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Raleigh vs Charlotte threads getting shut down left and right, lol
The rivalry between Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham is like the rivalry between Houston and Dallas-Ft Worth in Texas, and between LA and San Francisco in California...perhaps worse, haha
There's not really much more that can be said with all the posts so far. However, I've been in both cities around the morning rush and from the hours of 7am-9am, the Triangle is a beast on I-40 and the 440 loop. For some reason, I feel I can navigate through Metrolina(I-77 & I-85 & I-285) better and with less road rage than I can the Raleigh area.
There's not really much more that can be said with all the posts so far. However, I've been in both cities around the morning rush and from the hours of 7am-9am, the Triangle is a beast on I-40 and the 440 loop. For some reason, I feel I can navigate through Metrolina(I-77 & I-85 & I-285) better and with less road rage than I can the Raleigh area.
It's the arterial roads like W.T.Harris, Independence, Providence, Albemarle, Queens, Rea rd....etc... where you feel the difference with Charlotte traffic being worse. Plus I77/ I85 are bad all daynot just during rush hour....thats the difference.
I would have to say that downtown and surrounding area Charlotte has a more glamorous, moneyed, bright lights- big city, luxurious feel and Raleigh is a bit more of an intellectual, hipster, artsy, tech feel to it. Charlotte has more of a dash of LA or Atlanta to me and Raleigh has more of a dash of Seattle or Portland to me.
I know this is an old thread, but thought I'd chime in anyway. I would easily pick Charlotte.
Less expensive overall. Better buying power. Much more to do recreationally (especially unique recreational assets; NFL/NBA/MLS/Major Theme Park/Major Waterpark/U.S. National Whitewater Center), the economy is more diverse overall, better transportation/transit/airport, better geographical location to multiple areas in both Carolinas. Charlotte's downtown is much better, more vibrant.
I have no axe to grind with the Raleigh/Durham area. I have family and friends in RDU, visit multiple times a year for decades, and live in the Charlotte area. I love and am very familiar with both. But objectively, Charlotte just offers much more on the whole, plus it's less expensive to boot. But a very good QOL can be had in either.
Anything Charlotte can do, Atlanta can do better. The Triangle is different, better educated and more culturally rich, and offers a great, albeit smaller and quieter, alternative to Atlanta or DC. Charlotte is a nice place to visit, and still offers a good QOL.
Charlotte hands down, lol. Raleigh doesn't try to compare itself to any other city...neither does Nashville ("Music city"), New Orleans (French/Creole), Memphis (the Blues), Northern Virginia/DC (power high income metro outside the nation's capitol), Orlando (Disney, winter haven), Miami(a diverse latin world capital with gorgeous world class beaches)....they are all secure in their own respective identities just as Raleigh and the Triangle are known for world class universities, research and tech, and are secure with it's identity not trying to be Atlanta or any place else. What Charlotte is mostly known for is NASCAR, mega churches and televangelists and for being just another cookie cutter town with a cookie cutter corporate city center littered with chain restaurants and bars...any city USA basically, so rather than own it they try and compare themselves to other cities...most notably Atlanta...Charlotte should just own what they're known mostly for and not try and run from it. It is what it is.
here we go again... reading through these threads is pure comedy...
regardless, as to what the OP was asking for, I'd probably lean Charlotte there, since he worked in a job field better suited for Charlotte. It seemed the OP would also probably prefer Charlotte's nightlife to Raleigh's... but it has been a year or whatever since the OP was looking for an answer...
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