You didn’t ask me, but Raleigh is just the right size of city. It has enough going on downtown, residential neighborhoods are a stone’s throw away and the jobs are good. Plus the weather is usually ok, although maybe I’m just getting older and less tolerant or the weather is getting worse in the summer now.
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haha, I do the same thing with all the transplants in my office. “Why Raleigh??” I’ve been trying to so hard to leave, why are they all voluntarily moving here? SMDH
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I moved here because it’s cheaper than bigger cities, warmer than up North, has a bunch of cities for road trips nearby, and lots of biotech jobs. The city itself is fun and has a lot of breweries and good food, and it’s insanely manageable to get around.
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Summers have always been bad here but they have gotten worse.
As for why to stay… I’m stubborn. I love the mountains, and I have a soft spot for some of NC’s cities and want to stay and fight to make them better.
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The majority of people that I’ve met is the same 3 things: job opportunity, weather, and cost of living. There are only a handful of metros in the US with a job market like here, and the other 2 things push Raleigh over the top.
I grew up in PA, but moved here from CA, what was supposed to be temporarily. I met my wife here who is also a transplant. We never thought we’d stay for good, but that was about 6-7 years ago and we are still here.
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YES. It’s honestly hard to find that combination many places.
Other factors (which many other cities obviously have, but maybe not in combination together):
Competently managed city and county government (up for debate, I know)
Solid public school system (and in-state tuition to the NC university system is a bonus)
Nationally-known food scene (thanks AC!)
Relatively light traffic (though obviously getting worse)
Geographically placed two hours from the beach and three hours from the mountains
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My mom is original from North Carolina, Ashe County, and my dad is from Pittsburgh. My mom ended up in Pittsburgh and stayed and after a while they wanted to move and found jobs in Raleigh. They both worked for United Airlines and they got those jobs. Unlike Pittsburgh Raleigh has this small town feel while being a big city, that’s what I like most about Raleigh
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Ya know, steel is pretty dense
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I had people ask me that same Question…Coming from New York City. Been here for 16 Years now and there are times that I want to Move as far and as fast away from Raleigh, But for some reason, I’m still here Maybe its because of the friendly atmosphere, cool bars around DTR, and a Laid Back lifestyle that keeps me here. No regrets on my part, Raleigh and DTR is Home
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Raleigh just has a “nice feel” to it. Hard to describe. Easy going. Not great at anything, but pretty good at most things. Location. Weather (warmish, but with all 4 seasons). Jobs. Costs (although rising). Improving restaurant and nightlife scene. Easy to get around. Growing, but not out of hand. Low crime. Things to do. Festivals, etc.
No specific hook. Just a nice place to live.
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If I could pick anywhere to live, I’d look at Marseille, Brussels, Sydney, Vancouver, Seattle, Raleigh, Asheville, Atlanta, Austin, Denver, San Diego. Everyone of them has their impediments, and I picked Raleigh. If my significant other got hit by a bus and I needed a reset, I’d check out the other countries. If I get sick of Raleigh, I’d check out Austin or Denver. If I get more boring or stop needing a job, I’d move to Asheville.
I don’t think my musings will be featured in a travel brochure anytime soon…
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Very aligned with you on several of those. San Diego, Denver, Austin and to chill, maybe retirement, Asheville.
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One thing I’ve heard why people live here that no one has mentioned yet is our airport. In addition to all those nice things that, the airport seems to be a major factor. Why?
- Cheaper flights relative to the market
- Solid connections to the east coast
- That daily flight to London was/is popular with those that have family oversees
- With the terminal renovations in the last decade, it’s just nicer than bigger cities
- I hear mostly positive experiences with those that travel, less than an hour to get from door to gate off-hours
- And more connections coming especially to the west coast
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That was one of the big reasons I loved growing up in Raleigh, especially west Raleigh. When I lived with my folks, if I wanted the car I had to drop off/pick up at RDU and being able to leave home the same time they landed and pull right up and get them in a seamless maneuver was awesome. By comparison, when I lived in Oxford Miss, pick up at the Memphis airport was always tricky. Flights from DFW left after I had to leave for the airport - you never knew if the flight was on time till after you got to the airport, parked and went in. No bueno.
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From my sister-in-law who moved to Raleigh from Ft. Worth and is visiting us in Alabama this weekend: She loves the airport (she travels a lot); she likes living in the state capital and the side benefits of that; its feels like a small town, but it isn’t; and she didn’t grow up there, like she did in FW, so she doesn’t know everyone and isn’t in competition with all her old rivals. While she doesn’t like the housing prices (they are in the market now) the property taxes are way more reasonable than they were in Texas - their property taxes there doubled in the space of 4 years.
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What really helps is that there is no single, dominant airline at RDU. We have the benefits of a hub without being a hub.
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That clearly helps to keep the fares more reasonable compared to other airports.
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It’s still cheaper to fly to NYC to fly to Europe though. I was hoping Norwegian Air would have put at least one flight out of RDU but they’re hurting right now with the rise of fuel and the 737 Max issue.
My relatives are flying in from the Midwest next week and they said it’s considerably less expensive to fly here than to Charlotte (their intended destination). Something must be working.
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Exactly. Like what @CanesFan said, airports are like mini economies all to themselves. The more carriers an airport has, that’s competition and may decrease prices.
Using Charlotte as an example, they are a hub and US Airways can influence the prices with their larger presence.
So RDU has a nice balance of solid connections but no dominant player right now.
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