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My wife an I are considering a relocation from Long Island to NC. I actually graduated from NC State and know the Raleigh area somewhat. If we were to move to the Raleigh area, we would most likely go to Cary. HOWEVER, I am from Long Island. And there is one thing that people from Long Island seem to desire...water! So, I have heard a lot about Wilmington and would like to know what others think. Can someone please add comments about the differences between Cary and Wilmington. Please be specific in regards to schools, taxes, house prices, Quality of Life, airports, etc. I'm looking for both Pro's and Con's. My family is very young and energetic. My wife is a PA and I am in Pharmaceuticals. We have two boys under 3 years old. Thank you in advance.
your wife might have some luck here with a job. PPD is one of wilmington's largest employers. jobs here tend to pay less than they do in the triange, and the cost of living on average is higher. property taxes in general are low in NC, but in wilmington, you have the additional of wind/hail/flood insurance. the airport here is small, but nice. they recently redid it, however, I heard they have recently canceled some flights presumably due to the high cost of fuel. for me, it's a bit difficult to compare cary and wilmington. cary always kind of seemed like a nice suburb. wilmington really doesn't have suburbs, I guess except for leland, and maybe hampstead. I would say that cary is a much safer city looking at crime statistics. here are a couple major differences between the two areas. wilmington is SMALL compared that the cary area. you drive 10-15 minutes outside wilmington, and you are in the middle of nowhere. also, one thing I like about raleigh and bothers me about here, are hills. it's really flat here, and there are no fall colors. might sound stupid to some, but for some reason, that's one thing I really miss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamela
My wife an I are considering a relocation from Long Island to NC. I actually graduated from NC State and know the Raleigh area somewhat. If we were to move to the Raleigh area, we would most likely go to Cary. HOWEVER, I am from Long Island. And there is one thing that people from Long Island seem to desire...water! So, I have heard a lot about Wilmington and would like to know what others think. Can someone please add comments about the differences between Cary and Wilmington. Please be specific in regards to schools, taxes, house prices, Quality of Life, airports, etc. I'm looking for both Pro's and Con's. My family is very young and energetic. My wife is a PA and I am in Pharmaceuticals. We have two boys under 3 years old. Thank you in advance.
your wife might have some luck here with a job. PPD is one of wilmington's largest employers. jobs here tend to pay less than they do in the triange, and the cost of living on average is higher. property taxes in general are low in NC, but in wilmington, you have the additional of wind/hail/flood insurance. the airport here is small, but nice. they recently redid it, however, I heard they have recently canceled some flights presumably due to the high cost of fuel. for me, it's a bit difficult to compare cary and wilmington. cary always kind of seemed like a nice suburb. wilmington really doesn't have suburbs, I guess except for leland, and maybe hampstead. I would say that cary is a much safer city looking at crime statistics. here are a couple major differences between the two areas. wilmington is SMALL compared that the cary area. you drive 10-15 minutes outside wilmington, and you are in the middle of nowhere. also, one thing I like about raleigh and bothers me about here, are hills. it's really flat here, and there are no fall colors. might sound stupid to some, but for some reason, that's one thing I really miss.
Hey, I miss the hills and fall colors, too. I'm from New England originally. But I don't miss what comes after the fall colors: frozen ground, bare trees, snow, ice, slush, etc.
Actually, there was a bit of fall color around my neck of the woods last year. I think the drought might have had something to do with that, but we did enjoy a few long walks underneath colorful trees.
they do have nice old live oaks here, but the majority of it is pine. I was born in detroit, but grew up in VA. nice fall colors there with mild winters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellise
Hey, I miss the hills and fall colors, too. I'm from New England originally. But I don't miss what comes after the fall colors: frozen ground, bare trees, snow, ice, slush, etc.
Actually, there was a bit of fall color around my neck of the woods last year. I think the drought might have had something to do with that, but we did enjoy a few long walks underneath colorful trees.
My wife an I are considering a relocation from Long Island to NC. I actually graduated from NC State and know the Raleigh area somewhat. If we were to move to the Raleigh area, we would most likely go to Cary. HOWEVER, I am from Long Island. And there is one thing that people from Long Island seem to desire...water! So, I have heard a lot about Wilmington and would like to know what others think. Can someone please add comments about the differences between Cary and Wilmington. Please be specific in regards to schools, taxes, house prices, Quality of Life, airports, etc. I'm looking for both Pro's and Con's. My family is very young and energetic. My wife is a PA and I am in Pharmaceuticals. We have two boys under 3 years old. Thank you in advance.
The cost of living here in Wilmington is way too high and the wages too low for what they have to offer. I ditto everything jmarquise replied to you. PLEASE check it out thoroughly before you make a commitment.
The cost of living here in Wilmington is way too high and the wages too low for what they have to offer. I ditto everything jmarquise replied to you. PLEASE check it out thoroughly before you make a commitment.
Florida, did you by any chance move from Fla. to the NC coast? Do you plan on moving back to where you once lived? I'm curious because so many Floridians left and many of them moved to NC/TN. I realize Tn. has no state income tax, but NC does and I've often wondered how the transplants turned out monetarily after their move out of Fla. It'd just be interesting to know.
Florida, did you by any chance move from Fla. to the NC coast? Do you plan on moving back to where you once lived? I'm curious because so many Floridians left and many of them moved to NC/TN. I realize Tn. has no state income tax, but NC does and I've often wondered how the transplants turned out monetarily after their move out of Fla. It'd just be interesting to know.
Yes,we did move here from Florida almost five years ago. No,we do not plan on moving back to where we once lived. North Carolina does tax you to death and give you no breaks as far as homestead exemption,etc.
