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Tennessee-population of 6,214,888, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers 42,169 square miles (109,220 km2), making it the 36th-largest by total land area
median household income was $38,550
North Carolina: population at 9,380,884.
Land area Ranked 28th in the US
- Total 53,819 sq mi
median income-$44,670
Tennessee has an abundance of large and even well known cities like:
Nashville-1,582,264
Memphis-1,280,533
Chattanooga-518,441
Knoxville-1,029,155
Many of those cities were(and are) piers of North Carolina's cities like:
Charlotte-1,745,524/2,389,763CSA
Raleigh/Durham-1,125,827/1,742,816CSA
Asheville-408,436
Greensboro-1,581,122CSA(Triad)
GDP number for both states 2008/2009:
North Carolina $398.0 Billion($404.5 Billion)
Tennessee $244.5 Billion($248.3 Billion)
Why has N.C. grown so much even though so many of cities in each state historically have similar populations?Both are beautiful states.If I were to give an opinion,I'd have to say that Tennessee in the sense of history and culture looms a lager cultural presence in America traditionally.Nashville arguably is more popular than Charlotte.Memphis is known for the "Blues" and BBQ and world famous Beale St.Chattanooga(although somewhat smaller)has a wide reputation as a travel destination.
Charlotte has the banks and of course in the Raleigh Durham area are some the prestigious schools in the U.S.along with the Research Triangle.Also lets not forget about the furniture in High Point.
I just had the thought that Tennessee should be further developed or more cosmopolitan.
Well, it's because North Carolina cities and suburbs is experiencing alot of growth and expansion than Tennessee cities and suburbs.
Tennessee is very much like Kentucky & West Virginia, it's mostly a rural state and North Carolina has more urban cities.
Why do so many people on this forum think explosive population growth is a good thing? There does come a point where there's just too many damn people.
Why has N.C. grown so much even though so many of cities in each state historically have similar populations?
relocating yankees have a phobia of being landlocked.
i'm only half-joking when I say that. i've been reading these relocation boards for a long time, and being "within an hour of the beach" is extremely important to people who move down from the northeast, which is where our population growth is coming from mainly.
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If I were to give an opinion,I'd have to say that Tennessee in the sense of history and culture looms a lager cultural presence in America traditionally.Nashville arguably is more popular than Charlotte.Memphis is known for the "Blues" and BBQ and world famous Beale St.Chattanooga(although somewhat smaller)has a wide reputation as a travel destination.
I figure you're probably from Tennessee.
I'm from neither state, but I'd give the edge to North Carolina when it comes to history and culture. North Carolina's first european settlement was in 1585, while Tennessee's first european settlement was in 1756, and was originally a fort built by South Carolinians. I'll grant you that Nashville is the center of country music, but country music itself has strong roots in North Carolina too. Tennessee whiskey is famous, but corn liquor made in the Carolinas predates the settlement. Both states have big financial industries, but I believe North Carolina's is bigger. North Carolina is the birthplace of NASCAR, one of the major tobacco states, and the epicenter of college basketball.
Tennessee's Country music and BBQ aren't products that are limited to Tennesssee, and neither is something that really boosts your GDP.
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I just had the thought that Tennessee should be further developed or more cosmopolitan.
Tennessee does not have the beaches, the fishing, or the ports that North Carolina does. Tennessee does not have the university system that North Carolina does. These are MAJOR draws for educated, wealthy transplants.
I'll grant you that Nashville is the center of country music, but country music itself has strong roots in North Carolina too. Tennessee whiskey is famous, but corn liquor made in the Carolinas predates the settlement. Both states have big financial industries, but I believe North Carolina's is bigger. North Carolina is the birthplace of NASCAR, one of the major tobacco states, and the epicenter of college basketball.
Tennessee's Country music and BBQ aren't products that are limited to Tennesssee, and neither is something that really boosts your GDP.
You can't forget Memphis and its strong ties to the blues and rock 'n roll. I'm a former resident of Charlotte and a fan of the strides NC as a state is making, but culturally I do think Tennessee has an edge.
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Tennessee does not have the beaches, the fishing, or the ports that North Carolina does. Tennessee does not have the university system that North Carolina does. These are MAJOR draws for educated, wealthy transplants.
To give TN some credit here, it has the mountains (which NC also has) and it borders the mighty Mississippi. NC does have the edge when it comes to higher ed, but I don't think TN is too far behind.
You can't forget Memphis and its strong ties to the blues and rock 'n roll. I'm a former resident of Charlotte and a fan of the strides NC as a state is making, but culturally I do think Tennessee has an edge.
To give TN some credit here, it has the mountains (which NC also has) and it borders the mighty Mississippi. NC does have the edge when it comes to higher ed, but I don't think TN is too far behind.
i just don't see it. to me, tennessee has done a great job of marketing southern music that originated from surrounding states. Memphis was just a place where someone from Mississippi, Alabama, or Arkansas could go to have music recorded.
as far as higher ed goes, i don't see where tennessee can compete. vandy is a good school... other than that, nothing in Tennessee is at the level of Duke, Wake Forest, UNC, and NC State. UT-Knoxville is on the level with a USC-type school, moreso than a UNC-CH-type school.
i just don't see it. to me, tennessee has done a great job of marketing southern music that originated from surrounding states. Memphis was just a place where someone from Mississippi, Alabama, or Arkansas could go to have music recorded.
It was more than just having the music recorded there. The music that originated in those rural areas took root in Nashville and Memphis and the culture associated with them flourished there. They might not be the birthplaces, but they are the epicenters and that counts for much. It's no different than you citing NC as being the epicenter of college basketball. College basketball didn't originate there, but it's popular there and plays an important part in the culture and identity of the state. Same with country/blues/Rock n' Roll in Tennessee.
