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Really looking for help as I have no idea what suburb might be best. We have 3 children, 5th grade, 2nd grade, and pre-school and will be moving to the NC triange area next summer. Like many other families, we want to move to an area that is safe and has decent schools. We are of Asian Indian descent but were born and raised in the US and therefore we are 2nd generation and pretty well-rounded. We want to have a healthy mixture of friends from all kinds of cultures, not solely Asian Indian, and not solely Caucasian American or anything specific. We want to live in a safe area where people from all nationalities are welcome. We are educated with good values and just don't want to be in a competitive area such as the one we're in now (in a totally different state). The one we're in now has currently 40% Indian and Chinese students, and in our experience, that makes for a very competitive school where value is placed on things different than we personally want for our kids. While I want my kids to work hard, I don't want them to feel bad if they aren't at the top of their class and I won't be utterly depressed if they don't go to Stanford. In addition, because we are not Caucasian, Christian Americans, we don't want to be in a suburb where people would not generally welcome us--there are specific suburbs like that that do not tolerate other types, and that's fine, we just don’t want to be there. Maybe a suburb with a lot of people who have moved from other cities? I don't know.
Any advice on which suburb of the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, etc area that would be best? Thank you very much, we kindly appreciate any help or candid advice.
This is a pretty diverse area because of RTP. Certain subdivisions seem a little more diverse than others. There's one that feeds into my kids' school that seems to have a good mix of people. The school is also about 50% Caucasion and the other 50% a mix of Asian and mostly Indian. While the school is considered one of the tops around here I don't get an overwhelming competitive feel from it.
There may be pockets in the Triangle that homogenous but overall you're going to find a real melting pot here.
To be honest, I really think that almost all of the urban and suburban areas around Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill could fit your stated criteria. On the whole, this area really is quite diverse, and tends to have a lot of transplants from other parts of the U.S. and around the world, and also tends to be open to people of all races and ethnicities, especially if those people have as good an attitude about it as you seem to. The highest concentrations of South Asians here, both first and second generations, are near the three big universities, and in Morrisville and adjacent parts of Cary, but there are plenty scattered throughout the region. But you indicated that clustering around a lot of other Indian-Americans isn't a priority for you anyway. I have encountered very little of the phenomenon of "specific suburbs like that that do not tolerate other types" around the Triangle, as opposed to my experiences in other areas. And the schools here are generally very good, especially if you're not fanatically obsessed with demanding that your kids absolutely have to go to Harvard or Stanford. So I think that you would or could be more or less equally happy in many or most places around the region. So, then, I think I would focus my search more on geography. Do you know where you'll be working? Are there any other geographic considerations for you, e.g. places or amenities that you want to be sure to be near or to avoid? That might help narrow it down.
Really looking for help as I have no idea what suburb might be best. We have 3 children, 5th grade, 2nd grade, and pre-school and will be moving to the NC triange area next summer. Like many other families, we want to move to an area that is safe and has decent schools. We are of Asian Indian descent but were born and raised in the US and therefore we are 2nd generation and pretty well-rounded. We want to have a healthy mixture of friends from all kinds of cultures, not solely Asian Indian, and not solely Caucasian American or anything specific. We want to live in a safe area where people from all nationalities are welcome. We are educated with good values and just don't want to be in a competitive area such as the one we're in now (in a totally different state). The one we're in now has currently 40% Indian and Chinese students, and in our experience, that makes for a very competitive school where value is placed on things different than we personally want for our kids. While I want my kids to work hard, I don't want them to feel bad if they aren't at the top of their class and I won't be utterly depressed if they don't go to Stanford. In addition, because we are not Caucasian, Christian Americans, we don't want to be in a suburb where people would not generally welcome us--there are specific suburbs like that that do not tolerate other types, and that's fine, we just don’t want to be there. Maybe a suburb with a lot of people who have moved from other cities? I don't know.
Any advice on which suburb of the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, etc area that would be best? Thank you very much, we kindly appreciate any help or candid advice.
Hi Yajana.
Here is a link that takes you to a pdf of 2011 Wake County Schools demographic info. Hope it helps.
This is a pretty diverse area because of RTP. The school is also about 50% Caucasion and the other 50% a mix of Asian and mostly Indian. There may be pockets in the Triangle that homogenous but overall you're going to find a real melting pot here.
I think that goes for the whole school district here. It is generally about 50% caucasian, and 50% not (hispanic, african american, multi-race, etc). There is a larger pocket of asian and indian near Morrisville, to my knowledge. Morrisville even has it's own cricket league.
Since the whole area is pretty diverse, I would concentrate my home search around commute time to work.
We are an interracial family and decided on Chapel Hill for the best schools and best diversity. While it is expensive, you usually get what you pay for.
Thank you very much to all of you! Twingles, I'm really surprised that in a school with 50% Asian-descent doesn't feel overwhelmingly competitive, but that's good. Tompope, that is good to hear that many places could fit our desired criteria. As for amenities or other aspects that could help us narrow down which suburb, some things we'd like are maybe one of those neighborhoods that has a community pool or community park/track/tennis? Or a fairly newer neighborhood (in our current state, I have heard that it is hard to "join in" to neighborhoods that have been together for 10+ years), so maybe one that is just building up or has been in the process of being built for 2-3 years? We don't need/require a new house but it's just my thinking that it might give us a chance of meeting people who are also looking to meet new people.
