|
To angus10,
I can't advise too much about living directly in Wilson. If you choose to live in surrounding cities (or their suburbs) with mostly straight commutes, There are 4 choices, Goldsboro (South), Raleigh (West), Greenville (East), Rocky Mount (North). Raleigh has the largest Yankee-transplant population with most in the Cary suburb on the West side of town. There is a joke that Cary is "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees." Goldsboro has a small amount, probably mostly due to the Air Force base there.
Major Universities in this area (in order of proximity to Wilson), East Carolina University, NC State University, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), Duke University. Duke University is a private uni, but is really presitigious, and is ranked really high internationally. UNC and Duke are known for their medical programs, ECU has a developing medical program, NCSU is the biggest university in the state, and is very good school for Engineering. UNC, NCSU, and Duke are located in the Research Triangle area or Raleigh-Durham metro. Because of these 3 unis, college basketball is extremely popular here in NC. ECU is a developing university to the East in Greenville.
Raleigh - Capital, small-medium sized urban city (metro pop. is like 1-1.5 million), Raleigh is a big place and is subject to some slightly heavy rush-hour traffic (especially on 440 at 5pm),
Commute - Hwy. 264/64 goes to Raleigh, The interstates that loop around Raleigh are called "The Beltline." If you live in Knightdale commute is about 30-40 mins (depends on how fast you drive), You are close the the somewhat big(ger) city life. Schools have an overcrowding problem and such.
Goldsboro -(population 40,000 ish, metro [wayne county] - about 115,000).
A city that has been seeing a lot of development recently. Roadwork, new shopping centers pop up like every other week, etc. Has Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, I like the Air shows they put on. Also has Cliffs of the Neuse State park in the southern part. Also it has a great school system, (for high schools I recommend Charles B. Aycock or Eastern Wayne as best there).
Commute - 30 mins to city via Interstate 795(was called US-117 Bypass), 10-15 mins to some very small suburb areas along i-795 (like Fremont and Pikeville).
Greenville (nickname g-vegas) - [pop. little more than Goldsboro, city slightly bigger]. The city had a boom and developed pretty fast, but it seems to have leveled off and it doesn't seem to be developing much in the last decade. Inner Greenville has a slightly higher crime rate. I'd say there's probably a bit more "to do" than in Rocky Mount or Goldsboro though. But it's a classic college town, and ECU has a reputation for being somewhat of a party school.
Commute is about 40 mins via 264
Rocky Mount - [population and size little more than Goldsboro, smaller than Greenville), School system is decent I think, but I've heard some bad stories, I don't know too much about the place, sorry. Though when I've been there the city seems spread out and feels smaller.
Commute is about 30 mins via Interstate 95
Last edited by R-triangle123; 07-16-2009 at 03:27 AM..
|
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Linear Mode
