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Hello everyone. I'm a single 37yo white male now living in Tennessee near Ft.Campbell in Clarksville which is a rapidly growing small city of 103,000 people with another 30,000 + on the military base. I've been searching for information online about places in North Carolina and am curious about Asheboro as I desire to move from my area this Spring.
What I want to get away from where I am now in Clarksville, TN:
1 - Crowded and dangerous roads. Ft. Campbell Blvd has one of the highest accident rates in the USA of any road.
2 - Corruption in local police and politics. Police dept has been sued by numerous former officers. Mayorial issues and "good old boy" politics.
3 - Rapidly growing crime. Murders have become weekly news. Gang problems. Crime expanding into all parts of the city.
4 - Racial problems. Racial motivated crime, school racial problems, gang issues.
5- Very poor schools. A kid is lucky to have a textbook by December. The worst education and school leadership I've ever known of anyplace.
I've found some information on Asheboro which includes:
1 - Race: White 65%, Hispanic 20%, Black 12% I'm okay with this as currently my city is also 65% white. However is there racial problems and tensions in Asheboro? I am not a bigot but also do not want to have problems because I am white.
2 - Education: High School or higher 69% Not as high as I'd prefer since I'm college educated but are the schools there well funded and progressing?
3 - Nearest City with population 50,000 = High Point, 200,000 = Greensboro Any information on these two neighbor cities to Asheboro would be helpful.
4 - # Median house value below state average.
# Black race population percentage significantly above state average.
# Hispanic race population percentage above state average.
# Foreign-born population percentage above state average.
# Institutionalized population percentage above state average.
# Percentage of population with a bachelor's degree or higher below state average.
Not the greatest report with number 4. How accurate is this information?
If you would rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how desireable Asheboro is for a small city to live in where would you rate it?
Any comments or information about Asheboro would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Perhaps you may want to expand your area of search, the Burlington/Graham area is perhaps a bit better educated or, the Mebane/Hillsborough area has a better school system, Asheboro is about 30 miles away, south of these destinations. The Asheboro schools are not as well funded as are those of Orange County (Hillsborough/Mebane) Alamance County (Graham/Burlington) or Greensboro/High Point in Guilford County. Asheboro is a bit more economically depressed, although, the state zoo is located there and brings in a bit of revenue, tourists et al. At the time, the joke was, they put the state zoo in Asheboro because it would be easier to replace an escaped monkey or ape from the Asheboro population at large. Yes, I know that wasn't very nice, my bad, but, the area is somewhat known for being educationally depressed as well. There are several threads on Greensboro and High Point here, the choice would probably depend on how large of an urban environment you wanted to live within.
I've lived in Asheboro for around 4 years now...let me just say, if you ever want to do anything interesting, you have to go to Greensboro or High Point. It's not very exciting. The people...I think there are interesting people, a lot of them, but there are also a LOT of rednecks/dumbasses.
Wow such harsh words for Asheboro.. Didn't you know that Asheboro has become a Spanish speaking town? And I hate to tell you this but the rednecks/dumbasses are all over this country NOT just in asheboro!
We live in Asheboro, but not in the city limits....so we don't deal with all the rift raft. And Yes if you want to goto a bar or club you have to drive to Greensboro, Highpoint, Raleigh or Charlotte.. but only because asheboro doesn't sell alcohol in the city limits. There is the normal things here such as bowling, going to the one floored mall, walmart (everybody goes to walmart) there is Lowes hardware, a few restaurants down here such as chilli's, rockola cafe, golden coral, pizza hut, and the few fast food places, then we have the Zoo.. Your not far from the lakes such as Badin Lake, Morrow Mountain, just 3 hours from Myrtle Beach, 3 hours from Asheville. So if you choose to move to Asheboro, I don't recommend living in the city limits.... the schools here have major problems such as financial needs, they can't keep teachers, they have very poor EOG scores.. the Illegal population has taken over the city schools here too.. The County schools are much better to send your kids too. And to let you know NC School system isn't very good either.. It isn't just Asheboro.. Guilford County school system isn't the greatest..Charlotte schools aren't either.. Just do your research on the area before you choose to live there.. specially if your putting kids through school.
