Is living in Raleigh better than living in California?

Is living in Raleigh better than living in California?

 Are you considering relocating to North Carolina and wondering if the Raleigh Triangle area would be a good fit for you and your family? My family and I were in the same situation six years ago when we started researching possible states that had some common similarities to California. One of the number one questions I get asked all the time is why we moved here to Raleigh, North Carolina, from California.

And if we miss it, and while I grew up in California and can say it will always have a piece of my heart, fast forward, I'm now a Carolinian at heart. Today, I'll be talking about the reasons why my family and I will never move back. And why we now love Carolinas even more. I'm also going to share my personal experience in California and some of the major differences that I saw living as a Californian.

Versus a North Carolinian. So let's go ahead and just jump right on in and we're gonna start with the number one top reason Which is the housing prices in North Carolina in comparison to California. Holy guacamole It's expensive Housing prices are 157 percent higher in California than North Carolina, according to NerdWallet.

com. And if you go to a cost calculator or online, you can actually compare your city to Raleigh and see how much you'd save. For example, when I went to best places. net, I typed in Long Beach, California versus Raleigh, North Carolina, since that's where we moved from. Now, both areas have similar populations.

However, when you look at housing, it's 43 percent less expensive for a house. here in the Raleigh area versus, say, Long Beach, California. Your money will definitely stretch further out here. We also have less commute times, on average, along with lower unemployment rates. Back in the day in California, if you were off the beaten path, the prices would be a lot less expensive.

Like, when I bought my first house in the high desert, it was only 50 a square feet. Do the math on that one right now. But fast forward and that's not what you're going to find anymore. Now these areas along with the major cities are still far more expensive than the Raleigh Durham metro areas. The Raleigh average price point is about 427, 000 in comparison for a similar home in California averaging 740, 000.

Now if I compare it to our previous house in Long That was only 1500 square feet. Right now it's worth nearly a million dollars. Over here in North Carolina, we were able to get two homes for three quarters of that price and both at a larger square footage. I had a client recently list their home in the Inland Empire in California and it was in the 500, 000 range.

And not only did they have over a hundred showings in one day and multiple offers and an excessive amount of over asking. And they were able to take those proceeds and buy a home here, paying cash. And they even have some money left over in the bank. So it seems to be a running theme, no matter where you live in California, that the home prices are sky high.

It seems like it's very difficult to find a home for less than a million dollars in many of these areas. And To even live in a very old, tiny two bedroom or condo or townhome can be in excess of 600, 000 to 700, 000 depending on location. And if you came here to the Raleigh Triangle area, that same condo or townhome, brand new would be around 300, 000 to 385, 000.

Brand new. Not built in the 50s to 70s. It's absolutely mind-blowing when you consider the difference in housing prices alone. The second reason flows from the housing prices to the actual cost of living. Now, don't get me wrong, across the board, the cost of living these days is pretty high. But, in California, the cost of income tax rates, to sales tax, and even property tax on your home, and then filling up at the gas pump.

I could go on and on and on. It's just so much more expensive. Last time I talked to my friend who lives in California and gas prices were about two and a half dollars more expensive per gallon than right here in Raleigh. So I can basically almost fill up my car two times next to California's one time gas fill up.

That's just nuts. Now, I will say two expenses that seem to be higher in Raleigh versus California For us personally were health insurance, and even our grocery bill didn't seem that much cheaper here. But again, it seems like your money doesn't stretch as far these days at the grocery store either And I definitely missed the double and triple coupon days from back in the day I was a huge coupon shopper and would score a lot of free items It was like playing tetris with food but again Overall, the actual cost of goods and services are more affordable And our taxes are lower making it a better living standard here in north carolina and speaking of affordability Colleges were important to us for our Children.

I was surprised to see that the acceptance rate for college is nearly 11 percent lower than the national average to get into colleges in California. And looking at California versus North Carolina, North Carolina actually ranks in the top 10 affordable tuition and fees. And digging in deeper, I found that Raleigh spends 29 percent less per student than San Diego students, and even the student to teacher ratio is over 33 percent lower in Raleigh versus San Diego.

That's a definite plus if you or your children are looking for some great college options. We have some of the best ranking colleges locally here. In the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill area, from NC State to Duke University to UNC Chapel Hill, Meredith, Shaw, William Peace, Wake Tech, and more. The third reason is the traffic.

In California, the traffic has become unbearable. It's like sitting in a parking lot after a Super Bowl game for hours. Back in the day, we could definitely zip around. and be in most places in less than 30 minutes. And carpool lanes used to actually move and get you somewhere quickly. Now, when we went back to visit just last year, it took us an hour, and I don't even think we went five miles.

