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I’m struggling to come up with a peer city. Charlotte exists as a banking low labor cost back office center. It has no national university. Education in North Carolina is the Triangle. It has no tourist attractions so it’s impossible to peer it with Nashville. It also has nothing like Nashville’s Williamson County.
Nashville pays 5% less than Charlotte. Cost of living is 6.5% higher in Charlotte. I do not see too much of a difference in the quality of life.
As far as attractions, outside of country music stuff and drunk Bachelorette parties, Nashville is not too high on the radar of tourists. I would like to visit Carowinds in Charlotte. I can't think of any place else that would bring me to Charlotte. I wouldn't pair Charlotte with Kansas City or any of the other legacy cities when it comes to attractions.
Last edited by mjtinmemphis; 05-20-2022 at 08:29 AM..
Charlotte exists as a banking low labor cost back office center.
You can keep repeating this but that won't make it true.
And this assertion can be easily challenged by asking: why doesn't Chase, Citi, Capital One, US Bancorp, etc. have major--or even minor--operations in Charlotte? And why is Detroit-based Ally the bank's second-largest employment hub? Nobody chooses Charlotte over Detroit for "low labor cost back office centers."
The truth is that Charlotte exists as a major banking headquarters city whose current and legacy bank headquarters gobbled up other banks all across the country in the wake of federal banking deregulation policy in the late 80s and early 90s. Its local banks were well-suited to the task because NC's banks had long been allowed to operate statewide and thus had extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions. Banking is Charlotte's homegrown bread-and-butter signature industry; it is not what Austin is to tech as you seem to think.
Personally, I tend to think of Orlando as a very close peer. Both are Sunbelt boomtowns that rode the wave to notoriety based on the strength of their signature industries.
I’m struggling to come up with a peer city. Charlotte exists as a banking low labor cost back office center. It has no national university. Education in North Carolina is the Triangle. It has no tourist attractions so it’s impossible to peer it with Nashville. It also has nothing like Nashville’s Williamson County.
I guess I would pair it with Kansas City.
I agree. I think Indianapolis is a good peer as well. Both have white collar industries and car racing histories.
Orlando is not more massive then any of these metros at all....
Central Florida feels massive. The caveat is I don’t know what the transition between San Antonio/Austin feels like. But I-4 is basically 120 miles of near continuous buildout. Tampa is kinda it’s own thing, but I guess the question is when will Polk County join Orlando’s MSA. But it’s a matter of when and not if.
Orlando is not more massive then any of these metros at all....
Orlando is by far the smallest feeling 2-3 million person metro. It's Dayton, Ohio with endless resorts and wealthy gated neighborhoods for miles and miles. it has potential though.
I'm surprised I overlooked Indy as a peer city. That's actually quite a good match. Both are surprisingly progressive. Both have non-main campuses of their state universities. racing is big, they're the largest cities in their respective state. Charlotte has light rail transit, Indy has bus rapid transit. Not a bad comparison at all.
Orlando is by far the smallest feeling 2-3 million person metro. It's Dayton, Ohio with endless resorts and wealthy gated neighborhoods for miles and miles. it has potential though.
I'm surprised I overlooked Indy as a peer city. That's actually quite a good match. Both are surprisingly progressive. Both have non-main campuses of their state universities. racing is big, they're the largest cities in their respective state. Charlotte has light rail transit, Indy has bus rapid transit. Not a bad comparison at all.
I couldn’t disagree more about your perception of Orlando. Have you been to ACTUAL Orlando? Away from the tourist bubble?
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