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These two cities are on opposite ends of the spectrum. It is amazing how different they are, especially for places that could both be described as "southern cities with about 1.2 million people in their metro populations".
New Orleans crushes Raleigh on culture, history, nightlife, dining, music, pro sports, and walkability.
Raleigh, on the other hand, wins easily on jobs, education, and safety.
It basically depends on what you are looking for. If you want a "city" feel and a ton of stuff to do, New Orleans is very attractive (especially if you don't yet have a family). If you want a safer place with a thriving economy and a well educated population, Raleigh is an easy choice. I wouldn't think very many people were torn between these two cities since they are so dissimilar.
Is it just me or does Raleigh just not feel like a "major" city. I know it has a decent population, but when you are actually there, the place makes Omaha feel like a bigger city.
At the same time New Orleans "feels" like a city of closer to 3-4 million while it's metro population is barely over a million.
Having said that, I would pretty much agree with the last post.
New Orleans does not have a future IMO, just a horrible city with a miserable existence.
Not sure why you would say that. The city is actually bouncing back quite nicely with some really cool walkable neighborhoods etc. Downtown is fine. French Quarter is vibrant as ever. One thing the city seems to lack is higher quality suburban areas to compliment the city. Gotta have famaily friendly areas too.
They need to build a decent transit system. Their heritage streetcars suck. I mean they are ok for tourists, but even for tourists, they are painfully slow and crowded, but locals using those to get around has to be a PITA. With no modern rail and a terrible bus system, I found the city really lacking in the transit department.
But overall, I think the city will come back. It's one of the few American cities that is not completely homogenized, so I hope NOLA sticks around.
NO's albatross has been, and likely always will be, deeply ingrained corruption, but the city appears to be really building back post-Katrina despite that fact.
Is it just me or does Raleigh just not feel like a "major" city. I know it has a decent population, but when you are actually there, the place makes Omaha feel like a bigger city.
At the same time New Orleans "feels" like a city of closer to 3-4 million while it's metro population is barely over a million.
Having said that, I would pretty much agree with the last post.
I agree with you on both points. I have visited Raleigh several times and it is quite nice if you are looking for a healthy, suburban lifestyle, but if you want vibrancy and dense built environment it just doesn't offer much in that regard. There is basically one street that feels like a big city.
New Orleans on the other hand feels as large many cities that are two or three times larger. As a kid I spent time in both Atlanta and New Orleans and for years I thought NOLA was a bigger city b/c it was just so much more dense (this was in the 1980's...I doubt people today would make the same mistake b/c of Atlanta's skyline and somewhat increasing density).
The Raleigh CSA is actually over 2 million now, so the area definitely has a bright future in comparison to New Orleans. Raleigh and Charlotte are growing by leaps and bounds. NO seems to be a good place for culture and tourists though IMO.
I don't think Raleigh's goal is to have a big city feel. The whole metro is fairly spaced out.
New Orleans is better for tourism, which is why I think it has a larger city feel.
-Jobs: Raleigh
-Education: Raleigh
-Future Outlook: Raleigh
-Nightlife: New Orleans
-Dining: New Orleans
-Housing: Raleigh
-Suburbs: Raleigh
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