Similarities and differences between the Atlanta metro, Charlotte, and Raleigh/Durham (transplants, taxes)

[JayJayCB]

Any thoughts?

[bigstick]

Weather is very similar. Atlanta is much hillier than both, and is 5 times bigger than both.

[bluecarebear]

Atlanta is opportunity. The city has it all. Atlanta is also close to so many other top southern cities that you would WANT to visit. The mountains and beaches are close by. Northern GA is on my short list of relocation sites.

Charlotte always tries to be Atlanta. It fails in every aspect.

Raleigh is ok. Better than Charlotte, maybe.

I'm not big on NC in general because of the high COL, liberal government, and taxes. I would rather live in SC or VA. NC is also very cookie cutter and with all the transplants it has really become rather blah. Honestly, the only halfway decent parts of NC are the mountains and beach and with development those have become very iffy.

[JayJayCB]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Atlanta is opportunity. The city has it all. Atlanta is also close to so many other top southern cities that you would WANT to visit. The mountains and beaches are close by. Northern GA is on my short list of relocation sites.

Charlotte always tries to be Atlanta. It fails in every aspect.

Raleigh is ok. Better than Charlotte, maybe.

I'm not big on NC in general because of the high COL, liberal government, and taxes. I would rather live in SC or VA. NC is also very cookie cutter and with all the transplants it has really become rather blah. Honestly, the only halfway decent parts of NC are the mountains and beach and with development those have become very iffy.

Virginia is more liberal than North Carolina. They're usually pretty close, but these days, Virginia takes the cake. But you're right about South Carolina, definitely more conservative than North Carolina and Virginia.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by bigstick

Weather is very similar. Atlanta is much hillier than both, and is 5 times bigger than both.

Metro Atlanta is about 2½ times bigger than metro Charlotte and the Triangle. Chicagoland would be an example of a place that's 5 times bigger.

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Atlanta is opportunity. The city has it all. Atlanta is also close to so many other top southern cities that you would WANT to visit. The mountains and beaches are close by. Northern GA is on my short list of relocation sites.

Not sure what you mean by "other top Southern cities," but Atlanta isn't too far away from the Smokies/Blue Ridge Mountains, Chattanooga, Savannah, and the Florida Gulf Coast. Charlotte is the same, being close to Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains, the SC coast (Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head), the NC coast (Wilmington), and Savannah (which is about the same distance from Charlotte as it is from Atlanta).

Charlotte always tries to be Atlanta. It fails in every aspect.

Charlotte has successfully followed in Atlanta's footsteps with respect to corporate relocations and sprawl (unfortunately), similar to just about every other smaller "New South" metro; otherwise, there are some notable differences between the two cities but something tells me you probably don't know or don't care about that.

I'm not big on NC in general because of the high COL, liberal government, and taxes. I would rather live in SC or VA. NC is also very cookie cutter and with all the transplants it has really become rather blah. Honestly, the only halfway decent parts of NC are the mountains and beach and with development those have become very iffy.

Huh? High COL? NC is a relatively inexpensive state, and you must have been living under a rock for the past six years if you're characterizing state government as liberal. As far as transplants go, they aren't close to being equally distributed throughout the state; they are mainly found in the largest metro areas (Charlotte and the Triangle), which is also true for Georgia (Atlanta) and Virginia (NOVA, Hampton Roads).