Responses like the one from "WolfEyes" remind me why I'm GLAD I left Asheboro.
Blaming the problems of Asheboro on "illegals" is a popular activity among the locals. As a teacher there, I found the children of immigrants to be much more pleasant than the native population.
Keep in mind this is a town that refused to integrate its schools until 1968, fourteen years after the Supreme Court order. Racism lingers and has expanded as the town's demographics have changed.
Responses like the one from "WolfEyes" remind me why I'm GLAD I left Asheboro.
Blaming the problems of Asheboro on "illegals" is a popular activity among the locals. As a teacher there, I found the children of immigrants to be much more pleasant than the native population.
Keep in mind this is a town that refused to integrate its schools until 1968, fourteen years after the Supreme Court order. Racism lingers and has expanded as the town's demographics have changed.
Ugh, Racism in Asheboro, Never! I have been in this area for almost 7 years and never knew anyone to be racist...
You wrote: As a teacher there, I found the children of immigrants to be much more pleasant than the native population. Well if they were so pleasant as you say, why did you leave Asheboro? Tell me why can't Asheboro city schools keep the teachers here? Over the past three years my daughter went to school there.. I had seen teachers come and go by the end of the school year..(I pulled my daughter out of the schools here because they are so poorly scored and I do know thats due to Illegal immigrants they stated that in the paper!) I was told it was partially due too the districts financial problems because of the Illegals, this is why they rezoned the schools. And I spoke with a teacher at that I know at Mccrary school, she said the schools are in such financial trouble this year they don't know how they are going to fix it. Something needs to be done to better the schools here.. it is pretty bad when ppl pull the kids out to either homeschool them or send them off to Greensboro Day School! All kids deserve a better education that what they are recieving here!!!!
I wasn't agreeing that Asheboro is the best place to live.. I was disagreeing with the name calling part. I can't wait til we get moved from here!
Asheboro High
availble teachers:
82 vs state average of 63
Scores of Asheboro High Teachers
Fully License Teachers The percentage of classroom teachers with clear initial or clear continuing licenses in all license areas in your school and the percentage of teachers with licenses in schools
95 vs state average of 89
Teachers with Advance Degrees
The percentage of teachers who have completed an advanced college degree, including a master's or doctoral degree
28 vs state avg of 25
National Board Certified Teachers
The number of school staff, including teachers, administrators and guidance counselors, who have received National Board Certification
11 vs state avg 8
Teacher turnover rate
The percentage of teachers employed in a school last year who are no longer employed in the same school this year
18 vs state avg of 22
I have lived in Asheboro my whole life. It is a small town, but the people here are very welcoming. Other than the Zoo, we have a skate park, many other local parks, pools, shopping centers, a movie theater, great local resteraunts as well as a few chain resteraunts. Also, fisherman enjoy the Asheboro city lake. The schools here are great, no questions asked. You can be in Greensboro in 20 minutes, which is good because they have a lot of resteraunts and attractions Asheboro doesn't have, you can get there quickly, but it is more affordable to live in Asheboro if you want to live in a good part of town.
Some people would say Asheboro is backwards or redneck, but the truth is, its just different. There are gangs, but they aren't a big problem. Different races mix well.
If you aren't convinced Asheboro is the town for you, just visit it.
Keep in mind this is a town that refused to integrate its schools until 1968, fourteen years after the Supreme Court order. Racism lingers and has expanded as the town's demographics have changed.
I graduated from Asheboro High School in 1966, which was two years after integration, in 1964-1965 (NOT 1968 as stated above). At that time Asheboro was about 5% African American, so the black high school was closed and the slightly over 50 students there were moved to the previously all white school of around 1000 students. There was NO obvious racism, at all -- in fact there were no problems of any kind, and I remember that in a very short while some of my favorite friends were African American.
Upward mobility was very much stressed at that time. A huge percentage of my graduating class went on to further education. So much so, that the middle class soon educated itself out of working in the local industry of textile manufacture. The mills, in order to survive, began importing Mexicans, or Mexican-Americans who had been migrant workers. Within a relatively short time, Asheboro went from an Hispanic population of 0% to roughly 20%. The ethnic diversity has made Asheboro a much more interesting and colorful place to live.
