. Some people go there just for that in itself, which is probably the way to get me there. Raleigh also has the state farmer's market, which is open seven days a week and has Everything that your heart could desire.
There's also a lot of fantastic parks here like Pullen Park, which is the fifth oldest Operating amusement park in the US. You can pedal boat. You can swim you can ride the carousel play and more. Then there's the Umstead Park for hiking and you can even come across some trees that have fallen down that have been carved into pieces of art.
And then we have Dorothea Dix Park and my favorite time of year to go there is when the sunflowers are blooming. You can get some amazing family pictures or take some selfies with your friends and you can even oversee the Raleigh skyline. During the year there's lots of festivals and activities. They even have a dog park for all our fur babies.
And then there's Sarah P. Duke Gardens. in the neighboring city of Durham. This place is breathtaking and beautiful. It's over 55 acres of beautiful gardens, ponds. You'll see the ducks swimming. Not only can you walk around and take it all in, some people will even bring a blanket or pack a light lunch and have a picnic and just relax.
It's even free to enter. You just pay for self parking. Then there's also Falls Lake where you can hike, bike, camp, boat, swim, and part of the mountain to the sea trail is there. And in the spring, you can even see the migrating monarch butterflies. Raleigh even has over a hundred of acres of trails to bike or hike.
So if you love the outdoors, there is so much to get out and explore. There's even hiking clubs to make some new friends. If you have kids or you're a kid at heart and you love roller coasters, Charlotte has an amazing amusement park called Carowinds, which reminds me a lot of Knott's Berry Farm if you're from California.
Now a fun fact, Carowinds actually has a sign that you can stand and part of it's in North Carolina while the other part is in South Carolina. So you can actually stand there and say you've been in two states at the same time. And if you're an outdoor adventure seeker, Charlotte has the Whitewater Center where you can climb rocks, ropes, and even zip line.
Then there's the beautiful Lake Norman, the largest man made lake in North Carolina. It's over 20 miles. and has 520 miles of shoreline. And if you love fishing, check out Lake Wiley and Freedom Park. It's great for hiking and there's almost 100 acres. Centered around a seven acre lake within three miles from the heart of charlotte's downtown area Or is it uptown?
Which is a great walkable area to get to the restaurants the museums shopping and more now when it comes to shopping Both cities offer a great variety of places to grocery shop from whole foods to Wegmans, to Aldi's, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Lowe's. We have a Lowe's grocery store, not just Lowe's hardware.
And then we also have specialty stores like Trader Joe's, Sam Clubs, and Costco. For shopping, Raleigh has the Crab Tree Mall, and North Hills, which has an outdoor mall, and neighboring Durham has the South Point Mall. And Charlotte's gonna have South Park Mall, which has more high end and luxury brands type stores than Raleigh has.
Moving on to restaurants. The food scene has definitely improved here in the six years since we moved. Raleigh has so many new and diverse cuisines along with farm to table concepts. Our city has even attracted some celebrity chefs in both Raleigh and Charlotte. And what's nice is you can really find a large variety of different diverse foods and even a lot of fusion type restaurants where they take a mix of different foods and cultures.
And in both Raleigh and Charlotte, you can find multiple food halls, which for us was a new concept. In California, I don't remember having food halls. But here you have a lot to choose from. In Raleigh, you have Morgan Street Food Hall, the Transfer Food Hall, and then in Durham, the Durham Food Hall. And in Charlotte, you're going to have the Market 7th Street and Optimist Hall.
All in all, I still think California has better food than either city, but if I had to pick just one winner, I think I would go with Charlotte. Moving on to job market. Charlotte and Raleigh both have a thriving job market. Raleigh is known for the Research Triangle Park, also known as the RTP, and is compared to Silicon Valley of the West.
According to WRAL, Raleigh is fifth best job market in the U. S. With a lot more potential of growth, Raleigh is known for its tech and biotech companies and healthcare and education workers and has top attracting companies like Cisco, IBM, Lenovo, and even Apple to name a few. And Raleigh's unemployment rate is less than 3%.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Charlotte ranked eighth on the Metro list and strongest labor markets in the U. S. Charlotte is known for its banking and is having the nation's second largest banking center in the U. S. with well known banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America. And Charlotte has an unemployment rate of just over three percent.
