Winston Salem vs Greensboro (Charlotte, Raleigh: chapel, coop, house)

[dabluewinner]

Can someone Compare Winston Salem to Greensboro to me please. Which one is bigger, and what one do you like better. Which one has better shopping, more people. Which one is more city city ? How do they compare to Charlotte, are thy like smaller Charlotts, or different cities altogether.


Thanks for your time

[SunnyKayak]

Winston-Salem, North Carolina (NC) (pop. 185,776)
Greensboro, North Carolina (NC) (pop. 223,891)

The beauty about living in the triad you can enjoy both cities in no time.
You can drive the 20 minute drive from one city to the other with no real problem.
Out of all the metros I find the triad area to be ahead of schedule with road construction.
If you was to drive 20 minutes away from Charlotte you probably will still be in the city or just reaching one of its suburbs due the land size, traffic lights, and traffic.

Btw I live in Charlotte metro and no way putting it down just I lived in triad before and can make the comparison.

I like both areas and it would be hard pick for me to choose between the two but I probably lean on Greensboro due to I find more activities to do in that city and where Winston Salem downtown shuts down at 5 pm Greensboro downtown comes to life plus their is some great antique, art deco and interesting shops located downtown and entertainment.
I like Winston for shopping, Hanes mall is always fun place to go and it more hilly terrain due to it is at the cusp of the foothills.
Both cities the people are real friendly and have a laid back attitude.
The homes and land size is about the same so you cannot go wrong with either one.
Again both are within close distance so I would look around in both areas even you find a job in one and home in another the commute isnt bad at all.

[yourhometriad]

I would vote Greensboro for the obvious reason but as Sunnykayak said, it's only 20 mins between the cities. It should be High WinsalemBoro!

Greensboro, North Carolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High Point, North Carolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[yourhometriad]

oh and I would give Winston-Salem and Greensboro good marks in being "city city" but Greensboro's downtown is really really bumping these days.

[NCanswers]

I, too, live in Charlotte and used to live in Greensboro and worked
some in WS.
I echo the posts above. I favor Greensboro and much prefer the Triad
to Charlotte. WS is a close second to Greensboro for me.

[akwebb81]

My wife and I just moved to WS from Houston and we absolutely love it. We looked at Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, WS and Columbia, SC. We fell in love with WS. While WS and GSBO are small, there are many things to do. We were tired of having to live 30 miles from work to afford a house and then deal with horrible traffic so Charlotte and Raleigh were out. WS has a great feel to it, and downtown is very fun, with art walks, and street concerts in the summer. If you're looking for a jumping night scene, I think Greensboro probably has a better one downtown, but WS has many nice casual resturant/bars along 4th st and burke that have good atmosphere where you can actually have a conversation. We love it here and plan on staying a long time. One side note though, they did just announce that they will be doing a MAJOR overhaul on Business 40 through downtown, not a big deal since I-40 is a feasible alternate to pass through, but still something to consider and worth taking note of when looking for jobs/housing since it will take 2yrs or 6yrs.

[gsoboi]

The city populations have bumped up now after annexation. Winston-Salem is around 220,000 people now and by next July Greensboro will have 255,000 residents.

Greensboro is the larger and more dense city but you'll find great things about both. Winston-Salem has the bigger downtown skyline, Greensboro's downtown has the best nightlife and activity going on. Its really a toss up and it just depends on the person. I know people that love Winston-Salem and dont like Greensboro. I know people that love Greensboro and dont like Winston-Salem.

[2lizards]

Hi all!

My wife and I are going to be traveling to the Raleigh/Durham area soon. We are looking for places to relocate when I finish my grad degree (we currently live in Knoxville, TN). Durham is on our list, but I've also heard good things about both Greensboro and Winston-Salem. I don't know if we'll have time to visit both on our trip, so my question is which of the two would be best given what we're interested in (see below).

1) Affordable AND walkable city neighborhoods. We want to be able to walk to restaurants, shops, pubs, public transportation, etc. Ideally, we'd like an established neighborhood close to downtown with older/historic housing. Knoxville really only has one or two neighborhoods like this. I've heard of Ardmore (?) in Winston-Salem. Is this walkable?

2) More liberal/progressive atmosphere. Knoxville is about 65% Republican. I don't have anything against people who wish to have that political view, but it's a bit overwhelming here. We'd like a city with at least a roughly 50-50 split or (even better) one that leans to Democrats or Progressives. I know that Durham is known for having a pretty active liberal community, which is one of the reasons it's on our list. Which of these two cities is closest to what we need?

3) Lively downtown - it looks like most people are saying Greensboro on this one so far. We like theatre, opera, art, museums, restaurants, pubs and funky shops.

4) Good opportunities for a librarian - I am training to be a librarian, and I would prefer a community college or smaller state university for a job. I'm also open to working in the public library system.

5) Good outdoor recreation opportunities - We love whitewater rafting, hiking, camping, etc.

6) Public transportation - what are the buses like? Are other types available?

Thanks for any replies.

[dabluewinner]

Comparing the skylines Is there a huge difference. I live about 30 mins from Columbia South Carolina. I can get there in 22-25. Does these places make Columbia look larger, or smaller; or are they about the same size? How does Columbia skyline compare?

thanks for the info so far.

[kyle19125]

2Lizards, I'm actually planning to return to NC after not being there for 10 years. I can tell you for the criteria you've mentioned that you'll want to live in Chapel Hill or Carrboro (especially). The cities meld into each other without any sense of leaving one for the other. Carrboro is at Chapel Hill's west end and wraps around to the south and west. Both are part of the Durham metro area.

UNC and Duke have very active Arts programs that should handle your needs for theatre and opera. Both institutions have great museums (the Atwater at UNC).

The restaurant scene is great in both, as well as Durham's which compares favorably to cities much larger.

Both downtowns have funky shops. The Chapel Hill downtown is larger, given the presence of UNC and the fact the population is around 75,000....Carrboro is just 15,000.

Carrboro has a great community grocery coop called Weaver Street Market. (The Weaver Street Market Cooperative) There is also a Whole Foods Market in Chapel Hill.

The public library system in the area is first rate. The public school system is one of the best in the entire country, nice facilities. Durham Tech Community College is less than a 30 min drive. Alamance Community College is closer yet, as well as Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, which is as close as Alamance is. For a small college, you might look at Elon University which is a 30 minute drive west. A very nice comprehensive college thats been growing and upgrading facilities for the past several years.

There are great recreational amenities all over NC, but nearby Jordan Lake, Eno River and Duke Forest offer some nice options.

Politically, the area is very Democratic in a just barely Blue State. Carrboro particularly will be a refreshing change for you. The town elected, and re-elected four times, an openly gay Mayor.

Lastly public transportation, Chapel Hill-Carrboro excels in it.The Chapel Hill-Carrboro system first of all is FARE-FREE. No charge. The cities pay for the service. The system is bike friendly with bike racks on all buses. The system is pretty extensive and even when UNC is not in session, routine service.

Check out Welcome to Carrboro.Com - Your hometown website for more information. Click on Overview for some interesting information.

Good Luck!