I was like, what the heck's going on here? It definitely reminded me of when I used to visit New York, and I thought how crazy busy it was, and I could never drive in the city. Now, fast forward to California is the same way. No, thank you. I definitely do not like traffic, and although I will say in the last six years since we've lived here in the Raleigh area, there is definitely more traffic, but it still very much pales in comparison to California all around.

A fun fact: you can get to Raleigh in 20 to 30 minutes on average from most of the surrounding towns and suburbs. With the exception of just a few and even factoring in rush hour traffic, You'll add around 15 to 20 minutes to your commute time, Not an hour or a lot of hours like California. I'll take our Raleigh traffic and country road traffic any day of the week. The fourth thing that I noticed from California to the Carolinas is how much more friendly Carolinians are than Californians. Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say Californians are rude, but they can tend to be a bit more cautious, ignore you, or look at you like you're trying to sell them something, and not be as apt to stop and chat.

However, in the Carolinas, they can actually be overly friendly. If you wave, make eye contact, smile, ask a question, or make a comment, you're likely to find yourself in a friendly conversation with a stranger here. People just seem to be less guarded and have time to stop and chat, if you will. So, if you enjoy some friendly-natured people, you'll find that here in the Carolinas, And if you're moving here from California or Even New York or a metropolitan city, you'll definitely notice the difference right away.

And I do find that many people actually enjoy the change of pace. The fifth thing I noticed about California in comparison to North Carolina is the fact it's pretty huge state. Fun fact, North Carolina is 503 miles long and 150 miles wide. So nonstop, it takes about nine hours to get across. But without any stops or traffic, it only takes a little over two and a half hours to drive through the state on I 95, which is 181 miles long.

Now, when you compare that to California, which is almost twice as big at 900 miles long from the northern border with Oregon, to the southern border with Mexico. A north-to-south drive can take about 15 hours to drive, while a south-to-north drive can take about 10 to 12 hours. And, when it comes to the population, between the two states, there's a pretty vast difference.

California has roughly 40 million people, while North Carolina only has around 11 million. And if you break that down, we moved here from Los Angeles metro area and that has over 12 million people in comparison to the Raleigh Durham metro area that only has 1. 6 million. If you took both the Raleigh Durham metro area along with the Charlotte metro areas, That would just be slightly over the amount of people only living in Orange County, California.

It's pretty insane when you think about it. So, it's no wonder the traffic is insane in California now. And, although California is like having a staycation in your backyard with So many places to explore and so many things to do North Carolina is a short driving distance and especially fly time to many destinations Within the state and surrounding states.

It's also like having a staycation in your back backyard fun fact More than half of the U. S. population lives within a day's drive from Raleigh, and that's because of its central location on the east coast. Last but not least is the weather. One of the top reasons a lot of people love living in California is because it's always sunny.

There's a beautiful breeze and you can sleep with your windows open to cool things down. And California is low in humidity and it's pretty dry heat, which growing up there I absolutely love. Now in comparison, North Carolina can get pretty humid, but it's not as unbearable as many people think, especially in comparison to say Louisiana or even Florida.

And I know my skin definitely loves this humidity, which is a definite plus. Now, another thing to consider is the difference in rain. California is pretty dry and is As long as I can remember, we had issues with fires each year, and then when it did rain, areas would have mudslide, and then there would be water shortages forever.

Gone are the days when people would wash their cars in the driveway with their bikinis on or their shorts, and get a tan on while cleaning their car. And I'm not sure how California farmers are doing with the depleting water reservoirs. In Long Beach, we have less than 12 inches of rain each year, whereas in Raleigh, we average right around 47 inches each year.

I've really come to appreciate the rain here. It's not like Oregon, where it's all rain all the time, gloomy. As quick as it rains, it'll be gone, and the sun's right back out shining, while other days It can rain a while, but it actually reminds me a bit of what it's like to be in Hawaii. And the best part is the Carolinas you get to enjoy all four seasons with spring and fall feeling so much like California weather.

Along with mild winters and occasional snow dustings if we're lucky. And we're still a short drive to enjoy the mountains and snowboarding or skiing. From a higher quality of life with a lower cost of living and more homes for your dollar to less traffic and four-season weather. There really are so many reasons people love living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and we just covered a handful.

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Whether you want to give me a call, shoot me a text, or send me an email, we would love to chat. Till next time, we'll see y'all later.