Moving on to sports. Raleigh has the National Hockey League team, the Caroline Hurricanes, and they play at the PNC Arena. There you can also see a concert. Since we've lived here, we've seen Adele, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood. And even taking my daughter to see Disney on ice. I know that's quite the selection, right?
Now while Raleigh doesn't have any major league sports teams here, they are super big on college sports. Anywhere from football, to basketball, to baseball. When it comes to college games, the stadiums are constantly packed. And there's also the Durham Bulls for minor league baseball, or the Carolina Mudcats.
Charlotte's gonna have two sports teams. The NFL Carolina Panthers football team, and NBA Charlotte Hornets. And they even have a minor league hockey team, the Charlotte Chuckers. And then on a college level, there's the University of North Carolina, Charlotte's 49ers, Davidson Wildcats. And for baseball, you can catch an international league game with the Charlotte Knights.
Now, if you're a big professional game person versus coach, College person, you're gonna prefer Charlotte over Raleigh. The good news, if that's not the only deciding factor, the two cities are just two and a half hour drive from each other. Personally, we like to do mini trips and we'll just make a little vacation out of it, go up and see a game, spend a day or two, sometimes the weekend, explore some restaurants and try some new food, and then head on back.
Next, let's talk about the housing market. North Carolina continues to be a top state to relocate. And the Raleigh and Charlotte area continue to see a crazy housing market, as inventory is at an all time low. And as charlottemagazine.com stated, lower demand, though, does not mean low demand. Zillow identified Charlotte's area as the hottest market in the country in 2023.
In fact, it goes on to say between 2020 and 2022, Charlotte's housing prices increased 54 percent in Charlotte. The median price point is approximately 425, 000 with an average of 33 days on the market. And this is mid 2023 and in Mecklenburg County, which consists of seven cities. The median price is approximately 498, 355, up over 18, 000 from May.
Now the Raleigh market is just as crazy. With the median home price as of June 2023 at 425, 000, with an average 36 days on the market, and in Wake County, which consists of 12 families. municipalities had a median price of 475, 000, which is up 16, 000 from May. Let's move on to transportation now coming from California.
I love the traffic here. But I will say as we have fast forwarded in the six years that we've been here between all the new construction influx of people relocating here and the expansion of the I 540 to complete the outer loop. Locals are starting to encounter more traffic as we also have a lot of country roads that just have one lane highways on either side.
But in saying that, it's still nothing compared to a lot of the metro areas. like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami. I will still take this traffic any day of the week. Charlotte has a light rail system, so it makes it really easy to get around the city. But Raleigh doesn't have a rail system yet, so you'll definitely need to have a car here or be prepared to Uber, Lyft, or even taxi.
There are future plans, though, for us to have a railway as well. Both Raleigh and Charlotte do have the Amtrak system. train and railway is connected. So if you want to head into Charlotte or Raleigh back and forth, you can do that by train instead of driving for air travel. Raleigh has RDU, the Raleigh Durham airport, which is the second largest airport in North Carolina behind Charlotte's Douglas international airport, which is considered one of the world's busiest airports and ranked seventh internationally for arrivals and departures.
with over half a million in 2022. So which city is the winner for you? Raleigh or Charlotte? I really don't think you can go wrong with either one. It's more of a preference of lifestyle. If you're looking for a smaller city, suburban type feel, you're probably going to lean more towards Raleigh. And if you like that bigger city feel, Then you're probably gonna lean towards Charlotte.
Ultimately, my family and I ended up choosing Raleigh. We loved the idea of that smaller suburban type feel versus the big city vibes, but we also love the fact that both cities were only two and a half hours apart from each other, so it's not too hard to go up and enjoy a great game and some good food.
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Our information's right there. However you want to get a hold of us, we got your back when relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina. Till next time, we'll see y'all later.
Brandy Nemergut, Realtor ~ eXp Realty Raleigh, NC
919-583-6895
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