Or a suburb where neighborhoods are close enough to be able to walk to stores/shopping? I realize I'm reaching here, but I have never moved anywhere for 20 years. Work will not be an issue since we'd be working out of our home for the most part and/or travelling when needed for work.
It sounds like folks are steering you toward orange/wake/durham counties which I would agree with. You will find community pool/tennis in many neighborhoods with tracks/parks scattered all over. We are a bit less 'walkable' re: walking to stores/shopping -- you might consider North Hills area?? Or an area like Falls River in North Raleigh where you can find house/apartments in close proximity to shopping. Mostly, we seem to drive everywhere esp. if you have kids with different interests...
Durham and Wake have county school systems but in Orange you have chapel hill schools & the orange county school system.
In Wake County, I have seen Enloe HS as hyper-competitive compared to some of the other High Schools. Particularly with number of AP classes you can put in a schedule - some of the kids will do a -zero- hour class or summer school to fit in more...this backs its way into middle school with math...I know nothing about Durham or CH/Orange re: competition.
On the whole, folks seem to appreciate the work/life balance here and not over-drive their kids.
Just as an aside, if you live in these three counties, the entrance to UNC Chapel Hill is quite competitive -- because so many in the area want to go (is what I have been told). However, even if freshman year has to be done at another UNC site---have no fear -- I have been told that a transfer to UNC Chapel Hill as a soph or a jr is pretty easy...so for those that *really* want to be at UNC-CH, then have no fear.
That is the only real competition I have heard about -- getting into UNC-CH.
We are quite fortunate having the UNC system here -- everyone can find something that works.
Yes, unfortunately, that combination of a suburban neighborhood that has a community pool or other neighborhood membership amenities and also is walkable to stores and shopping is a difficult one to manage in the Triangle area. The most walkable areas are almost all in the older, central portions of the various municipalities, but those areas generally don't have modern-type subdivisions with swimming pools, or if they do they're ungodly expensive. And the countless newer post-1980's developments around here often do have pools and other nice amenities, but the vast majority were designed far more for cars than for pedestrians.
Of course, it depends in part on exactly how you define "walkable." It is possible to walk virtually anywhere, and there are some people (myself included) who like walking so much that we tend to do it even when we're living somewhere that's not very conducive to it. Still, if you really would like to be able to walk a moderate distance (less than 15-20 minutes, let's say) to at least a grocery store and maybe a drug store, then most of the suburban sprawl here may not work for you. Are you sure it's really important to you to have a pool in your subdivision? This area has a lot of nice public parks, swimming pools, tennis court facilities, greenways, and other nice amenities that are inexpensive or free and open to anyone that it wouldn't seem essential to me to have that in your development. So, then, you could live in a pleasant, walkable, semi-suburban neighborhood like Cameron Park, Longview, Drewry Hills, or Woodcrest in Raleigh, and still easily access some of the many public park facilities nearby.
Another approach would be, as WeLuvNC suggested, one of the area's "new urbanist" PUD-like communities. They include the Bedford/Falls River development in the far northeastern part of Raleigh, and the Southern Village development on the south side of Chapel Hill. These are modern, recent suburban subdivisions, complete with a wide range of typical amenities, including swimming pools. But they've been designed with sort of an old-time feel, with smaller lots, houses fairly close together, and generous sidewalks, making them rather walkable. To some extent, there may be a limited amount of destinations to walk to, but there are at least some basic stores and restaurants within range. I think I would check those out if I were you. Since you specifically mentioned preferring a newer development, I think I might recommend you look at Renaissance Park, a new "new urbanist" development a little ways south of downtown Raleigh (Renaissance Park :: Home). It has kind of a similar vibe to Southern Village or Falls River, but it's newer and a little less expensive. It also suffers a bit from a lack of wonderful places to walk to, but it's such a new area that I would expect that situation to improve significantly, especially when the economy improves. And being a new development that's still in the process of opening, it might give you a good opportunity to get in on the ground floor and meet lots of new people in a situation similar to yours.
By the way, I don't believe you've mentioned so far whether you're looking to buy or rent, and what your general price range is. That might help to narrow down a little further.
I would also consider North Chatham county; we have a Chapel Hill address, but are in North Chatham just south of UNC Chapel Hill. Love it. We live in a neighborhood called Briar Chapel (about 6 miles south of UNC), diverse, lots of folks who work at the university, beautiful homes, incredible amenities, walking and hiking trails in the neighborhood (22 miles!), gorgeous clubhouse, lots of children, open and accepting neighbors. We are very, very happy.
We investigated the schools and are very pleased with the Chatham Schools, and we are pretty tough customers (both husband and I are Ivy educated and I work at a university here); all I am going to say is that schools are not one-size-fits-all, and we found the supportive, challenging academic environment we wanted for our daughter's school here in Chatham. A lot of people here are focused on just a handful of schools/districts, but if you are interested in something supportive and rewarding for your child that doesn't overwhelm and overschedule them, take a look around and explore other districts too. We are very, very happy with the Chatham County Schools. In Atlanta we lived in one of those competitive areas with a Newsweek Top High School (rated 78 in the entire USA), and we are VERY happy not to live with that pressure/focus but still have a rewarding, supportive and challenging school for our daughter that encourages balance.
If that sounds what you might like, tour the different schools in the areas you are considering; find the school that feels right, then look for a house in that district.
Good luck!
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