Best areas to live?? (Wilmington, Jacksonville: real estate, job market, contractors)

[armostoff]

My boyfriend and I have lived in Virginia our whole lives. We were raised in the southern half and have lived together in the northern half for a few years now. He is in the IT field and has a pretty good job right now but he wants to move to North Carolina. Not only will any sort of real estate be much less expensive there, we both want to live in a beautiful suburb again. I have fallen in love with the coastal area. The Wilmington area is beautiful. We are planning a trip to North Carolina in October just to check out different places that we may be interested in calling our home. We are planning on traveling throughout the state to different places that we may be interested in but this is where we are having a problem.
Not being from North Carolina, we aren't sure where to start looking. A suburban, laid-back area is ideal and we would also consider moving closer to a larger city but we we weren't sure about commute times. Where would be a good place to live that provides him with a decent commute? Is Wilmington out of the question? I wasn't sure how big Jacksonville was, either. Would that be a place to consider finding an IT job? Is there a place that we could consider the middle of the road as in distance to the city and the coast?
If you have any suggestions or information or places that you think we should visit when down here, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks!

[DanielleNC]

Not sure if there is much IT going on along the coast. You will find most of that in the Triangle area, about two hours from Wilmington. Of course the job market is pretty rough right now. There are all kids of suburbs, just depends on what you're looking for. Newer, older, HOA, non-HOA, price, etc.

[macjr82]

You'll find IT on the Coast in Havelock/New Bern due to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and all the associated DOD civilian and defense contractors, you'll find it in Jacksonville due to Marien Corps BAse Camp Lejeune and the same. You may find it in Wilmington due to it being the largest Coastal city, also you may find it in Greenville due it being a major medical center and a growing city.