West side?? (Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro: houses, employment, income)

[Funnefam5]

Why does it seem like more people are moving to the west side of NC then the East? I have been reading and reading all the post on here trying to find the best place to move to and the more I read the harder my decision becomes we are going to take a trip down but I can't even decide where to visit first, Some of my family wants to stay closer to the east side but not to close to the shore maybe 1 to 2 hours from shore, I seem to like the mountains and the rest of my family don't care where we go.. I am looking for rural area with work no more then 45 minutes away.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Funnefam5

Why does it seem like more people are moving to the west side of NC then the East? I have been reading and reading all the post on here trying to find the best place to move to and the more I read the harder my decision becomes we are going to take a trip down but I can't even decide where to visit first, Some of my family wants to stay closer to the east side but not to close to the shore maybe 1 to 2 hours from shore, I seem to like the mountains and the rest of my family don't care where we go.. I am looking for rural area with work no more then 45 minutes away.

Neither east or western NC offer a lot in the way of high paying jobs. People love to try to relocate there because they either love beaches or love mountains. These two sides of NC are very beautiful, but hard to always make a living in.

[mm34b]

Like most of North Carolina's population, the best employment opportunities are located in the Piedmont region, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Greensboro metro areas.

http://www.ncatlasrevisited.org/LandRegions/Images/landfg1bL.gif (broken link)

[Funnefam5]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Neither east or western NC offer a lot in the way of high paying jobs. People love to try to relocate there because they either love beaches or love mountains. These two sides of NC are very beautiful, but hard to always make a living in.

So how do people survive if you can't make very much money there? what kind of jobs do people have? what kind of income are we talking about ?Because where i'm at were're not making very much money and yet we are making it (barely), I hear people on here talking about unless you have a high paying job it's hard to survive in NC. plus I also see people are looking for houses in the upper 100, well how do you afford a house for that much if there is no work or high paying jobs here?

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Funnefam5

So how do people survive if you can't make very much money there? what kind of jobs do people have? what kind of income are we talking about ?Because where i'm at were're not making very much money and yet we are making it (barely), I hear people on here talking about unless you have a high paying job it's hard to survive in NC. plus I also see people are looking for houses in the upper 100, well how do you afford a house for that much if there is no work or high paying jobs here?

In Asheville a lot of jobs are in the service industry and related to tourism. I doubt those jobs pay more than $10.00 an hour. Jobs in the medical field are probably the other main type of jobs, which don't pay well at all levels. The vast majority of people you hear about moving to the Asheville area are retirees or wealthier folks looking for their second homes to vacation in. Basically, they don't need jobs and have the financial security to live where they want. Wilmington is not quite as much of a retirement area, but it attracts the same type of people as Asheville, except they love beaches. The problem with all this is that those moving in that don't need to work and do have disposable income for property are driving all the home prices sky high.

[mm34b]

The average weekly wage in my mountain county is around $600. However, in all 23 mountain counties, the average weekly wage per employee in the 1st quarter of 2006 was $519.26. That's an average wage of 27K per year.

NC Department of Commerce.

[Apple Annie]

Anyone can go to the NC Employment Security website and enter your criteria for the type of job they would be seeking and in which County. The list will come up and will show the hourly wage(s) offered for the job and a description of the job. Note, very few offer benefits unless professional jobs, and most are 40 hrs. per week.

http://www.ncesc.com/individual/jis/....asp?init=true

This may help.

[Funnefam5]

thanks for the info i am checking it out

[friendnc]

Trust me, you don't have to be rich to survive in NC. The best paying and most plentiful jobs are going to be in the Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro metro areas. The standards of living in these areas are high. Asheville doesn't have a "bad" economy, but a limited one. It's set up as a tourist/retiree area. It's just the nature of that type of area. The same goes for the Wilmington area, but I think they have a little more industry than Asheville. But the rual areas in the far eastern and far western parts of NC are pretty depressed economically. They just don't have the infrastructure, roads, and work force to compete with the large metro areas. NC is not perfect (no place is), but NC is pretty diverse, and is a great place to live overall.