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as far as higher ed goes, i don't see where tennessee can compete. vandy is a good school... other than that, nothing in Tennessee is at the level of Duke, Wake Forest, UNC, and NC State. UT-Knoxville is on the level with a USC-type school, moreso than a UNC-CH-type school.
I did note that NC definitely has the edge, but I said I don't think TN is far behind. Looking at the most recentrankings, that appears to be somewhat the case:
National universities
9) Duke
17) Vanderbilt
25) Wake Forest
30) UNC
104) UT
111) NCSU
Liberal arts colleges
9) Davidson
32) Sewanee
47) Rhodes
I think there are some happy accidents that come into play as well. I don't think - in the 1950s when I-85 was being planned - that anyone could have foreseen that it would become essentially the Main Street of the Southeast.
Various leaders in Atlanta, Charlotte and the RDU areas - during the 50s right up to the present day - have been rather progressively opportunistic in advancing their cities. Research Triangle Park was something of a pipe dream in the late 50s - the main reason it got off the ground was an easy land deal on land that was too rocky to be great farmland - but the state sold the idea to the general public (and it took 20 years or more for it to really take off). Charlotte had several business leaders - the Belk dynasty plus several bankers - who were quiet integrationists (their philosophy of it had more to do with positive images and potential capitalist gains than genuine humanitarianism) and had some Carnegie-esque philanthropic impulses, and they VERY aggressively grew those businesses by buying up competitors. It happened to play out very well, even though the benefits of these things didn't necessarily become apparent for quite some time.
Interconnections between the largest cities in NC certainly helped as well - Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Durham are all within a 2 /12 hour drive or less. Looking at the urban geography of Tennessee, if NC's largest cities ended up being Elizabeth City (in the far NE corner of the state), Murphy (in the far SW corner), Wilmington (in the SE corner), and maybe Greensboro & New Bern - in other words - having you key cities very widely separated from each other by large expanses of very undeveloped rural land - things might not have turned out so well.
I think if Memphis in particular were more progressive, TN might be more like NC in terms of population and economic growth.
Memphis really is a blight on Tennessee. Not that it doesn't have its nice parts or its charm, its just really rough and has a very negative reputation. I've been to Memphis a few times and one time I was eating at Memphis Pizza Cafe and heard 3 separate gunshots outside during the course of my meal. Definitely didn't feel safe. This was supposedly in one of the trendier areas of Memphis. Memphis is the closest thing to a rust belt city the South has. The entire area feels gritty and economically depressed. Most cities have areas that are less than desirable but in Memphis its most of the city proper. Memphis is just a part of a much larger problem...the Mississippi Delta. That entire region is plagued with poverty, low education, and high crime.
Nashville is more like NC cities in that its economy is healthy and people are moving there in droves. Both cities though seemed have retained more of their southern culture than the big metros in NC.
Tennessee-population of 6,214,888, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers 42,169 square miles (109,220 km2), making it the 36th-largest by total land area
median household income was $38,550
North Carolina: population at 9,380,884.
Land area Ranked 28th in the US
- Total 53,819 sq mi
median income-$44,670
Tennessee has an abundance of large and even well known cities like:
Nashville-1,582,264
Memphis-1,280,533
Chattanooga-518,441
Knoxville-1,029,155
Many of those cities were(and are) piers of North Carolina's cities like:
Charlotte-1,745,524/2,389,763CSA
Raleigh/Durham-1,125,827/1,742,816CSA
Asheville-408,436
Greensboro-1,581,122CSA(Triad)
GDP number for both states 2008/2009:
North Carolina $398.0 Billion($404.5 Billion)
Tennessee $244.5 Billion($248.3 Billion)
Why has N.C. grown so much even though so many of cities in each state historically have similar populations?Both are beautiful states.If I were to give an opinion,I'd have to say that Tennessee in the sense of history and culture looms a lager cultural presence in America traditionally.Nashville arguably is more popular than Charlotte.Memphis is known for the "Blues" and BBQ and world famous Beale St.Chattanooga(although somewhat smaller)has a wide reputation as a travel destination.
Charlotte has the banks and of course in the Raleigh Durham area are some the prestigious schools in the U.S.along with the Research Triangle.Also lets not forget about the furniture in High Point.
I just had the thought that Tennessee should be further developed or more cosmopolitan.
Because NC was run by mostly progressive politicians until the tea-baggers swept across the country last year.
Three major factors are the reason why NC has grown so fast over the last 30 or so years.
1. Tobacco. Being historically one of the main industries of the state, Tobacco provided lots of growth to the Triad (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point)
2. NC has a very well developed university system. Raleigh has benefited the most from this due to the Research Triangle Park and three major universities in the area. With the RTP becoming a center for high tech firms and a center for research and development, Duke and UNC bringing in many educated people in the medical field, and NC State bringing in engineering/software talent, it is not surprising to see the explosive growth.
3. Banking. Charlotte has benefited from being one of the largest banking centers outside of NYC. This alone has made the city explode over the past 20 years.
Access to ports (Wilmington and Charleston) and a good interstate system certainly didn't hurt either.
I find it interesting at how recent the growth of the state has been. Looking back 20 years ago, the state was completely different. It amazes me how fast our cities have developed. What worries me is how it will look in another 20 to 25 years. Everywhere I look now are more unsustainable developments that will be worth nothing in the future. Tons of cheaply built, ugly homes that are already starting to fall apart are everywhere. In my opinion few states have suffered as much sprawl as NC. (The only other ones I can think of with such wide spread sprawl are Florida and Virgina-especially NOVA, and look how they are faring with the housing collapse...)
Last edited by youngblt; 01-03-2011 at 10:44 PM..
Reason: Spelling and additional info.
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