I don't know about Cary but here are my pointers. I posted this for someone else but copied and pasted it so I wouldnt have to write it all over again- just in case you see this post again...
I want to be honest with you- I moved to Wilmington, NC in search for a better life and it's not working out for me. I want to list off a couple things as a cautionary tale-
#1-There are no jobs in this town. (***You may have luck here because your wife is a PA.*****) If you don't have a job lined up already, I wouldn't move here at all. I went on about 25 interviews here and never got any job offers. I can give you a couple of reasons for that:
A. There are a lot of college kids here (University of NC) that take up a lot
of the jobs for less.
Thus-
B. There is a high turn over rate.
C. Every one under the sun is moving here. I am from Maryland. I am
waitressing right now and everyone I work with is from somewhere else,
whether its from west NC from Raleigh or somewhere else. I know we
have a couple people from jersey. and two new girls moved from
Massachusetts and Ohio.
D. There are a lot of Rich People who moved here and took this place over.
They own Wrightsville beach and inflated the economy. They are also
the *******s that have companies which turn people over. And they are
taking up the beach and all the coastal properties.
#2- Every one has the same idea. For some reason, every body is moving here. I guess some people found out there was a cool town here with jobs- but not any more. There is way too many people living here to sustain a stable economy. It's getting inflated (just like Maryland was) and the town is way tooooo small to support as many people that are living here.
#3- Since there are a lot of people here, the traffic is crazy. I am from the DC-metro area so I am used to traffic. The traffic is really bad for a small town but what the worst part is, I could mind the traffic because I am used to it; but this is a small town, and the amenities are such. The closet bank requires me to go down 8 miles and takes me 20 mins. to get to because the traffic is so bad. I live in Kings Grant and there is nothing at all around my neighborhood. It's a nice neighborhood, nice house, quiet, etc. but there is nothing around. No places to eat. I have to go S College Rd for the bank, food, etc etc and the traffic sucks and takes forever just to go around to the corner store.
#4- The town itself is just a bunch of strip malls. It's a small town so there's not a lot of diversity at all. For example, there aren't really that many places to eat. A lot of chain restraunts. There are a couple of good places I found- Naked King Fish (fresh seafood), Mellow Mushroom (Good Pizza, Good beer selection). But No Chipotle, No Panera Bread, No Good Mexican food that I have found yet. There aren't any cool clothes shops I have found besides Fairy Circle. I guess I wish there was a lot more variety. This is NOT a diverse place.
#5- Downtown is pretty cool. As far as I can tell, it's a lot of college kids down there but it's a pretty chill atmosphere and chill bars. I like the vibe from downtown. Definately better than the downtown Bethesda or DC places to go. The bars and even the people seem really chill.
I'm not sure where you are moving from, but I wanted to give you the best possible advice. It took me four months to get a job and the only job I could get was becoming a waitress. Most of the people I work with have Bachelors degrees, two girls I know have Masters degrees and everyone complains about not being able to find a "real job." Right now, all the college kids are moving back into town so it's about to get a lot worse with the job situation.
I would suggest that if you do have a job and a good rental- to hold onto it while you are in town and see if it is right for you. Your girlfriend may not find a job though. I would just rent and have money saved up so if you don't like it, you can roll out to some place else.
I think the best super market is probably Fresh Market but it's expensive. I also like Tidal Creek but only for certain things because that's really expensive too. (Tidal Creek is on Oleander.) (I hate that there are NO TRADER JOE's IN THIS PLACE!)
I think that's it for now. There are my pointers. I hope you get what you need!
Good Luck! =)
I think I can answer this b/c I am from Cary and have lived in Wilmington off and on for 13 years now. Population wise, they are roughly the same size...around 100,000 people. Cary has one of the lowest crimes rates in the country (much lower than the National average)...Wilmington has a very high rate (much higher than the National average). I would say that the general population in Cary seems to be pretty well educated. I will just say that I don't feel Wilmington has the same There are many, many young families in Cary and I must say it was a great place to grow up and I still feel it's a great place to raise a family. Cary is so close to Raleigh that you still feel connected to a larger city. There is no larger cities on the NC coast...just Wilmington. Jobs in Wilmington...not so great where the Cary area seems to have many opps. In fact, everytime I've moved back to the Cary/Raleigh area and left Wilmington, it was for a better paying job. Right now, my husband and I live in Wilmington but neither of us work here...our jobs are based in other cities and we travel / work from home. We really do love Wilmington. Being at the coast is great. There are also a lot of young families here as well. Wilmington defintely feels more "laid back" than Cary does. They both have their pros and cons...just seems like Cary might have more going for it. The good thing is that it's only 2 hours between the two.
Jobs are hard to come by in Wilmington unless you are willing to work for minimum wage. Cost of living is too high for the wages you get. I have read other posters say the population grew too fast with no job growth and I believe that is the case. It is a nice area, nice climate with the beach nearby. But if you can't support yourself you cannot relax enough to stop and smell the roses and fully enjoy whats around you.
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There are many, many young families in Cary and I must say it was a great place to grow up and I still feel it's a great place to raise a family. Cary is so close to Raleigh that you still feel connected to a larger city. There is no larger cities on the NC coast...just Wilmington. Jobs in Wilmington...not so great where the Cary area seems to have many opps. In fact, everytime I've moved back to the Cary/Raleigh area and left Wilmington, it was for a better paying job. Right now, my husband and I live in Wilmington but neither of us work here...our jobs are based in other cities and we travel / work from home. We really do love Wilmington. Being at the coast is great. There are also a lot of young families here as well. Wilmington defintely feels more "laid back" than Cary does. They both have their pros and cons...just seems like Cary might have more going for it. The good thing is that it's only 2 hours between the two.