Within the past few months, thanks to a local referendum, Asheboro has moved from being "dry" to "wet." Because of this, various new restaurants, hotels, and clubs are being built.
As has been mentioned, Asheboro is the home of The North Carolina Zoological Park. This research type zoo, which often works hand in hand with the San Diego Zoo, covers many acres of nearby land, and is the home to some wonderfully exotic beasts. Back in the 1970's, Asheboro was chosen as the site for the zoo, not because it was thought that local residents could replace any escaped monkeys, but because of the beauty of the rolling hills of the local terrain.
I grew up in Asheboro, and then have spent my working adult years in the Washington, DC area. I'm really looking forward to six years from now, when I can retire and move back to my hometown, Asheboro, North Carolina.
I graduated from Asheboro High School in 1966, which was two years after integration, in 1964-1965 (NOT 1968 as stated above). At that time Asheboro was about 5% African American, so the black high school was closed and the slightly over 50 students there were moved to the previously all white school of around 1000 students. There was NO obvious racism, at all -- in fact there were no problems of any kind, and I remember that in a very short while some of my favorite friends were African American.
Upward mobility was very much stressed at that time. A huge percentage of my graduating class went on to further education. So much so, that the middle class soon educated itself out of working in the local industry of textile manufacture. The mills, in order to survive, began importing Mexicans, or Mexican-Americans who had been migrant workers. Within a relatively short time, Asheboro went from an Hispanic population of 0% to roughly 20%. The ethnic diversity has made Asheboro a much more interesting and colorful place to live.
Within the past few months, thanks to a local referendum, Asheboro has moved from being "dry" to "wet." Because of this, various new restaurants, hotels, and clubs are being built.
As has been mentioned, Asheboro is the home of The North Carolina Zoological Park. This research type zoo, which often works hand in hand with the San Diego Zoo, covers many acres of nearby land, and is the home to some wonderfully exotic beasts. Back in the 1970's, Asheboro was chosen as the site for the zoo, not because it was thought that local residents could replace any escaped monkeys, but because of the beauty of the rolling hills of the local terrain.
I grew up in Asheboro, and then have spent my working adult years in the Washington, DC area. I'm really looking forward to six years from now, when I can retire and move back to my hometown, Asheboro, North Carolina.
I live in Asheboro and it is NOTHING like it was when you lived here. This town has grown like most small towns.. but on the down side.. it is now full of Illegal Mexicans. This town caters to them. (and no I'm not saying they aren't elsewhere), NC has become a safe-haven for them. All down Fayetteville St. is nothing but Mexican stores, kind of looks like your in Tijuana, Mexico. (maybe Ill snap some pictures of the town when I drive through it)
The school system here has gone down hill.. I don't know what the County schools are like but the city schools are having financial problems they can't keep teachers and the schools are over-run with illegal Mexican kids. Schools system got so bad here that I pulled my daughter out of school and am now home schooling. And I know tons of other families that has pulled their kids out of schools here, some have even moved out of the town.
We have been trying to sale our house for the past with not much luck.. You interested?? My husband has been working in DC for the past 4 years..We are being relocated to Fort Knox, KY..hopefully sooner than later, but they are saying within a year. I hate living here and I'm from NC. I'm ready for a change.
On the Upside of Asheboro.. we did get Alcohol here and most places have it some still don't but are getting it and others say they won't get it at all. Not sure on when they will be building new restaurants, bars etc...I think it's great for this small town hopefully they use the money wisely, but I doubt it. Anyway.. Good luck if ya do move back.
I'm going to be relocating to Asheboro in the next month or so, and the crime stats kind of freak me out. The rates of burglary and theft are twice the national average and twice the average of NC total. Some web sites show Asheboro's property crime rates being worse than Durham, and that's saying something! What the heck is going on there? Do I need a gun/security system/guard dog or should I just ignore those statistics? As a single woman living alone, that's hard to do! Are there areas I should just avoid?
curly
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Ugh...
