The Real ID scheme coming out of Washington DC is what's causing a lot of these problems and needless hassle.
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/ne...c/83-581754609
A good suggestion, as others have mentioned is to think of locations well outside of the beaten path of Charlotte and Mecklenburg county (Lexington and Kannapolis have been mentioned, so places like that are examples). If it's a location that pops up a lot on City Data with questions like "I'm moving here from ______", you know it's probably a bad bet to not have to wait since so many new people from out of state will be flooding into those offices to get a new license. At the same time, since the Real ID issue began, that's not as surefire a bet as it once was, but maybe not it won't be quite as bad.